It’s been a whirlwind 48 hour period for us Zelda fans, and

I don’t blame you if you have been unable to keep up. There is a lot happening

and so much information hitting us it’s rather astonishing to try and sit back and

take it all in. That’s what happens when you get a full game announced out of

the blue and have a full dungeon playable as a demo the same day.

Whatever Kool-Aid Nintendo is sipping this year, they need

to keep it flowing because it’s been a great 2013 so far in terms of news. I

have compiled all of our news, videos, information, and additional breakdowns

into one easy to navigate spot. In addition, I go deep into some initial

impressions of the experience based upon my own knowledge of the series and I spend

a little bit of time just talking about what looks good and what gives pause

for concern.

An All New Zelda 3DS Adventure is Heading Our Way This

Holiday

In a Nintendo Direct on April 17^th, 2013 Nintendo

unveiled a surprise announcement after already blowing many of us away with top

notch titles throughout the conversation. Reggie Fils-Aime (in the Nintendo of

America version) came on screen talking about how much he loves Zelda, and then

unveiled Zelda 3DS, which the Japanese Nintendo Direct referenced as A Link to

the Past two. Here is the full Reggie Fils-Aime quote:

The Legend of Zelda: A

Link to the Past was originally released for the Super NES in 1992. Those of

you who’ve heard me speak about this game know that it’s my favorite of all

time. More than 20 years after this landmark game was originally released, we’re

now developing a new game that will take place in the same game world, for

Nintendo 3DS.

What our developers want to achieve in this new

Zelda game, is to reinvigorate the flat 2D world of The Link to the Past with a

sense of height and volume using the three-dimensional display of Nintendo 3DS.

With it, it’s easier to differentiate levels in the environment, and our

developers can utilize height differences in dungeons as a puzzle-solving

mechanic.

While this game is set in the world of A Link to

the Past, it features an original storyline and entirely new dungeons. Also in

this game, Link can become a drawing and move within walls. By moving in the

walls, your viewpoint changes, and you can see the connections within the area

that you couldn’t observe before. This new mechanic will play a key role in

solving puzzles in the game.

Because we want you to experience the full game

world with the full 3D visuals our developers have created, we’ve prepared a 3D

video you can download from the Nintendo eShop shortly after this video

concludes. We’ll be launching this exciting new game in the Zelda series for

Nintendo 3DS this holiday season.

Of course, during this little talk they were showing off a

trailer of which was released in full on the 3DS itself… and one of which you

can view below:

There is a Playable Press Only Demo and It Contains an

Entire Dungeon

The above videos exist for two reasons. First and foremost

we wanted everyone to be able to see the demo dungeon all the way through

completion with minimal cuts. Secondly, since the first didn’t contain in-game

audio, we wanted to show you a second video that contains some of the musical

scores and sound effects.

This demo will likely be available at E3 as well, though

whether or not the general consumer will get to play it before release is

unknown.

What Have We Learned?

We know Miyamoto was the biggest influence for the game’s

creation, but more importantly we see a return to a top down 2.5D style game –

something we haven’t seen in a technical aspect since The Minish Cap.

There are a lot of other details in the demo to note, but

chief among them is how fast the gameplay is. The game simply plays faster than

almost every Zelda before it, which is rather refreshing and reinforces the

idea of playing Zelda on the go. How this affects the overall length of the

game obviously can’t be known at this juncture, but if I had to guess were

probably looking at an adventure somewhere in the low to mid 20+ hour range.

There are new ways to solve puzzles, such as the

Hyrule-Glyphic (and stickerish) style in which Link can attach himself to the

side of walls. Bill Trinen actually noted that as neat as it is in the dungeon,

it’s even better in the over world, something that unfortunately was not

playable. Thinking back on the original world that is A Link to the Past, this

certainly adds an entirely new dimension in terms of traversing terrain. The

possibilities are endless in that regard.

We see all new 3D like puzzle mechanics in terms of slamming

down springboard switches and having them toss you up to an additional layer in

the same room. The original A Link to the Past tried to have a similar feel for

height and layers, but this time it’s taken to a much more literal aspect. In

earnest, the dungeon itself is 7 stories high, adding even more depth.

The dungeon itself is completely new except for the final

boss, which is Moldorn. We see various flying tiles; Stalfos who have a new

bone throw attack, and a variety of assorted enemies we have seen in previous

games.

There is a magic/stamina meter, which no one seems to be

able to figure out if it’s one or the other, even while playing. The new move

to attach yourself to a wall is magic, but swinging the hammer is clearly a

physical task. The meter automatically replenishes when not in use, but you

will be using it pretty frequently. It can empty rather fast but not so fast

that it feels like you’re really pressing. You have to logically think if you

should really be slamming that hammer 6 times in a row.

I think the greatest piece of information we can take away

from this demo experience was the fact that many of the puzzles have multiple

ways to solve them. This not only adds a lot of variety, it can actually change

the way we experience the game. It could also create some fan made challenges

to go through the game using the toughest tricks that can possibly be imagined.

All in all, this is definitely a familiar yet refreshingly

fun experience. We look forward to seeing much more of this title at E3, and

hopefully new and enlightening information will continue to trickle out in the

coming days and weeks.