@xolivierx: I would agree for any other zelda game, but having played this one....there is no question in my mind that it would hold without the license. Imagine if Skyrim released with no bugs, more refined physics, and no invisible walls or boundries. That's this game. The developers at Nintendo spent the last year of development on a biweekly QA polish schedule: two weeks of development, two weeks where the entire 100+ person team stopped and played the game, then another two weeks of fixing any bugs recorded and making the physics better. It's that level of quality coupled with the lack of restrictions and openness in what you can do that's never been done before. It's the blend of what makes Japanese RPGs great (story, challenge, character development, environmental storytelling and aesthetics) without the drawbacks (tutorial, grinding, random generated enemies) with the best of western RPGs (open-world, emergent gameplay). Case in point....this is the first Zelda I've ever liked. OOT/a link to the past/skyward sword were all too slow to start and linear for me. All of Nintendo's games before this have arguably been linear, with the possible exception of Zelda on NES. It's amazing that Nintendo could perfect emergent gameplay like this on their first try, in part because they've thrown more time and money than most studios could.

We've come to expect some issues with the open-world genre. ME: Andromeda has occasional floating enemies, Skyrim has occassional pathing/AI issues, things stuck in walls, pop-in with buildings, etc. We write it off due to the scope of the game. This is the first time a game has delivered on the promise of a sandbox - go anywhere, do anything, create your own solutions and goals - without such issues. And it's amazing.

1) Nihilumbra - atmosphere and a sense of discovering yourself.

2) Knights of the Old Republic/SWTOR - Throwing away a beloved setting of a well-established IP was a risky move, but Bioware believed they could write Star Wars better than what was already available. And they succeeded. Travelling back several millennia before the movies allowed them to play with new races and establish a world where personal shields were enabling a comeback of sword fighting even for non-Jedi combatants. It also paved the way for number 3 on my list. Voss-ka is particularly amazing.

3) Mass Effect - Suddenly, I care about the relationships of a floating Jellyfish.

4) Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy: Coming at a time when 3D platformers was THE genre for videogames and when the genre seemed to fall stale, both introduced vibrant, diverse worlds that were memorably to me. The calming music as I swam underwater for the first time, the creepiness of Boo's merry-go-round in a haunted house. The joy of the bee costume as I navigated a honeycomb. The sense of excitement the first time I ran all around a 3D sphere and toyed with gravity. They're atmospheric in spades.

5) Portal/Portal 2 : I really love to test.

That....was far better than I expected. PC actually got some love! :D

I'd love a rare replay port to PC, if they're really going to go all in with xbox integration.

How are you supposed to play mario 3d land on this?

@Pyrosa @TeeniestChaos @Ahiru-San They could....but won't. Nintendo has a sense of pride in it's legacy, IMO - starting as an electronic gambling and toy company. They're a hardware developer at heart, but encourage their developers to dream of hardware features they want for their next software releases. Dual screens, motion controls, even d-pads....hardware tailored specifically for software.

So say they did try that on a ps3....could they really sell skyward sword WITHOUT a traditional control option and expect to make more money than they did on wii? Or a second-screen add-on to a psp that could service games like Elite Beat Agents or Canvas Curse?

I don't think they'd break even selling such controller-game combos, or at the very least they would have to sacrifice their control over user-input by adding an unwanted control option.

@Ahiru-San never gonna happen....Nintendo wants the right hardware for their software, and Mario 3D Land, Mario Galaxy, or Skyward Sword just couldn't work right on other consoles.

This will NEVER happen, but give me Mallow or Geno from SMRPG please!

These are already two of the most modded games in history....I can't wait to see how this shapes the Movie Battles project.

@frozenux @greenpolyp Right. And Your SNES games probably still work, even if the save battery is dead, without a hitch. Your PS1 discs, by now, are likely showing signs of wear that might even affect normal play.