It’s Time For Zelda To Leave One Terrible Switch-Era Tradition Behind

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was an incredible launch for the Nintendo Switch, but even with all its re-inventing of the traditional Zelda formula, it wasn’t without its problems. Most notably, and what became even more apparent with Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom‘s releases, is how tedious the UI of Switch-era Zelda games is.

If you’ve played any of these Nintendo Switch Zelda games, then you know that a large part of inventory management or quest referencing involves scrolling through what often feels like several minutes of tabs and items to find what you are looking for. Which is, unfortunately, only made worse by how frequently you need to access these menus while playing.

I Do Enough Doom Scrolling Everywhere Else, I Don’t Need It In Zelda Too

If you’re like me, then you probably already spend enough time endlessly scrolling through various social media platforms and aren’t looking to relive that experience every time you open up a Zelda game to escape those social media platforms. Among the many things Nintendo did right with Breath of the Wild and the rest of the Zelda games on the Switch, the UI just unfortunately wasn’t one of them.

Related

Zelda’s Next Game Should Change One Unfair Feature From BOTW & TOTK

There is an unfair feature in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which then carried forward into Tears of the Kingdom, but should go no further.

Whether you’re looking to sift through weapons, find something in your inventory, or prepare a meal, it seems that you’re forced to scroll through endless rows or columns of items just to find the one specific thing you’re looking for. Oftentimes, I just assumed I didn’t have something because I couldn’t pinpoint it in my inventory, or I just decided to forgo whatever it was entirely and worry about it later because I couldn’t be bothered to stop and look for it.

There is a quick selection option while still playing that doesn’t involve having to open up the full menu, but even that can be lengthy if you have several items in your inventory, and it really doesn’t make the process feel that much quicker. Additionally, this isn’t just a problem with items, either, as even the quest menus can be exhausting to scroll through.

Related

Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom’s Biggest Change Should Begin A Whole New Zelda Saga

The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom has the potential to bring many other characters from the franchise into starring roles should it sell well.

Of course, Tears of the Kingdom did slightly change this UI, as well as Echoes of Wisdom, but both still contained the endless scrolling that plagued Breath of the Wild without seeming to offer a solution for it. Again, I know this might sound like a bit of a surface-level issue, but just consider how many times in an hour you’re accessing that menu, especially with fusion builds in TOTK, and you might realize that this is a relatively simple request to improve quality-of-life in the next Zelda game.

It’s Time For Zelda UI To Get Creative Again

Quality Of Life Changes Are Huge For Iconic Franchises

With something as big as Zelda, you don’t truly need anything drastic to pull in players. Overall, even the worst Zelda game will get played more than an amazing indie game with less notoriety simply because it has built up a solid reputation over the years and a committed fan base.

Unfortunately, this also means that mainline Zelda games infrequently take major risks and mostly stick to an overall formula players are familiar with, leaving the series with little room for experimentation. So, Nintendo is forced to experiment in other ways, such as weapon crafting, art style, world building, and even, yes, quality-of-life changes.

Related

The Next Zelda Game Could Learn A Lot From 2025’s Biggest Indie Game

The next Legend of Zelda game has a lot to learn from the gaming industry, especially one of 2025’s biggest and most creative indie games.

In a series where Nintendo is only able to risk so much in terms of actual gameplay, design is the one place to go wild, and a new UI could be a major game-changer for the next The Legend of Zelda game, especially if it keeps the open-world format where players are likely to swap weapons frequently and utilize items for quests or fusions on the go.

Overall, it’s a small change, but that’s exactly why it’s a perfectly reasonable request that would make the next The Legend of Zelda game that much more enjoyable. A solid UI to top off a great game is an easy way to bump a game into Game of the Year territory and edge out something else that falls just short in that area.

Movie(s)

The Legend of Zelda (Live-Action)

Created by

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka