Zelda Expansion Thrives, Gaining Widespread Recognition

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has had a major achievement already, rising to the top of the most wishlisted games of the summer showcase season. Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has passed major titles like Doom: The Dark Ages, Assassin's Creed Shadows, and fellow Nintendo heavy-hitter Metroid Prime 4 to do so.

Zelda fans were largely ecstatic when the most recent Nintendo Direct premiered. While the Nintendo Direct didn't feature the Switch 2, it did contain several other announcements fans had been waiting for, like that of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but also some big surprises, like the Zelda-led title. Fans of the Zelda franchise have been asking for playable Zelda in a main entry for years, which seemed to go largely unheard by Nintendo. However, the fans are finally getting their wish with the new Switch title, and the excitement is evident.

In a new report from GamesIndustry.Biz, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has beaten every other major summer reveal from 2024 on IGN Playlist. IGN Playlist is a backlog and play activity tracker, and in this instance, is looking at data from May 30 to June 23 and only focuses on showcase-revealed titles. Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom comes in at #1, followed by Doom: The Dark Ages in the #2 spot, and Astro Bot in third. The top five are rounded out by Gears of War: E-Day and Perfect Dark, respectively.

Top Wishlisted Games May 30 – June 23 (via IGN Playlist)
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo) Doom: The Dark Ages (Bethesda) Astro Bot (Sony) Gears of War: E-Day (Xbox) Perfect Dark (Xbox) Mario & Luigi: Brothership (Nintendo) Assassin's Creed Shadows (Ubisoft) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Kepler Interactive) Fable (Xbox) Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Nintendo) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Activision Blizzard) Dragon Age: The Veilguard (EA) South of Midnight (Xbox) Lego Horizon Adventures (Sony) Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Square Enix) Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Bethesda) Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (Konami) Star Wars Outlaws (Ubisoft) Super Mario Party Jamboree (Nintendo) Mixtape (Annapurna Interactive) Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science) Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Square Enix) Dragon Quest 1&2 HD-2D Remake (Square Enix) Donkey Kong Country Returns HD (Nintendo) Avowed (Xbox)

While this placement on the wishlist doesn't mean that Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will perform or sell well for Nintendo, it's likely that fans won't hesitate to pick up this title. Outside of side games and spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors and Super Smash Bros., Zelda has been largely unplayable, relegated to being rescued or otherwise only having a minor role in the games. Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom gave the Princess a more involved role, but still didn't quite fulfill fans who wanted to save the world as Princess Zelda.

Whether Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom can live up to the excitement remains to be seen. However, it seems fans are quite hopeful in it for it to rise to this level so soon. Zelda has passed everything from remasters and remakes like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake to brand-new entries in existing popular franchises like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It will be interesting to see how well all these games fare in the months and year to come in comparison to this wishlist.