- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
In the early years of gamecube, a Zelda tech demo was shown. It was known as the Spaceworld 2000 Zelda Tech Demo. It showed a realistic art styled Link. Fans were excited. When Wind Waker was revealed, there was a huge backlash from the North American (NA) Zelda fanbase. at least 1/2 of the NA fanbase was upset with the art style of Wind Waker as it was cartoony instead of realistic like the Spaceworld 2000 Zelda Tech Demo. Wind Waker sold poorly in NA.
Years later, Nintendo wanted to bring back the Zelda NA fanbase, so they gave their next game a realistic
art style similar to the Spaceworld 2000 Tech demo. This game was Twilight Princess. The NA Zelda fans were thrilled:
[video=youtube;zwMdcESljqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwMdcESljqg[/video]
Aonuma himself said that he would never forget the positive feedback (quote: "I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well."). Twilight Princess sold very well, while Wind Waker sold poorly. It is clear that a fair ammount of NA Zelda Fans feel Zelda is better with a realistic art style than a cartoony or cell shaded one. For the sake of keeping this article simple we will refer to these NA fans who were angered at Wind Waker's reveal for differing from the Spaceworld 2000 Zelda Tech Demo, the realismphiles. We will call these fans realismphiles(not to be derogatory, I am not for or against them).
It is clear that Zelda Realismphiles made up a big part of the Zelda NA fanbase back then, but what happened too them?
Many years later, when the Wii U was announced, a tech demo was shown. It was called the E3 2011 Zelda HD Experience Tech Demo. It showed, once again, a realistic looking Link. The art style was realistic and the feedback from the NA Zelda fans was positive. Everyone loved the look of the E3 2011 Zelda HD Experience Tech Demo. Years later, Zelda Wii U was shown at E3 2014. It had a cartoony cell shaded art style, just like the Wind Waker. Noticing a pattern yet? Odly enough, the feedback from NA Zelda Fans was mostly positive, even after being shown a realistic tech demo before hand. Why is this?
In the gamecube era, the following events occured:
-realistic art style Zelda tech demo shown
-NA fans hyped
-the actual Zelda game on the console is cartoony art style
-NA fans are upset
In the Wii U era, the following events occured:
-realistic art style Zelda tech demo shown
-NA fans hyped
-the actual Zelda game on the console is cartoony art style
-NA fans are hyped
This can only mean one thing. The realismphiles in the Zelda NA fanbase (who hated the change of art style in the gamecube era) have disapeared.
But where did they go?
These are the two only posibilities I can think of are the following:
-The realismphiles got fed up and left the Zelda fan base long time ago, hence the lack of complaints from them regarding Zelda Wii U.
-The realismphiles have changed their attitude and have come to accept the cartoony art style in Zelda.
My stance on weather I prefer realism or cartoonyness in Zelda is irrelvant to this article, for it is not about wich is better for the series. It's about
what happened to the fans of the realistic art style? Why did they mysteriously dissapear? You would think that they would be upset for waiting 8 years since Twilight Princess for another realistic Zelda game, only to be neglected at E3 2014 and potentially never see a return of their favorite art style again. Not to mention NA generally prefers realistic graphics in video games.
What do you think happened to them? Were you one of the realismphiles a decade ago during the events of the spaceworld 2000 gamecube Zelda tech demo incident? Discus.
Years later, Nintendo wanted to bring back the Zelda NA fanbase, so they gave their next game a realistic
art style similar to the Spaceworld 2000 Tech demo. This game was Twilight Princess. The NA Zelda fans were thrilled:
[video=youtube;zwMdcESljqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwMdcESljqg[/video]
Aonuma himself said that he would never forget the positive feedback (quote: "I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well."). Twilight Princess sold very well, while Wind Waker sold poorly. It is clear that a fair ammount of NA Zelda Fans feel Zelda is better with a realistic art style than a cartoony or cell shaded one. For the sake of keeping this article simple we will refer to these NA fans who were angered at Wind Waker's reveal for differing from the Spaceworld 2000 Zelda Tech Demo, the realismphiles. We will call these fans realismphiles(not to be derogatory, I am not for or against them).
It is clear that Zelda Realismphiles made up a big part of the Zelda NA fanbase back then, but what happened too them?
Many years later, when the Wii U was announced, a tech demo was shown. It was called the E3 2011 Zelda HD Experience Tech Demo. It showed, once again, a realistic looking Link. The art style was realistic and the feedback from the NA Zelda fans was positive. Everyone loved the look of the E3 2011 Zelda HD Experience Tech Demo. Years later, Zelda Wii U was shown at E3 2014. It had a cartoony cell shaded art style, just like the Wind Waker. Noticing a pattern yet? Odly enough, the feedback from NA Zelda Fans was mostly positive, even after being shown a realistic tech demo before hand. Why is this?
In the gamecube era, the following events occured:
-realistic art style Zelda tech demo shown
-NA fans hyped
-the actual Zelda game on the console is cartoony art style
-NA fans are upset
In the Wii U era, the following events occured:
-realistic art style Zelda tech demo shown
-NA fans hyped
-the actual Zelda game on the console is cartoony art style
-NA fans are hyped
This can only mean one thing. The realismphiles in the Zelda NA fanbase (who hated the change of art style in the gamecube era) have disapeared.
But where did they go?
These are the two only posibilities I can think of are the following:
-The realismphiles got fed up and left the Zelda fan base long time ago, hence the lack of complaints from them regarding Zelda Wii U.
-The realismphiles have changed their attitude and have come to accept the cartoony art style in Zelda.
My stance on weather I prefer realism or cartoonyness in Zelda is irrelvant to this article, for it is not about wich is better for the series. It's about
what happened to the fans of the realistic art style? Why did they mysteriously dissapear? You would think that they would be upset for waiting 8 years since Twilight Princess for another realistic Zelda game, only to be neglected at E3 2014 and potentially never see a return of their favorite art style again. Not to mention NA generally prefers realistic graphics in video games.
What do you think happened to them? Were you one of the realismphiles a decade ago during the events of the spaceworld 2000 gamecube Zelda tech demo incident? Discus.