Zelda: The Twilight Princess Remake Exists & It's a Masterpiece

Zelda fans have been clamoring for a Twilight Princess remake for years, especially since it remains the only 3D Zelda that’s not playable on the Nintendo Switch 2. The news of the Ocarina of Time Remake has brought renewed interest to the idea of a Twilight Princess remake, but here's the thing: a Twilight Princess remake already exists. Albeit not in the form of a video game.

In 2016, the legendary duo behind The Legend of Zelda manga adaptation, Akira Himekawa, finally released volume 1 of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Unlike their previous manga, Twilight Princess is a full adaptation of the video game that cuts nothing, fleshes out the story, and even adds new material that helps make the game’s plots and characters even richer. Twilight Princess is an 11-volume epic that ran for six years and needs to be the blueprint of the game’s remake when Nintendo gets around to it.

The Twilight Princess Manga is a Must-Read For Every Zelda Fan

All the Zelda manga are great reads, but the fact they need to burn through each game’s story tends to hurt the pacing. Ocarina of Time was previously the best Zelda manga on account of how much time each section of the story is given, but even then, Akira Himekawa had to skip the Shadow Temple and basically speed run the game’s ending. Twilight Princess does not have this problem whatsoever. Every chapter is meticulously paced, allowing the story to not only breathe, but also allow the characters to sit in their development or major narrative moments.

This also ends up doing the manga a huge service artistically. Because Akira Himekawa doesn't have to worry about limited page time, Twilight Princess features some of the best page composition and spreads in the entire series. Twilight Princess isn’t just good for a Zelda adaptation, it's a legitimately great-looking manga with excellent paneling, beautifully atmospheric artwork, and amazing fight choreography that does the game’s combat nothing but justice.

The Twilight Princess Manga Fixes All of the Game's Problems

Twilight Princess is a great game, but it also has a lot of problems previous 3D Zeldas never had. The game’s pacing is a mess. Most of the set pieces are front-loaded before the first three dungeons, while the first three hours are an absolute slog to play through. The difficulty is non-existent, with enemies barely doing any damage, let alone hitting you. The story, while well-written and carried by Midna, also suffers from having virtually no thematic depth.

Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and The Wind Waker all have deep stories about life, grief, the passage of time and culture and moving on from the past. Twilight Princess is very surface level by comparison. This only applies to the game, however. The Twilight Princess manga does an amazing job of punching up the plot and ironing out all pacing issues. Since Link is an actual character with a defined personality and in-depth development, the manga’s slower moments actually breathe much better, instead focusing on world building and fleshing out Link’s relationship with Midna.

Thematically, the manga does more with the game’s unexamined themes of power and duality by featuring deeper political scheming, highlighting the bizarre dynamic between Zant & Midna, and using Link’s arc to highlight how he and Midna change one another. NPCs also get a lot of love, like the members of the Resistance. The only thing the manga downplays is the actual dungeon crawling, but that makes sense considering there isn't any gameplay. Even then, dungeons are still great settings with plenty of atmosphere and strong action scenes.

Twilight Princess is the Ultimate Ocarina of Time Sequel

The best thing the Twilight Princess manga does is tie itself more cleanly to Ocarina of Time. Twilight Princess touches on destiny as a motif in the main game, but the final confrontation between Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf feels more like fan service than something the game had been building up to in the end. This is not the case in the manga. Twilight Princess features several references to Ocarina of Time, showing how the passage of time has shaped Hyrule and linked Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf’s fates together. Thematically flashbacks to Ocarina are wonderfully done and set up a finale that far surpasses the Twilight Princess game’s set-up.

The final few chapters adapting Link’s last battle with Ganondorf feature a deep examination of the series’ cyclical nature, and the cycle of reincarnation that the three Triforce holders are trapped in. Ganondorf’s familiarly with Zelda during the manga’s tea party scene is downright chilling, and the bond Link forms with the Hero of Time’s spirit throughout the manga makes Ganondorf’s death all the more cathartic. When Nintendo finally gets around to remaking Twilight Princess from the ground up, they need to look to the manga for inspiration. Never before has the Zelda franchise’s mythology felt so meaningful, profound, and nuanced.