Zelda Wii Rumours Abound

Source: The Sacred Realm | 21 Jan 2010 | 9:37 am

Nintendo have been keeping the next installment in the Zelda series, nicknamed "Zelda Wii" quite tightly under wraps. There's not a whole lot we know about the game yet apart from a piece of concept art last year and a few random statements from the big guys at Nintendo. Rumours about games that are still in the works will always pop up from time to time, in fact last year's concept art led to a lot of speculation about the identity of the girl in the picture. I don't always like to post about rumours, but a few about Zelda Wii have cropped up lately. They come from a Japanese website that has a remarkably high track record for their reported rumours about games proving to be fact. Additionally, some of the ideas raised are really interesting, so I thought I'd list these rumours here, and provide my own thoughts because what can I say, I like to talk about Zelda and most of these ideas had me buzzing with ideas of my own! Please note that the below list is rumour only. Do not take these as facts, or even get your hopes up about these ideas. The gameplay will be different from the traditional overworld-dungeon-overworld-dungeon formula. Both Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma from Nintendo have said that the gameplay's going to be changed up, so there's a high chance that this will be true. And it's a good thing, because as I've said many times before, Zelda gameplay has settled into a formula, and it's become stale. It's not that it's a bad forumla, but for people who play a few Zelda games, you don't need to think too hard about what you need to do anymore. Just like in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks you will be able to select whether you play left- or right-handed, and Link will either be left- or right-handed according to your selection. This is something I really hope is true! For starters, I am left-handed myself, and I didn't like the fact that Twilight Princess on the Wii catered solely to right-handers. From reading various forum discussions on the subject over the years, I know I'm not the only one who felt that way. Secondly, Link by tradition is left-handed himself. It's probably because I'm also a lefty, but it's something I've always felt has made him kind of special. From other forum discussions, I've read right-handed gamers say that Link's left-handedness is very much a part of the character, and that they would like the option to choose purely so they can choose to keep this. So overall I am really hoping that this is a feature that has indeed been added to the game. The gameplay and basic mechanics are complete, and they are currently tidying up the story and the characters. The game is rumoured to be released later this year, so I'd certainly hope that most of the gameplay was complete by now! If they're tweaking or putting the finishing touches on the story, then that's good. It suggests that the game hasn't been rushed. The girl in the concept art is not the Master Sword. Her name is something like Adela or Adele, and she will not accompany Link throughout the whole game like Midna did in Twilight Princess. The picture of her in the concept art is not her final design, it was just concept and she will look different in the game. Now this is interesting! A lot of the speculation about that piece of artwork centered around the fact that Link wasn't holding a sword, and the fact that the girl's physical characteristics suggested that she could be some sort of humanoid manifestation of the Master Sword. But remember that the artwork is only concept art, and it may have just been co-incidence that the girl resembles the sword, or an idea they were playing around with at the time. Both ideas are still both rumour/speculation. As for the fact that she won't accompany Link throughout the entire game, I'm all for it. In more recent Zelda titles, Link's sort of faded into the background, overshadowed by his companions. The ending of Twilight Princess was all about Midna, Link may as well not have been there. As the protagonist and hero of the games, Link needs to have a larger role, and more character development than just being the guy who does all the grunt work. It's time he had his own personality and didn't just stand there while his companions spoke for him. The Master Sword won't be in the game. Link will have a different sword, and it will have unlockable abilities. It also has the power to allow Link to communicate with the girl. Since the game will make use of the Wii Motion Plus accessory, I'm fairly confident that swordplay will have a major role in this game, and it will be a far different experience than traditional games which used buttons to control the sword. So it makes sense to have a new sword with new abilities. Plenty of Zelda games have not had the Master Sword, and while it is the "blade of evil's bane" it typically only features in games where Ganon is the main villain. So does this suggest that Ganon will not be in Zelda Wii? There will be horseback combat. That wouldn't be a big surprise, after Twilight Princess. This would mean that Link's main method of transportation around the land is likely to be horseback (as opposed to say boat or train!). Link in this game may be the Hero of Time, and time travel plays a role in the game. If this is true, it could mean two things: That he is the same Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, or a new Link who inherits the title of "Hero of Time". Inheriting the title isn't a big stretch, so it may be a new Link. But in a way, it would be great if this game re-visited the Nintendo 64-era Link. We know that the Link in Zelda Wii is going to be the oldest Link we've had so far, so it's possible. I think it's a great way to expand on the Zelda-verse while shaking up the series' forumla. The world of Zelda has the potential for such a rich history, and there were so many things introduced in the Nintendo 64 era that could easily be built upon. There's a reason why those games, despite being a decade or more old, remain as popular among fans as ever. Twilight Princess was essentially a re-make of Ocarina of Time with prettier graphics, a new Link, new Zelda and new Hyrule, but many fans said that the game felt stale. Revisiting the N64 Link may be a better way to tie in classic Zelda to a new style of Zelda. Shaking up Zelda too much has the risk that a game may no longer feel like Zelda, so adding elements of the familiar will help to avoid this. The game takes place in more then just the land of Hyrule, and may not include Hyrule at all. This sounds like we'll have a new land or country to play in, and may or may not include Hyrule. It may be like Majora's Mask where Link is in Hyrule briefly at the start of the game, and then ends up in a new land. If we are revisiting the Nintendo 64 Link, then the overall layout of Hyrule couldn't change too much (sure, make it bigger and prettier and all that but we'd still essentially know where everything is), so being able to leave Hyrule would give us brand new places to explore. It may also be another realm that we can travel to from Hyrule. I think it would be great if we could still go around Hyrule at the same time, imagine being able to see what's become of the Kokiri, or how the Gerudo changed after Ganondorf was defeated? There is a character in the game who is the son of the inkeeper in Link's village, and he looks up to Link. This one doesn't really excite me or upset me, as it's not that interesting, although this character sounds an awful lot like Colin from Twilight Princess. I hope that he'd play a much different role to Colin. He might even just be a guy who's there at the start of the game or hangs around Link whenever he's in the village, and doesn't play a significant role at all. The models for 3 significant characters in the game have been touched up, but these characters are not Zelda or Ganondorf. This one doesn't say a whole lot. It was translated from Japanese, so maybe some information was lost in translation. Each character in each game has a model, so it could be that any three were touched up recently. Or it could mean that three characters from past games will make a return, and they have received re-designed looks, the same way that Link's design changes from game to game. This also doesn't mean that Zelda and Ganondorf won't be in the game. As I said, remember that all of this is just speculation and rumour. Overall though, I don't really hate any of those ideas. In fact, there are a couple that I'd be very happy to see in the game. Will any of them prove to be true? We'll just have to wait and see! Head over to Legends Place forums to discuss these ideas further!