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."

Comments

Nintendo changed zelda before

[l33t-gu3lph1t3]

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

Re:Nintendo changed zelda before

[Anonymous Coward]

You know that the Spaceworld 2000 demo you're talking about was a tech demo, right? Or were you also expecting a game where you could manipulate hundreds of Marios on-screen at once? Maybe a Meowth game too?

The reasons for the cell-shaded Zelda have been mentioned before....they wanted to play with the expressiveness of the characters. They did a good job with that, and now they're going in another direction. Hardly worthy of criticism.

Re:Nintendo changed zelda before

[Dragoon412]

It wasn't the cell shading that made Wind Waker look so kiddified. Take a look at games like Robotech Battlecry for instance. Cell shading can look damned cool. The problem was that Link was a fat little 6 year-old.

I'm tired of the issue being polarized into two camps. Not everything Nintendo does is aimed expressly at children, and that certainly doesn't disqualify them from making a great game. But on the other hand, just because people want a more adult feel to their games doesn't mean everything needs to be blood and guts. Personally, I just don't want to be insulted by the game I'm playing, I don't want to strangle someone to death with his own intestines.

And that's the problem that I had, and I'm sure many other people had with Wind Waker. It was a good game; I don't think anyone who played it would say otherwise. But I grew up on Zelda. Ever since the NES days, I had envisioned Link as a hero, a champion; something I thought of as cool. Chubby children aren't cool. Their friends that have foot-long boogers hanging from their noses are even less cool.

I'm looking forward to this Zelda. I was so disgusted with the connectivity 'features' of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and the absolutely dismal game line-up on the GBA that I traded both in and bought Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and another year's subscription to Xbox Live. This Zelda just may redeem Nintendo in my eyes, because Mario 8614: Now He's Got a Vacuum Cleaner Ha, Look How 'Innovative' We Are sure isn't going to cut it.

Damn!

[Dark Paladin]

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.

Fool me once...

[WwWonka]

"Nintendo just showed at their E3 conference a trailer of the new Zelda game for the Gamecube [there are also screenshots available]"

Ok, those look damn smoooooth if I say so myself BUT are those in-game shots or the dreaded "let's show the incredibly breath taking cinematic art and make it LOOK in-game even though we will soon find out after dropping 50 bones that the in-game graphics are as bad as ET the Extra Terrestial on the Atari 2600!"

Nintendo clearly won this year's E3...

[BTWR]

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!"

MODS: quit calling this guy interesting

[zapp]

This guy is just another guy blabbing about how *he* doesnt like the visual effects of a particular game.

Tons of people (myself included) lived the look of Wind Waker, and besides, the game isn't about the graphics, its about the fucking GAME.

You Missed A Couple Things

[lotsofno]

What about the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes quicktime movie?

Starfox quicktime movie?

Advance Wars: Under Fire screens?

DS high res renders?

WarioWare DS & Super Mario 64x4 screens? Metroid Prime: Hunters & PictoChat screens?

EToychest... Good times.

Screens of DS Titles

[skidde]

And N-Sider has some screenshots from GameCube/GBA/DS games, including all the DS first party titles. Looks like MKDS will have some courses from MKDD? And the new SMB game looks... well, a bit out of place, but cool nonetheless. Doesn't look like it's using the second screen that much, though.

I'm still stumpted as to why DS would be able to play GBA games if it's an entirely different system, but whatever. IGN seems pleased.

Re:I got scared for a minute

[morcheeba]

"milking Mario"

Uh, thanks for that visual image.

Maybe I'm missing something...but

[GoatEnigma]

"Blades will Bleed... Shields will break"...???

They need to come up with some better suspense building taglines to go along with their cool looking game. Seriously.

Re:Nintendo stole the show thus far

[SleazyC]

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.

Re:Oh

[cubicledrone]

Fine. We'll connect the dots then.

For months prior to this E3, there has been constant speculation about how crappy the DS will be, and how stupid the designers were/are for including two screens. "How can they do that without making it look stupid?" people asked. Over and over and over again.

Then everyone sees it and realizes Nintendo isn't staffed by a bunch of total morons. Then, in the space of one web page, it goes from "Sony will win. Give it up. Gamecube sucks. Blah blah blah" to "wow, the DS is cool. Zelda isn't cel-shaded any more, so that's also cool, and the PSP is a giant pile of crap."

Over the next week, the game media and technology pundits will also, grudgingly, realize that Nintendo, like Apple for PCs, is the market leader in video games. Sony succeeds with volume. Nintendo succeeds with innovation.

By the way, I have 9000 karma.

Re:Nintendo is like Apple? Since when?

[melatonin]

You mean Nintendo, the champion of online connectivity?

Also the only one who's done it right with the Nintendo DS? Nintendo has said for a long time that they have their own strategy for online gaming. Who wants a keyboard while you're in the middle of playing a game?

The first one that jumped to optical media?

And optical media is better than solid state? Optical media is only cheaper (more capacity is cheaper).

And who could forget how fast they made a color portable with a backlight.

Which is still more expensive and more costly than the portable they still sell without a backlight, and still has shorter battery life.

Don't forget that they're the first company with a system that did full 3D graphics and analog control with force feedback (with pixel shaders and anti-aliasing to boot), with 4 controller ports. And the company that set the standard for 3D third person games with Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The first system to offer 1st party wireless control. And did optical storage right with fast load times. Hell, even the Dreamcast has far better load times than the PS2. And the 3DO has significantly better load times and far better audio than the PSX (SF2 for the 3DO lets you start a fight within 30 seconds of turning it on. PSX takes two minutes). Sony can't learn from their mistakes. How useful is two joysticks compared to analog L and R buttons, which started with the Dreamcast?

You can't develop everything; every feature has a trade-off. At least when Nintendo brings something to market, they do it right.