Contributed to by N-Europe's Staff.

With the impending launch of Link's Crossbow Training, is the Zelda franchise at risk of over-saturating like Mario?

Tom "Tphi" Phillips:

To start off, I have to say I don't have a massive problem with Nintendo using its franchises for different types of games. Its been going on for generations. Remember the old 16-bit edutainment titles? Well, they're probably best left forgotten. But he's the mascot of the company, which is why we have Mario Kart, Mario Party etc.

And that's also why I don't see us Nintendo gamers playing Super Hyrule Kart anytime soon, racing around on the backs of Gorons or hanging onto the talons of Rutos. Nintendo already has the Mario universe to fill all of these secondary titles - a universe that is arguably better known and more "family-friendly" than that of the Zelda series.

I'm going to enjoy Link's Crossbow Training as the mini-game it is. Its a smart tactic from Nintendo to bring in Zelda fans - and a conscious one to show the Zapper can be used to portray something other than gun-shooting. Super Paper Zelda is a long way off yet.

Iun Hockley:

Well, frankly I think the Zelda series is something that should come around once a generation and certainly no more than that. The anticipation of the new title is enough to fuel my gaming interest for at least a year, and occupy a good few months when I finally have it in my hands.

Zelda is much like Metroid in that less is more - fewer games means more time to perfect, less information gives us more hype and the minimalist approach to the main characters is a stroke of genius. Having other characters in the game define the hero is much more than an over-complicated tour of everything that Link or Samus has done from birth. The disconnected storylines in the Zelda franchise lead to endless opportunities for expansion.

The integrity of the name is important, and that's why creating sub-divisions like Four Swords and Link's Crossbow Training affect perceptions of the series as a whole. Then again, it is extremely unlikely that we will see Link Power Tennis, or Link's Flight Training. It is better when spin offs occur that they remain within the mythos of the series. That's why Crossbow Training is acceptable and a game like Hylian Fishing Tournament would actually be quite good.

Joao "Hellfire" Lopes:

I never had a problem with the supposed "Mario milking". Mario was since his genesis, a character that was used ina variety of games and things haven't changed. Lending his image to do some games that would otherwise be extremely poor, force the developers to do some extra effort.

However, I have no doubt in my mind that Nintendo doesn't intend to put Link through the same as Mario. Link's Crossbow Training is just an extra with the zapper, a neat little "tech demo" if you will and I doubt we'll see any Link Kart and Link Inline Skating in the future, so I'm not in the least bit worried.

Dean "Cube" Jones:

It's about time Zelda got at least one proper spin-off (the only thing so far was Four Swords Adventures, but that kept most of the gameplay), and it's also a great game to give away with the Zapper - It reduces the comparisons of the Zapper to guns while giving us a liked character to play as.

Zelda isn't in any risk of getting contaminated with lots of spin-off games - it doesn't suit the franchise so it won't happen. We may get one or two, but not many. Mario is only "milked" so much because he suits it - probably more than any other character in existence. There's no real plot in the games, no timeline, characters can be created or forgotten about at any time and Mario doesn't really have any set purpose like other characters.

Zelda and Metroid, on the other hand, have plots and timelines (yes, Zelda officially has a timeline), and the characters have specific roles in their respective universes. They won't be milked because doing too much would ruin the universe the main games create - Zelda's universe isn't totally random like Mario's.

Jordan Khoviteri-Zadeh:

Lets be honest, the Zelda franchise isn't anything like Mario. Mario can be adapted to pretty much anything and everything. There has been very, very few Zelda spin offs. Infact, off the top of my head the only things I can think of are Smash Bros. (if that can even be counted as one - Ed.) and Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosey Rupeeland - and the latter of those was just utter madness.

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with branching Zelda off into different areas, I just don't want Nintendo to think they have to stick to current franchises. To be honest, I think it would have been better if they had done remixes of old games, or made a new set of mini games involving different franchises using the zapper.

Sam C. Gittins:

What's the harm? Mario has been pulling off successful spin-offs for years and no one has complained (much) and yes, admittedly, the Zelda franchise isn't exactly best suited to nearly every genre under the sun, but in some ways it's high time it had one and Link's Crossbow Training may not be as bad an idea as some have initially made out to be. It's certainly not the end of the world as we know it.

So Nintendo have chosen to release a Zapper add-on for the Wii. Great, we may get a new version of Duck Hunt as well as other classic 8-bit shooters - as well as entirely brand new franchises which will make use of this peripheral. First though, they need to launch the thing - and what better way to launch than to bundle it with a free game based on a popular franchise?

In my opinion it's a good move rather than a bad one - think back to Zelda: Twilight Princess, what was one of the things it lacked? Mini-games is what, there just wasn't enough of them, so if Link's Crossbow Training is basically a collection of Zelda mini games then how exactly is that bad?

Basically, it isn't, and when the peripheral with it's "free" pack-in finally reaches the shelves (and eventually Xmas stockings) no doubt it will merely be just another game to add to the already diverse library of the Wii. It won't tarnish the franchise, it won't be gimmicky, in fact the only thing it will be is fun. And isn't that what games are about?

Either way I will quite happily be purchasing it when it comes out, purely for the enjoyable experience which it is guarenteed to provide; oh and for the free peripheral of course...

Nathan "Tellyn" Whincup:

I feel that the Mario franchise isn't as badly milked as everyone claims it is. Rather than spin-offs, I view things like Mario Kart, Mario Strikers, Mario Party etc. as different franchises. The games also contain a good degree of quality, unlike EA's yearly milkings of FIFA and Tiger Woods. I'm usually not a fan of football and racing games, but Mario Kart and Strikers gave me many hours of fun, and I often play them with friends.

This is why I'm not concerned about a possible Zelda milkage. Nintendo aren't idiots, they know that Zelda is one of the best and most respected franchises in the gaming industry. They wouldn't allow a bad Zelda game to be thrown carelessly onto store shelves. At least not with Shigsy watching over them like a hungry guard dog.

The only Zelda spin-offs we've ever seen (bar the CD-i titles, as they don't count) were the Four Swords games, and even they had fantastically frantic gameplay. Link's Crossbow Training will be a great introduction to the Wii Zapper, and I severely doubt we'll see any more spin-offs for a long time.

What do you think? Leave us a comment below...