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E3 - Nintendo Shows DS Details, Realistic Zelda
An anonymous reader writes "Following the earlier leak of Nintendo DS pictures, there are hands-on details regarding Nintendo's handheld console over at GameSpot - Cube-Europe also has a list of Nintendo's first-party DS games, including 'Animal Crossing DS, Mario Kart DS, Metroid Prime: Hunters, a new Super Mario Bros game, Super Mario 64X4, and WarioWare Inc. DS'." Elsewhere, xDCDx writes "Nintendo just showed at their E3 conference a trailer of the new Zelda game for the Gamecube [there are also screenshots available], this time using a more mature visual look, rather than a cel-shaded one."
Remember the cool CG Link/Gannondorf battle Nintendo showed us before Gamecube came out? And then they created that annoyingly cute cell-shaded Zelda game instead?...I do
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Before Wind Waker. Perhaps the gamecube could have done even better than it is currently. I'm not saying Wind Waker is a bad game, but Nintendo should have realized that the average gamer wants his franchises like they remember them and may not be willing to try something different right away. If they would have realeased a realistic zelda game first(remember at the time of gamecubes release there were a few teaser trailers for a realistic zelda game, then they announced the cel shading) it probaly could have bolstered game cube sales. After the cube was on a more solid footing, then they should have tried to branch out and try different things like the cel shading etc.
Miyamoto is a genious, but sometimes you just have to take care of business first!
You know, I didn't mind the "Cell-da" look of the Wind Waker game. I acutally liked it, and my daughter (now 5, going on 12) liked it too. (Right after we finish "Kingdom Hearts" I've told her Link is next.)
I never got the cries of "mature Link" from folks out there.
But after that video - damn. It looks great (the castle looks a little blocky, but ah well), but the rest of it was, well, kick ass.
Will I still be able to play this game with my daughter? I think so. While there's still violence, it doesn't look like "blood and guts" - just the same kind of violence in other Zelda games, just now with better effects.
And that Balrog creature?
Here's hoping the next Zelda game is as long and wonderful as Ocarina of Time was.
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I'll give MS credit - 4 years ago, you would never have thought that they would trump Sony... and they did. Halo 2 looks great and will sell a million+ copies in November-December alone.
But Nintendo owned the show. The crowd went absolutely bonkers when they showed realistic Zelda. And the skepticism was thrown out when the DS was revealed - it looks great.
In short, E3 2004 won Nintendo is's respect back from many people who had given up on Nintendo (I am not among those people - always loved Big N). It's like that Simpsons episode, where bart lets lisa into his germ "bubble" to try and win the hearts of the students back... "Look... Isn't Nintendo! And it's winning us back!"
You are right. Project Gotham Racing, Halo, Metal Gear, GTA, Manhunt, Final Fantasy and every non-Nintendo game are pushing originality as well. Have you played the games or what?
This is EXACTLY what I was saying, please actually *READ* the comment before bitching about it. A lot of people do like the cels, but a lot of people were also turned off by the idea just because it was *different*
Please actually make an attempt to understand the post before bitching next time.
Did anyone notice that the thunder and lightning are out of order in the video?
Anybody else feel like the PSP was underwhelming after the barrage of cool stuff we got for the DS today? I really wasn't hyped about the DS until today. I dunno what it was specifically, I guess it was just imagining sitting on the recliner, connecting to the net via 802.11, playing somebody on-line, and using the stylus to type messages to them. I just feel like we're getting a portable that has come closer to being a PC. I mean, geez,imagine Command and Conquer on that thing.
"Derp de derp."
Erm. And you're going to tell me next that Ocarina of Time is exactly how the average gamer remembered Zelda from the 8/16 bit generations. Ocarina of Time was a radical change from previous Zelda games, and it didn't do poorly at all.
That was a tech demo, not necessarily a game in development, as mentioned elsewhere.
And, as sibling comment stated, it's the gameplay, stupid. Wind Waker, as far as game engine went, was VERY similar to Ocarina of Time. For some inexplicable reason, though, people took one look at the game and decided it was bad BEFORE ACTUALLY PLAYING IT.
I, personally, disliked Wind Waker, but NOT because of the graphics. I personally rather enjoyed the graphical style. However, Wind Waker eventually devolved into endless sailing and one gigantic fetch quest with really nothing original about it.
You make the baseless assumption that Wind Waker hurt Gamecube sales. What makes you think this? And what makes you think that Ocarina of Time-style Zelda is more "realistic" and less likely to garner the same complaints of "kiddy" that idiots and fanboys spew about Gamecube games of all description?
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I hope nintendo do what i think they might do. The DS could be an awesome little gadget for surfing the net at wireless hotspots. Its got 2x lcd screens, why not have the top screen as the web viewer, and the bottom touch screen as a virtual keyboard. It's got all the capabilties for this to happen, it's just the question of weather nintendo will allow it or not.
We've actually got a lot of fun out of Pacman Vs - and I think there's some entertaining connectivity games to be made. But the GameCube doesn't have enough titles right now, and making high-quality/small-audience titles like these 2 is sort of a kick in the shin.
Four Swords may have required this staggering amount of hardware as part of the game - but it should have been optional on FF:CC.
I'm sure some people have that hardware (or know enough people with GameBoys) - but lots of us don't, and still want to play games with friends that don't have GBA's.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
Well... yea the DS looks awesome (can't wait to play Metroid on two screens) but I wouldn't say that the DS is better then the PSP yet.
The Sony conference really showed off some great games, and the power of the PSP. From short clips of games such as Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk, Twisted Metal, Spy Hunter, Gran Turismo, and a whole slew of EA Sports games, the PSP looks stocked software wise. It didn't stop there either. Sony went on to show the Spiderman 2 trailer playing on Sony's 4.5 inch widescreen display and then blew me away by showing a Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children trailer and telling the press that a UMD version of FF7 AC would be out alongside the DVD.
I think both new handheld's look awesome and hope that their competition really elevates the handheld market to the next level.
This isn't the first time Nintendo has used the over-under screen combination for a portable game. In fact, the first time this layout was used was in 1982 in one of the old Game & Watch games. Amusingly, a version of Zelda was even released in this configuration.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that a multi-screen G&W was also the first Nintendo system to debut the d-pad, the little cross-shaped directional control that replaces an un-thumbable joystick. More than 20 years later it has been copied by everybody and is still used on every console you can buy at SuperTarget.
I enjoyed Wind Waker a lot, and thought the cell-shaded graphics were great. I never saw the realistic Zelda trailer that seemed to cause so much dissapointment when the cell graphics were revealed. Personally, I think it carries the style of the older games -- especially Link to the Past, the greatest of Zeldas -- perfectly. Graphically, anyway. The game itself wasn't perfect, but lots of fun. I'm not going to complain about the graphics in the new one, though -- they look great too.
Veering off topic, Beyond Good and Evil is a cell-shaded adventure game similar to WW but superior in almost every way, IMNSHOBIK. The graphics are better, the environments more detailed, the story more interesting, the characters more entertaining. My one complaint is that it's short -- about as long as WW minus the scour-the-ocean bits. Which is sort of a theme of the game: not annoying the players. Suitable for children, too.
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Actually, I think both Apple and Nintendo succeed with blithering, rabid fanboys who'll drool eagerly over anything emanating from the general vicinity of their respective corporate offices....
Which is cool and all. And Nintendo puts out quality products (if they didn't, they likely wouldn't have aforementioned rabid fanbase). But, having played and owning both the PS2 and GameCube, I think it's a bit disingenious to suggest that Sony can't do innovation (or, for that matter, that Nintendo can't do volume: case-in-point, the GBA).
Plus, just as a completely personal observation, I've tended to see more of what I would call truly innovative games for the PS2 than the GameCube, but I can't tell if that's simply because I tend to see more games, period, for the PS2. For my record, it's not innovation, per se, that's Nintendo's strongest point, so much as, like Apple, an ability to produce a good solid product, even if it's not the most overwhelmingly original thing on the market. Which is just as important, I should think.
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There's yet to be proven that online games make any money. You're paying maybe $20 a month to access a server for a game, how much do you think the people maintaining the servers are making an hour? Only companies like Sony and Microsoft which can bleed money are able to support something like online gaming in its infancy.
Outside of MMORPG's, I've yet to see any value added to being on a network that plopping a friend next to you wouldn't add. There's still not that many online games even though all the systems have network adapters, so until there's developer interest, why should Nintendo push a non-existent feature? It didn't do SEGA any good.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
I haven't played Majora's Mask, but I've completed the Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker. The core gameplay, for the most part, is the same. The biggest difference is cosmetic, and the changes in gameplay were rather minor (which isn't a bad thing... the Ocarina of Time was a genuinely fun game, and there haven't been very many similar games that have come close to the same level of quality). They improved the "battle engine" a bit by giving Link a few more moves, and they added a little novelty to traveling the overworld with the sailing theme, but it's still the same basic game... same lock-on targeting, many of the same or similar moves, many similar or identical weapons, many of the same kinds of monsters, ect. Dungeon design also follows pretty much the same patterns as before, also, with a number of overworld side-quests (same as before also).
I personally enjoyed the Ocarina of Time more, partially probably due to the fact that before the Ocarina of Time, I'd never played a game like it before (I don't think one truly existed). The Wind Waker, in terms of gameplay, wasn't a huge leap forward... it did improve on its predecessor in a few ways (graphics, better battle engine), however it also took a few steps back (instead of having seven great dungeons to collect seven mystical artifacts, you have to do somewhat hum-drum and at times boring overworld side-quests.)
I hope they take their time with the next Zelda and go back to having ten quality dungeons (plus mini-dungeons and overworld quests), as was the case in Link to the Past and the Ocarina of Time.