Evoke Nostalgia With This Game Boy-Style Tears of the Kingdom Fan Animation
Posted on July 30 2024 by Nicole Scott
Tears of the Kingdom is still relatively new to Zelda fans, all things considered. Is it too soon for it to evoke nostalgia? In a single YouTube video, Japanese content creator it answered the question for us with a stellar Tears retrospective with a Game Boy art style. They also created the background music (BGM) to make it feel even more authentic.
The video shows more than the original trailer, encapsulating countless iconic scenes and characters from the game. The pixel art and monochromatic colors add a unique ambiance. Plus, to nobody’s surprise, the theme song is just as epic and creepy at times, even without a real orchestra. The video does a great job highlighting what beauty can be created even with older art styles.
In the comments, they provided fascinating insights into the making of the video. They clarified that this video is not a demake or a trailer, for one. If you’re unfamiliar with demakes, they are recreations of games reimagined with older graphics and gameplay. The creator offered this perspective:
… it’s just fan art. Originally, I made this series to have people listen to the music, but I thought that people would quickly get bored of videos with only still images, so I made it into GB-style pixel art and moved it a little. I played Pokémon Red and Green a lot, so I know what GB is like, but this is not a demake that is supposed to run on GB, but rather an image of a GB-style [Tears of the Kingdom] that can be played on Switch.
They go on to explain how this relates to the user interface and user experience (UIUX). Balancing this was how they managed to make the visual style of Tears meld so well with the GB aesthetic:
So the BGM uses more chords than can be played on a single GB, and the screen ratio and pixel count are changed to the extent that the UIUX of [Tears of the Kingdom] can be reproduced as it is. Also, it’s simply to make it look better as a video and make it more impressive.
They also did covers and art for each of the bosses in the game, with a hilarious nod to Pokémon near the end if you keep your eyes peeled! If you’re actually feeling nostalgic for Breath of the Wild, their ode to the final boss is also well worth a view — and it includes a nod to the Tears’ Demon Dragon fight theme!
Support it’s creations with a subscribe on YouTube!
Would you like to see or play actual demakes of Tears? Let us know what you think of this awesome video in the comments below!
Source: it (via Nintendo Life)
Nicole Scott is writer for Zelda Dungeon from suburban Appalachia. She loves drinking espresso, seeing live music, building LEGO sets, being a completionist, and snuggling her two probably-alien cats, Tizo and Alarielle.
