Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Every Friday Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them. Every Thursday GTA 6 O'clock Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts. Every Friday Knowledge From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon. Every Thursday The Setup Every Wednesday Switch 2 Spotlight Every Saturday The Watchlist Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! The 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda is this month, but you wouldn't know it from Nintendo's reaction (or lack thereof) – a sad reality for the decades-old franchise, but not one that applies to every game series from the company. "Nintendo's approach to anniversaries is always, 'If it so happens that a game is launching the same year as an anniversary, sure, we'll do a thing. We'll tie it to it, whatever' – but Pokemon's truly the other way around, where they do a lot of cultural things to celebrate anniversaries. We saw it with the 25th anniversary. We're seeing it play out in real time with the 30th anniversary." Forget another Ocarina of Time remake – Nintendo needs to get weird with Zelda's 40th anniversary Pokopia lead wants to "scale" games "aside from battling," as "there are also lots of different ways to enjoy Pokemon" 25 years on, Pokemon Crystal is still the blueprint for modern Pokemon She continues, explaining that "they really understand that Pokemon goes beyond just the game, just the trading cards, just the anime, just the movies… It's like this way of life." The franchise "is in every aspect of people's lives." As Yang puts it, "It's like this big cultural lifestyle phenomenon." According to the PR veteran, The Pokemon Company acknowledges this and applies it to its approach to anniversaries. "It's like, 'Yeah, we're going to be everywhere because Pokemon is everywhere.'" On the other hand, Nintendo deals with big birthdays on a far more casual basis. "They're like, 'Oh, yeah… If a game happens to launch, we'll slot it into this anniversary." That checks out, considering the fact that it's pretty much precisely how the Breath of the Wild release went. Sadly, though, there aren't even new games to look forward to this year, it seems. Even though Zelda is arguably one of the most influential video game series of all time, fans are spending this month sadposting on forums like Reddit about how it didn't "have even a small celebration" made in honor of it. Meanwhile, Pokemon is… well, Pokemoning. Longtime Zelda producer says "the hardware evolution" lifts "restrictions" but, more importantly, "greatly influences the game design."