2D Zelda, Super Guide and User Generated Content

Miyamoto gave a little conference in New York yesterday and mostly talked about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which shows some current trends going on at Nintendo. One of it being classic 2D games and the other one the new Demo Play feature (or "Super Guide"). Also, User Generated Content was mentioned. While he hasn't talked about Zelda much, you can speculate which of those trends will have an impact on Zelda.



Spirit Tracks will hit the shelves soon and the small Zelda team is now ready for a new project. And I don't think, they will just make a third Nintendo DS Zelda game, two is enough actually. So, a 2D Zelda game for the Wii would be the perfect choice, since the small Zelda team was the one, who made Four Swords Adventures. While I personally enjoy the overall atmosphere in a 3D Zelda game, I always preferred the 2D Zelda gameplay, so I wouldn't mind it. (With "2D Zelda" I refer to a Zelda game, which has 2D gameplay, the graphics can be 2D or 3D.) But there are many options how a 2D Zelda game for the Wii could be like. I already analyzed two possible options in my The Future of Zelda articles, one was a WiiWare trilogy and the other one was a Four Swords style retail game. But the most important choice would be the following:

• 2D Zelda for WiiWare
• or as full retail Wii game

WiiWare has the advantage, that the games are cheaper and that you could regularly provide new content. But they have the overall disadvantage, that you could never put as many content in them as in a retail game. And you don't get a nice package. Miyamoto seems to prefer a retail game, he says: My perspective is that the business is, overall, a package-based business. Me personally, I need to have a physical product. Also, Nintendo gets more money from retail games, a lot of people, who own a Wii, don't even use the online services or buy the games on them. Which is why Nintendo recently tries to lure people with free applications like Flipnote Studio or the Internet Channel and even promotes people, who help other people to go online with their Wiis. So, I think Nintendo will go the retail way with a 2D Wii Zelda, but there are still many options, how the game could look like.

• a classic Zelda experience
• a multiplayer focused Zelda (like Four Swords Adventures)
• a Zelda relying on User Generated Content
• a combination of the above

Well, I talked about another multiplayer focused Zelda already (here) and I'm not a friend of the "make your own Zelda"-Zelda idea or User Generated Content games in general. Don't get me wrong, I really like level editors and I still think, that a Stage Builder in Spirit Tracks would be a good idea, but these editors should always be just an addition to a real game and not the game itself. A level editor for New SMB Wii definitely would be awesome, but a standalone Mario level editor ala Little Big Planet would probably be a failure, because it's lacking real content. Some people might enjoy building new levels for their favorite games, but they do that, because they love those games and want new content for them. But the level building can never be the game itself and I'm shocked, that Nintendo hasn't realized that already. Also, it's never too much fun to play other people's selfmade levels and maps. There are a few exceptions, that look like professional content, but overall you get crap. Especially when the level editors are very easy to use. Just look at the thousands of SSB Brawl stages out there, how many of them are actually worth a download? It's fun to create your own stages and play them, but you won't spent much time on checking out the stages made by other people. And even if you do, you will agree, that official content is always the best.

With Zelda it gets even more complicated. While building levels for Mario games probably will turn out to be quite easy, building Zelda levels (like in the Four Swords games) is a different story. Small multiplayer stages for a simple Battle Mode won't be a problem, but if you start like building dungeons with complex puzzles and triggers the whole thing could become very complicated and turn into a little RPG Maker project. Not speaking about making an entire Zelda game with this kind of software. So, I personally would rule out the idea of a Zelda game relying on User Generated Content alltogether. Maybe there will be some sort of level editor to build simple levels as a support for a multiplayer mode, but we won't get a "Little Big Zelda", it just wouldn't work.

Last point on the list is Demo Play or "Super Guide", which is how it is called by now. You recently hear a lot of positive feedback about that, because New SMB Wii seems to be much harder than Nintendo games used to be for a while. The game relies on the multiplayer aspect and Super Guide to support new gamers. In multiplayer experienced players are able to help the inexperienced ones and if nothing helps, Super Guide comes to the rescue. To activate this feature, you have to die eight times at first and then a Super Guide block will appear. If you hit this block, the game will take control of your character and show you, how to get over the obstacles. But you can always take over again, if you want, and the demo won't show you any hidden secrets. The important point here is, that you just can't use this feature all the time, you really have to suck or else it won't be activated. You also will get an achievement, if you never used Super Guide. And more importantly, Nintendo doesn't have to make their games supereasy again, which is good news for all the unchallenged Mario and Zelda veterans out there. But with Zelda this is again a little more complicated, Miyamoto even pointed this out in the current interview:

Let's use Zelda as an example, introducing it [Super Guide] opens up a Pandora's Box: do we solve the puzzles, do we show how to solve it in order to make them understand it, do we show the whole solution? It can be a difficult system, but we do see some value in it.

Demo Play most likely won't play through the entire game, especially in a 3D Zelda. I guess, that Demo Play will only be available for bosses and certain puzzle segments. And of course you would have to die a number of times while fighting the same boss or spent a considerable amount of time in a dungeon without any progress to activate Super Guide. As for the question where to go next you can still use traditional ingame guide features like maps or a talking fairy. There's no need for Super Guide to play through the entire game. But right now I think this could be a good solution to the difficulty issue (this and new kinds of puzzles).

Source: IGN