In an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo producer Kensuke Tanabe was expressing his concerns about the response to the latest Dillon's Rolling Western game and the lack of awareness around it. During the discussion with Kotaku, Tanabe offhandedly mentioned that Vanpool, the developers behind Dillon's Rolling Western, were working on a horror title starring Tingle before it was cancelled.

Tingle, of course, is the onesie-wearing adult in The Legend of Zelda games having made his debut in Majora's Mask. Always on the lookout for both adventure and money, Tingle deciphered maps for Link for a princely sum while overseeing what appeared to be put-upon labor one his personal, tiny island.

“Looking back eight years ago, we were developing a horror game with Vanpool that starred Tingle as the main character,” Tanabe told Kotaku, “but that project was canceled due to a variety of reasons.”

No other details were provided and it is unlikely Nintendo is ever going to revive an eight-year-old Tingle horror game that was cancelled. Still, it's not the first time Tingle has headlined a game, as he had two DS titles also developed by Vanpool. The first one, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, released only in Japan and Europe. The second game, Irodzuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip, was only released in Japan.

The two games were RPGs with Zelda trappings, but aged poorly with some regrettable homophobic jokes, especially in the second game that never left Japan.

Dillon's Rolling Western's latest game, Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers, released on May 24 for the 3DS. You can find our review of the game here.

[Source: Kotaku]

I have my doubts it would have been a particularly gritty horror game, but I would be really curious to see what their plans for that game would be. Fatal Frame with Tingle would be pretty good.