Next Open-World Zelda Should Rethink Ultrahand and Move Past It

Nintendo has spent almost four decades turning The Legend of Zelda into a showcase for standout gameplay systems, and Tears of the Kingdom’s physics-fueled grab-and-build tool, Ultrahand, is arguably the franchise’s boldest entry yet. Still, the best path for the next open-world Zelda may be to move on from that signature ability entirely.

That position may feel extreme to long-time fans—Ultrahand became so closely associated with Tears of the Kingdom that it dominated conversations for months. But Nintendo has often treated its most famous mechanics as experiments that peak once, and there’s a credible argument that keeping Ultrahand around now could blunt the very qualities that made it exciting in the first place.

The Legend of Zelda is a classic franchise that I skipped out on over the years, so marathoning them let me form my own opinions on many classics.

Tears of the Kingdom’s Ultrahand Was Innovation at Its Finest

This isn’t meant to dismiss Ultrahand, though. The mechanic is genuinely clever: it turns Hyrule into a bigger playground for player-made constructions, all while sticking to predictable rules. Objects have weight, connections relate to what they’re carrying, and the physics system usually follows through on whatever contraption players assemble, no matter how wild the idea is. That steady reliability may not be flashy, but it forms a solid base that lets bigger, stranger moments happen afterward.

Ultrahand also gave players real authorship. It stays satisfying whether you use it straightforwardly or get creative. As a result, two people might never solve the same shrine in the same way, and everything from bridges to mechs, siege catapults, and even flying vehicles that “shouldn’t” work can be built using the same small set of tools. Designing a system with that kind of large-scale freedom is hard, and it’s easy to underestimate—one reason Ultrahand continued to feel fresh as months passed.

Nintendo has long treated its signature mechanics as one-and-done experiments, and there is a strong case to be made that this grabber has already run its course.

There’s also a metatextual angle: Ultrahand produced a huge amount of shareable material online. Very soon after launch, the internet was packed with clips featuring walking war machines, elaborate Korok-themed contraptions, and vehicles that seemed to defy both physics and good sense. It was a rare stretch where social platforms actually felt fun to browse, and it didn’t hurt that every clip acted as a strong free advertisement for the game.

Ultrahand Had Its Time in the Sun

The bigger issue is that the next open-world Zelda—whatever form it takes—would effectively become the third chapter of this style of idea, not the second. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launched in 2024 with the Tri-Rod plus abilities like Bind and Reverse Bind. In a smaller, top-down adventure, those tools revive the object-grabbing heart of Ultrahand. It isn’t a direct copy, but seeing Zelda pull a boulder out of the ground with a green tether still feels strikingly familiar.

Tier List

In a way, Echoes of Wisdom runs into the same “been here before” feeling. Players and reviewers pointed out that Bind can start to feel repetitive once the echo system can summon beds, platforms, and monsters on demand. Because of that, Ultrahand-like grabbing can start to resemble a tool many players barely remember they’re carrying, rather than a central pillar of gameplay. Even with real differences between Bind and Ultrahand, the overall effect suggests the concept may be approaching its limit.

Ditching Ultrahand Is the Smart Move

Retiring Ultrahand ultimately comes down to opportunity cost. Nintendo’s biggest “flagship” mechanics tend to work best when they’re allowed to define the entire game around them. They should set the tone for how puzzles work, how traversal unfolds, and how combat plays out, from the ground up. Ultrahand earned its spotlight in 2023, but the next step should be something else taking over the role of headline system. Keeping Ultrahand bolted onto a new main idea risks delivering two half-formed mechanics instead of one truly excellent experience.

I’d argue that clinging to it now might diminish the exact quality that made Ultrahand thrilling in the first place.

That point also applies to the hardware side of things. Switch 2 represents a meaningful leap over the original system, yet Ultrahand’s ongoing physics simulation may be the kind of ongoing overhead that could be better used for a new, more surprising concept. Removing that workload could give the next big gimmick more room to breathe, rather than forcing it to share the stage with something it shouldn’t have to compete against.

Getting rid of Ultrahand also fits how this franchise tends to evolve. Zelda has a history of reinventing itself mechanically: the Ocarina of Time, sailing in Wind Waker, and the trains of Spirit Tracks each served as the anchor for one specific game before the series moved on. Ultrahand has already had its defining showcase, and the pattern suggests its natural successor is something we haven’t seen yet.

A new slate would mean there’s no ceiling on what could come next, and the rumor cycle has already offered a tantalizing glimpse. Ongoing leaks about the next open-world entry suggest some kind of dimension-shifting traversal—an idea that sounds like the kind of reality-bending hook that could change puzzle-solving the way Ultrahand did through construction. Nintendo hasn’t confirmed anything, at least not yet, but regardless of whether that exact theory is right, the desire for a fresh mechanic feels obvious.

Room to Build Something New

• Image via Nintendo

None of this is meant as a slam on Ultrahand. The mechanic has already earned its place among the series’ best tricks and toys. The core reason it landed so hard is that it arrived unexpectedly and rewrote the rulebook. You can iterate for years, but you can’t recreate the original feeling by running the same trick a third time. In other words, reverence and repetition aren’t the same thing—and this series has always understood the difference.

The Legend of Zelda isn’t a franchise that clings to its finest ideas. Instead, it buries them and digs up something stranger. If Nintendo wants the smartest move with Ultrahand, it should treat the system as a completed chapter and trust itself to craft a far better one from scratch. That trust—more than any single gadget—is exactly why players keep showing up for each new vision of Hyrule.