Zelda: Wind Waker HD is now more retro than the original was when it released

The amount of time that has elapsed since The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD’s release is now equal to the length of time between the original game’s release for GameCube and Wind Waker HD’s release for Wii U.

That’s based on the North American release dates for the original Wind Waker and Wind Waker HD, which fell on March 24, 2003, and September 20, 2013 respectively.

As spotted by Game Explain editor Andre Segers (and calculated by Time and Date), these release dates were separated by 3,834 days, or 10 years, five months and 28 days.

As of today, exactly the same number of days have passed since Wind Waker HD’s release in the US, where it debuted digitally two weeks ahead of its retail launch.

Fun Fact: As of today, the amount of time from Wind Waker HD to now is greater than the time from Wind Waker GCN to WW:HD💀 pic.twitter.com/3qY7MRy9kY

— André (@AndreSegers) March 19, 2024

Like Wind Waker, fellow GameCube title The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was previously given the HD treatment on Wii U, and the pair are now among a small selection of Nintendo’s last-gen games that haven’t been ported to Switch.

It’s long been claimed that Switch ports of the games are planned, but to date there’s been no official announcement from Nintendo, which is expected to launch its next-gen console in early 2025.

Thanks to a combination of new games, remakes, remasters and Switch Online retro libraries, it’s currently possible to play 12 separate entries in the Zelda series on Switch.

Of these, almost all the console entries are available – The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

The only two missing from the full set of main console Zelda games are The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.