Retro Studios Once Pitched a Zelda Spin-Off Game to Nintendo Called Heroes of Hyrule

gamerant.com:

While Retro Studios is best known for its work on the Metroid Prime games, the developer has occasionally stepped out to develop for other Nintendo franchises. This includes titles like Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii and Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS. The studio is once again hard at work developing the next Metroid Prime entry, though there have been some reports that indicate that it is still in the early stages of being developed. In addition, one game has recently come to light that was originally being developed for the studio, this being a spin-off to The Legend of Zelda series known as Heroes of Hyrule.

This isn't the first time that Retro Studios was working on a Zelda spin-off before it was canceled, as evidenced by some concept art that was leaked last year that involved a playable male Sheikah for a game known as Project X. This would involve the player following this Sheikah's journey through a Dark Timeline, which would also explore the origin of the Master Sword. DidYouKnowGaming covered Project X in its latest video, but also managed to uncover another spin-off, Heroes of Hyrule, complete with concept art and a brief plot synopsis.

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Near the end of DidYouKnowGaming's video regarding Retro Studios' canceled Sheikah game, they mentioned as they were speaking with former studio members, they came into possession of the aforementioned Heroes of Hyrule, which was going to be a completely different type of spin-off. According to the writer of the video, Dr. Lava, it would have been a strategy RPG, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.

The story's timeline of the canceled Heroes of Hyrule was also included, where Link goes on to save