With the Nintendo Direct coming put his Friday, I thought it would be as good as time as ever to discuss a few interesting points about the hopefully soon to be revealed game. We will be looking at features that should be added, taken away, mirrored and even possible release dates.
Coming up to nearly 9 years old, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the greatest selling Zelda game to date. It was the last official release from Nintendo for the GameCube and only Zelda launch title for a console, the Wii to date. Sales surpassed the 6 million sales across both consoles.
At its release Twilight Princess was regarded as the greatest Zelda experience by critics and fans alike, even to this date, forum boards and social media pages are full of cherished nostalgic memories from fans for this game.
With the brief introduction just given it makes absolute sense to port this game to the High Definition status. You have a huge fan base, it has made money in the past and it is something that people want. Now lets take a look at what can make this experience even greater.
Twilight Princess was praised for its art style and animation those 9 years ago when it released and rightfully so it was brilliant to experience and be a part of but in a decade gaming systems have come along in leaps and bounds and this game tends to show its age more than others. Firstly this game needs a fresh coat of paint, new textures, lighting and assets. For an idea of what this could look like, simply Google “Twilight Princess HD” where people through emulation have created some breathtaking upgrades to Twilight Princess. NO! We do not support emulation but we cannot deny the beauty in their work.
We need to forget about the waggle controls. Lets face it, at the time the waggle controls were a gimmick at best, fun for the first hour or so but as soon as the novelty wore off for more serious gamers it became a burden to shake the Wii remote to swing a sword. I believe for the HD remake Nintendo need to take full control of the Wii U gamepad and utilize it in the very same way Wind Waker HD did. Use the gamepad to manage the item, pause and HUD displays. This will give any gamer the opportunity to experience a seamless Zelda experience. Gyroscopic controls for aiming could work but I believe they work for some and not for others, personal preference on this one.
Two points that I feel would take this game to the next level. The original soundtrack was memorable without a doubt but the audio files were a simple MIDI format. Far from the orchestral blessings we have received in the years gone by. Obviously something that is a bit more expensive and requires a bit of work but it would not go unappreciated. I would also love to see more fluent movements for Wolf Link however, every time I ran from A to B in wolf form it just didn’t feel smooth. Wolves by nature are efficient predators at the top of their game and their food chain. I just didn’t get that feeling whilst playing. Maybe this is something that could get some tender love and care but odds are it is way down on Nintendo’s to do list.
Although this game released for two consoles and the Wii sold the most and received the most recognition I will always believe the GameCube to be the true cannon entry. After all the Wii version was a simple mirror image of the GameCube to accommodate for the larger portion of right-handed waggle control sword swingers. Plus the map layout of the GameCube marries up perfectly with the directional layout to that of Ocarina of Time an earlier game in the series timeline.
This part is where I feel I will cause the biggest up roar. Twilight Princess has an introduction that takes far too long, from memory it could take me 5 or so hours to really open this game up to start exploring the world and its temples or side activities at my leisure. Even the first time playing when I was nothing short of captivated by this game, the introduction always stood out to me as being far too long. How do we avoid this tedious portion though? Do we have a skip the introduction feature – “I know what I’m doing” option? Casual gamers may say yes, purists will say no. I personally am torn down the middle. I’ve seen the introduction, I’ve played it enough times to know what I am doing but at the same time, if the HD port is true I would want to experience every segment of this remaster.
I mentioned previously that this game was discovered by data mining the Wii U servers and there has been no official word from Nintendo on this games existence and that’s fine. Whilst in the data mine the term “HD” is specifically referenced it does give a good indication of what’s to come. A HD port as opposed to a simple digital download with the Wii emulator running on the Wii U.
I believe Nintendo have been remarkably hush, hush on this topic for one solid reason though. That reason is Triforce Heroes, a 3DS Zelda game set for release this month. I don’t think that Nintendo would want to take any of the momentum away from their new game for one that hasn’t even been formally announced yet, a simple business strategy from my point of view.
For the official announcement, I cannot accurately narrow down a time frame. All focus is on Triforce Heroes this month. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu revealed that early next month they be sitting down with Eiji Aonuma, Shiro Mouri, and Hiromasa Shikata for an interview. All three are set to discuss Triforce Heroes, Zelda U and what is in store for the 30th anniversary for The Legend of Zelda series.
The series is set to turn 30 in the early stages of 2016 and this is where I believe Twilight Princess HD will launch also the year of its 10th anniversary. The HD remake will serve as a celebration to the series on its 30th anniversary or very close too and Zelda U will launch more towards the Christmas period ushering in the next era of one of the greatest series in gaming.
What do you guys think? I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. What does Twilight Princess need to be a successful remake? When do you think we will hear word of the release or any Zelda news at all? Let us know in the comments below.
