Friday, June 5, 2015

Four Swords Online @ E3 2015?

E3 is coming and for Zelda fans it's probably the least anticipated E3 in a long time, after Nintendo announced that they decided not to have Zelda Wii U at the convention. Of course they always could change their mind to "surprise" us and maybe at least give another demonstration, but you shouldn't get your hopes up. Still, this doesn't have to mean that there won't be any Zelda news at E3. This brings me back to an idea I had in the past: Four Swords Online.

I believe that they have been working on a successor to A Link Between Worlds ever since the game was released. The engine is simply way too good not be used on another handheld Zelda game. They were also interested to try the Four Swords concept again for a long time, where they now have the perfect opportunity with the right engine, online multiplayer and fitting gameplay elements like the stamina bar.

Of course a sole multiplayer experience would disappoint many Zelda fans, which is why there also should be a fully fledged singleplayer Zelda experience with a Four Swords story, similar to The Minish Cap. For me the game would have three components:

  • Singleplayer Zelda game
  • Level-based Four Swords game
  • Shadow Battles

Everything can be played alone, so the Four Swords levels can be solved by controlling multiple Links at once, similar to how it's done in Four Swords Adventures and the Four Swords Anniversary Edition. And for the Shadow Battles they can re-use the bots they used for the StreetPass Shadow Link feature in A Link Between Worlds, so you can practice.

Since the engine was finished with A Link Between Worlds, it's entirely possible that a game like this could be released this year or early next year and take the spot that Zelda Wii U was going to have originally. We'll see about that... see you at E3!

PS: What I want the most from the upcoming E3 are news about Metroid.

3 comments:

K2L said...

I never played a Four Swords game, but I wouldn't mind playing a new one. Definitely not a potential priority over Zelda U, though.

And I too hope something Metroid-related, though sadly it's unlikely.

Eduardo Jencarelli said...

Well, what do you know. We're in fact getting a 3DS Zelda title using the ALBW engine.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/16/e3-2015-the-legend-of-zelda-triforce-heroes-revealed-for-3ds

TourianTourist said...

Yes... and it's about online multiplayer!

However, it's not a Four Swords, but a Three Swords. But I still made a pretty solid prediction here. :)

Will post about this later!