Zelda U Trailer Breakdown: It’s the Little Details that Matter

It’s no secret that I really liked the reveal of Zelda U, but what about the finer details? What exactly is in this reveal that is beyond the initial action? I’m here to break down what we have seen in the greatest detail I can. I will include timestamps where each new thing can be seen.

• The Wind Waker is the first time Eiji Aonuma tried to simulate the feel of going anywhere in a 3D World, but he recognizes it is more of a “fake” feeling. You can’t actually go anywhere, and there are hurdles to getting to where you are going. [1:05]
• Dynamic light changing is present. Either from a dust up of smoke (as seen on the left side by the cottage) or due to a cloud or something off screen moving in front of the sun. We can see the light quickly change on the grass as this occurs. [1:52-1:55]
• Feels like a living world. Smoke coming out of the cottage smoke stack, dust clouds, 5 goats (3 on the left, two on the right) moving and grazing, various butterflies and insects moving around, grass and trees moving to the wind, 3 characters that appear to be goat herders wearing traditional Chinese garb are present, you can see the wind blowing a wind catcher in the back left background [3:01]
• Everything acting dynamically to the oncoming beamos/robot. Birds are flying away, the horse neighs, we see the goats try to run away just as the blast comes in to toast the 3 people on the left. We see the grass getting blasted back and moving dynamically with the blast waves, and we see the goats on the right begin to run away in fear along with the horse and character. Even the other two characters on the right finally get away. [308-3:19]
• We see a few ancient ruins. The one on the right looks like Scrapper/Skipper from Skyward Sword. We also begin to swirl markings on the left rock wall and a taller structure in the back right. Also some great dynamic lighting through the trees. Those swirls are a bit like the ones seen on the back of Ganondorf in The Wind Waker. [3:22]
• We see a dust cloud gathering from the beamos/whatever as it carries its momentum and kicks it up with his/her feet. We see the character looking back but nothing concrete enough to infer detail. [3:25]
• We see a close up of the left side of the character and horse. The character has traditional Link style boots with a Skyward Sword style pants, along with a Wind Waker styled blue shirt, a scarf/cape/headpiece back, and a hood that is looks a bit like Zelda’s hood in Twilight Princess. We also get a nice shot of the bow, a round shield (with more swirl markings), a satchel, a full saddle, and what appears to be a blanket of sorts balled up behind the rider. [3:28]
• We see the symbols on the back of the cape/scarf/hood. More swirls and what appear to be ancient markings. [3:34]
• We seem the character pull out two bomb arrows at the same time with his/her right hand, while they seem to be reaching for the bow with the left. We can also see the quiver and a slew of other arrows nestled inside. We also see an additional bag strapped down behind the blanket. [3:35]
• We have a sighting of some sort of sword. Doesn’t appear to be the Master Sword on the horses right side. [3:36]
• We get a good look at the beamos/whatever. A lot of ancient looking markings, swirl patterns, and a blue light up electricity coursing through it, similar to how the ancient devices worked in Skyward Sword. We also see a 3^rd satchel on the right rear of the horse with a blue crystal/rock looking clasp. [3:36]
• As the character jumps in the air, we get an up close look at the arrow and how it is activated, with the character pulling on a switch to get the blade aspect out. Looks like some ancient machine mechanism made into an arrow – homemade arrows? We also get more swirled symbols on the bow’s armor. [3:45]
• We see the front of the character really well. The shirt has swirls but lacks of the fish/crab from The Wind Waker version. Bracers have more homage to Ocarina of Time’s Ganondorf bracers. Same blue eyes and basic messy hair style of previous versions of Link. [3:47]

We ultimately don’t learn much, but I find it very interesting seeing the detail really put into a living world. This engine, so far, is very impressive.

Is there anything I missed? Speak up in the comments! We want to make this the most complete detail list we can.