An anonymous email tipster, claiming to have gotten some hands-on time with the game, has sent in a list of “info” in regards to A Link to the Past 2. The following news should therefore be treated as nothing more than rumors at this time. We are unable to confirm the identity of the person who has sent in this information, and we most certainly cannot confirm any of the info posted below.
The game, while set in the world of A Link to the Past, does not take place right after the events of its predecessor Some time has passed since Ganon’s defeat in the Dark World. Hyrule is in a period of rebuilding and prominence when a new threat rises.
The villain is not Ganondorf or Vaati. There an entirely new foe to the series.
At this time the game is much more in depth than the past couple of handheld Zelda titles. There are at least 6 dungeons to overcome. Link will not be returning to any of the dungeons like the developers played with in Skyward Sword. The game is more traditional with the Zelda formula.
Unlike its predecessor, there will be some focus on the franchise’s races via towns and etc. No details were provided on where their homes would be or how they would be situated. This may be interesting to see since the game is set in the same overworld as A Link to the Past.
The Dark World exists, but not in the same manner. Link’s wish at the end of the first game changed the world. The Dark World we will see is a similar albeit new form. It was returned to the Golden Land for a brief period. Evil beings still searched for it to acquire the Triforce.
Link is cursed, which is how he learns the weird abilities we saw in the reveal trailer.
Zelda plays a limited role. Nothing like what we saw in Spirit Tracks.
The game has some kind of multi-player.
Anyways, that is the end of this round’s rumors. Some of it seems plausible, and some of it not so much. What do you think of the rumors? Are they believable? E3 is just a week away. We will know if any of this is true then.
Nintendo’s next-generation console, the Wii U, will include a new power-saving feature that automatically shuts the system down after a certain period of inactivity. If you walk away and leave the console idle for too long, even with a game paused. it will eventually power off on its own.
Out of the box, this automatic shutdown option is turned on by default and is set to trigger after 60 minutes of inactivity. Fortunately, players aren’t stuck with that setting. Inside the Wii U’s system menu, you can either adjust the idle time before shutdown or disable the feature entirely if you prefer to keep your console running.
While it’s a small addition, it’s a useful one, especially for anyone who forgets to turn off the system after a play session. However, players should be careful to save their progress before leaving the game unattended. If you walk away mid-dungeon or during a long boss battle pause, you might return to find your Wii U powered off—and your last checkpoint waiting for you.
I was browsing Reddit earlier when I came across one of the most amazing Lego pieces I have ever seen. Reddit user, Remig posted a picture of his newly finished Hylian Shield, made entirely out of Legos. I do not personally create anything with Legos, but I immediately recognized how hard it must have been to pull off some of the curvature and designs within the shield.
According to some comments from Remig on the Reddit thread, this piece cost about 1500 dollars to put together. That’s a heck of a lot of Legos! Anyways, I have the picture embedded here on the site, but be sure to head on over to his profile and let him know what a great job he did.
Majora’s Mask 3D Listing – FAKE
Majora's Mask August 29, 2012 Noah Glaser 0 Comments
Yesterday, we talked about the possibility of Majora’s Mask 3D being announced today. To learn what this fuss was all about, I recommend checking out the article we posted yesterday before continuing. They main evidence that most people are accepting about the rumors being false is that Nintendo didn’t announce anything in their conference today regarding a Majora’s Mask remake for the 3DS. Apparently, the European website that “listed Majora’s Mask” yesterday came out and explained what happened. Here’s the link to the conversation.
@snowyday2 Ah that image? That was a photoshop someone had thrown together I'm afraid. Would be awesome though right?
Photoshop. A useful yet annoying tool that everybody loves to use to get people excited. It makes sense that this wasn’t true but at the same time, it is a little bit sad. We haven’t had any core Zelda news since Skyward Sword came out. It would’ve given us something to look forward to, that’s for sure.
So what do you think? Are you relieved that the rumors were false? Or are you genuinely disappointed? Tell us what you think!
Hyrule Historia Being Localized by Dark Horse Comics
Hyrule Historia, the book well known throughout the Zelda community for unveiling the timeline, is finally getting translated into English. The book, released in Japan only, brought tons of insight into the Zelda series including concept art, unknown facts, the timeline, and more.
Since its release abroad, fans have been wishing for an English version. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics, this wish will soon be granted. Dark Horse Comics has teamed up with Nintendo to produce a translated version of the book that will be released in January of 2013. The specific release date listed is January 29.
According to the Diamond Book Distributors website, the book will retail for $34.99, much cheaper than the 80-100 that it costs to import one.
The other day I posted an update on the site in regards to a Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask Promotional VHS I found on eBay. In that update I said I would also post the video’s actual footage.
So, keeping to my word, I bring you the video that contains the promotional footage for Majora’s Mask and a sneak preview of Banjo Tooie.
Kid Icarus Uprising was recently released and with it came several cool Easter Eggs. Nintendo games always seem to reference one another in some form or another and this one is no different. In Kid Icarus Uprising there are 2 different Zelda references that have been spotted so far.
The first reference is the chime that is played when solving a puzzle in the Wish Seed Level. After completing a puzzle the chime that plays is similar to the puzzle solving chime from the Zelda series.
The second, and most glaring reference is to Navi of Ocarina of Time. The Fairy Orbitars idol description states, “Tired of pixies asking you to listen?” This is of course referencing the famous and vastly annoying “hey, look, listen” alerts of Navi.
Have you spotted any other Zelda references in Kid Icarus? If so let us know in the comments.
With Skyward Sword being out for just over two months it may be a bit premature to start thinking about the next Zelda title. However, after the incredible E3 tech demo for Zelda Wii U I just can’t help but think of what potential that game has. Nintendo took a gigantic step forward with Skyward Sword and progressed the series in ways unseen since Zelda went 3D in Ocarina of Time. And judging by comments made by Zelda developers, during the entire process, this was just the beginning.
The Zelda Wii U tech demo has left fans wetting their mouths wanting more. Seeing Zelda in stunning HD visuals was an incredible feeling, and a vastly improved Twilight Princess style graphics only helped to bring out its beauty. This graphical representation of our favorite green-garbed hero combined with the innovative new technology of the Wii U, helps to bring the anticipation for the next Zelda to an extraordinary level.
With such a high level of anticipation I cannot help but think of ways that Nintendo can continue to advance the Legend of Zelda series.
HD Zelda
This may bring out some rage with hardcore gamers, but I personally did not like the graphical style of Twilight Princess. Though I appreciated the effort from Nintendo to create a realistic Zelda, I just felt as if it was improperly executed, and did little to provide support to the overall game. In my opinion The Wind Waker was an overall much better game, and the cartoon visuals helped to propel the game in many different ways. For the first time in series history, Link and his counter-parts were emotionally expressive thanks in part to the graphics which allowed characters to express emotions in a rich and vibrant way.
With all of this in mind, I could not help but get excited after seeing the Zelda Wii U tech demo. I am a believer that graphics should be used to enhance a game, like it did with The Wind Waker, and with Zelda Wii U I think this realistic style of graphics could do so. The realistic graphics of Twilight Princess served no purpose beyond being a way to please the fans. With Zelda Wii U, realistic graphics, albeit upgraded, could really bring out elements never seen in the Zelda series.
The Wii U is of course Nintendo’s first HD console which brings out tons of visual possibilities. One of my biggest complaints with Skyward Sword is how dated the game looked. Graphics normally play a minute role in my reviews, but with Skyward Sword I could not help but feel that the Wii did not give the game what it truly deserved. In Skyward Sword edges were rough, scenery from afar blurry, and textures were all over the place. For a game in which Nintendo touted graphics as being a major role in the game-play, it was sort of a letdown.
However, with a HD console Zelda can finally get the visuals it deserves. At CES of this year, the Zelda tech demo made another appearance. This time however the presenter had much more control over what was happening as it was more than just a prerecorded video. Using the Wii U controller he was able to change the scenery from night to day, change angles, and switch the view from television to tablet. During the demo every aspect of the environment stood out in some way. The lighting and attention to detail was by far one of the most impressive bits I have ever seen on any console.
If Nintendo is able to give its best franchise a game with a superior attention to details like this, then I totally support this visual style and hope to see it put into place. With this in mind, I would also like state that I would be open to any other graphical style pending it can bring something to the Zelda series. The Wind Waker’s created a vibrant expressive world. Skyward Sword’s highlighted and improved the use of the Wii Motion Plus controls. And perhaps a realistic Zelda Wii U can finally bring the fantasy to life in ways that Twilight Princess failed at doing.
Downloadable Content
Maybe this will be part of the upcoming Nintendo Network
Word on the street is that Nintendo is finally warming up to the idea of allowing downloadable content for their games. Japan has already received a game that supports this feature and it would be insanity for Nintendo not to follow through and bring DLC to America as well.
The Wii and 3DS eShop have all been good starts to Nintendo’s virtual services, but a fully supported DLC platform on the Wii U would be icing on the cake. Every other console on the market has embraced downloadable addons to their games, and gamers eat this additional content up as fast as they can. The potential is there and enabling downloadable content only brings forth another platform in which Nintendo can make some money.
Now Zelda on the Wii U could be the perfect cash cow for Nintendo’s DLC market. Zelda games always score highly in reviews and despite the open exploration that the series provides, fans are often left begging for more. Skyward Sword was just released and fans are already highly anticipating Zelda on the 3DS and even on the Wii U.
Typically speaking Zelda games have a very long development cycle which leaves a large gap in series releases. This problem could be fixed by offering simple extensions to the games via downloadable content. The lore and history of Hyrule itself offers up tons of side-quest possibilities alone. Developers could add on new game modes, new areas to explore, extra dungeons, extra content similar to what we saw with the Oracles (via game linking), and much more. To get an idea for what I mean just look at the Fallout series. For a fairly low price, gamers are able to acquire several more hours worth of game-play brought via new quests and areas to explore.
I know I would love to see some downloadable Legend of Zelda content. Matter of fact just say the word and I will throw ten dollars towards the download now.
Nintendo Needs to Get It Right
Fail!
When the Wii’s motion controls were announced many envisioned immersive 1:1 gameplay that would innovate the series for the first time in many years. The Wii was released in 2006 and little did fans realize it would take 5 years for the Wii’s first Zelda game to even be released. Yes Skyward Sword ended up being a wonderful entry to the Zelda series and yes one could say it was worth the wait. However, when looking back one can realize all the wasted time and potential. The Gamecube saw 2 full-length Zelda adventures and Four Swords Adventures. Both The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were fantastic games that changed the series in their own unique ways.
On the Wii, Skyward Sword was supposed to be the game that would innovate the Zelda series. There was going to be a drastic overhaul of the overworld to dungeon formula and many other staple elements from the series were supposed to be revolutionized. However in the end Skyward Sword was not able to bring this change to the level that was expected.
The motion controls were almost flawless and I cannot imagine playing a 3D Zelda game without them anymore. However, Skyward Sword has taken its fair share of criticism for the small overworld, its abundance in fetching quests, and for not pushing the envelope far enough.
With Zelda Wii U, I would like to see things done right. Nintendo cannot take 5 years to push out a product that was barely better (up for debate) than the two previous Zelda games. Nintendo needs to use the Wii U’s unique tablet controller to its advantage and get things done right, the first time.
Have another idea for Zelda Wii U? Something else you would like to see? Let us know in the comments. Also do not forget to check out our latest video from our Skyward Sword Walkthrough.
Earlier today we made an update on an interview with Miyamoto in regards to the difficulty of Skyward Sword. In that same interview with Miyamoto the interviewer asked him on the origins of the famous Hand in the Toilet guy.
Miyamoto stated that it is based off of Japanese horror stories , “There are some ghost stories in Japan where — when you are sitting in the bathroom in the traditional style of the Japanese toilet — a hand is actually starting to grab you from beneath. It’s a very scary story.”
How cool is that? Let us know in the comments what you think.
As we recently reported, Nintendo revealed theofficial Zelda Timeline when the Hyrule Historia Book was released in Japan.
With the official Zelda Timeline finally putting the debate to rest many fans began to dive into the timeline and noticed a variety of mistakes and things that just did not make sense. The reason for this? The simple answer is that its because the timeline is far from perfect and Zelda developer Aonuma confirms this fact.
A recent statement from Aonuma seems to hint that admission, “from the very beginning, Zelda games have been developed with the top priority of focusing on the game mechanics rather than the story.” He goes on to comment about some of the glaring issues, “While reading over “The Full History of Hyrule,” it’s possible that some parts may look contradictory,” he said. “For instance, the Mogma race or the beetle item that appear on the very first story do not appear on any other game that takes place in the future. I’d like to ask everyone just to enjoy the book and to be broad-minded, and to think that those parts are the way they are because of the way Zelda games are developed.”
So what problems have you seen with the Zelda timeline? Comment and discuss them below.
