The Reinvention of Zelda

Gamespot reports on a lecture at GDC on Thursday, with commentary from Nintendo's manager of software development Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma went through the very long process involved in bringing Twilight Princess to the American audience. Realistic graphics were chosen for the US playerbase, but many other decisions came about via unorthodox thinking and the intervention of a higher power. "It was around this stage that Aonuma was talking to Nintendo senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto, who told him something along the lines of, 'It's as though the Revolution (later renamed the Wii) was designed just for Zelda! Why don't you try making a Zelda for the Revolution?' In the end, believes Aonuma, the kind of direct control offered by the Wii Remote was exactly what was needed to breathe life into the game."

Re:I might give it a try...

[MemoryDragon]

This is purely the beginning... Zelda TP is very puzzle intense, but once you are above the first 5% you have lots of action.

Re:Owners of the game: can a left-hander play it?

[Tofof]

No, there's no "left-handed mode" setting or anything like that. However, unlike in, say, Wii Sports, the actual swinging motions you make have no effect on Link's action. Instead, it's basically a direct port from the GC version - instead of pushing a button to attack, you waggle the remote. The actual angle and speed of the swing don't matter - you can't aim the sword with the remote. Instead of the old 'hold b, then release' scheme, you waggle the nunchuck, and Link does his spinning move. The lock-on and jump attacks are all button presses even on the Wii. Bottom line - I'd be shocked if handedness affected it for anyone at all. The only places where you actually do any aiming are the ranged weapons (bow, hookshot equivalent, etc), and those zoom in to a first-person mode with a crosshair - again, Link's handedness shouldn't affect your ability to put the crosshair on the spot you want to shoot.

Re:I might give it a try...

[autojive]

They are supposed to be a bit "role playing" but are very linear.

Um, pretty much all of the Zelda games are linear. Go to this dungeon, get this item & defeat this boss, get direction to the next dungeon to get that item & defeat that boss, wash, rinse, repeat. I don't know what games you've been playing to make you think that they were anything but linear.

Re:Great game, spotty controls

[SethraLavode]

I had difficulty with the shield block at first but then I realized I was doing the motion wrong. Instead of moving your hand forward in the thumb+index finger direction, think of the nunchuck as the handle of the shield and move your hand straight forward in the direction of your fingers (which is usually down, depending on how you hold the nunchuck).

I really liked Wind Waker though

[OrangeTide]

I guess I'm one of the minority that thought Wind Waker's style of graphics and game play was the best thing Zelda has ever seen. I'm fine with alienating teen gamers, they have no taste. :)