Zelda Wii: A New Structure

The next Official Nintendo Magazine is going to be pretty big, not only do they have the world's first review of Spirit Tracks (scoring 91%), they also have nice interviews with Miyamoto and Aonuma. Here's an excerpt, which is real good news:

When asked how different the new Zelda title will be when it arrives on Wii next year, Aonuma replied: "It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto, and he and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise."

"So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version."

Aonuma also confirmed that alongside full MotionPlus support, we'll be able to see more of what his team have been working on at next year's E3. "I hope that we can show you something at the E3 show next year and it is something we are hopeful will be surprising," he added.

Finally! Speaking from the deeps of my heart, yes, the Zelda series needs some changes. Fresh surprises for the long time Zelda fans. And it was about time, that Nintendo realizes this. I've already said, that changes in the formula could help the difficulty issue, for example by adding some new, fresh puzzles instead of constantly giving us the same old huge boss with obvious weak point and done-that-already-puzzles again and again. Going even further and changing the entire formula of Zelda, meaning the whole "overworld, dungeon, dungeon item, boss"-concept, could give Zelda the fresh wind it desperately needs. I hope, that Spirit Tracks will already offer a few surprises, but Zelda Wii is the game, that really needs to change and revolutionize the series again. That wasn't done since Ocarina of Time, but with MotionPlus and some good changes in the Zelda formula it can be done again.

Update: It's like I said, what Aonuma meant was the typical game course:

We're making efforts regarding the total flow of the Zelda game. So far, the basic flow of the Zelda games is you're exploring a field, you go to a dungeon, you conquer it and return to the field. We're looking at altering that traditional flow. That's all I can share, and I can't say more until E3 next year.

What this probably means, is that the strict separation of overworld and underworld (the dungeons) will be gone and instead we get a more intervowen world design, where everything flows together more naturally. Take the world design of the Metroid games for example or more dungeons, that have more connections to the overworld or even other dungeons, like the Forsaken Fortress. I also wouldn't wonder if some influence came from Retro Studios, the development team responsible for Metroid Prime. I'm still convinced, that they are working together with Nintendo on the next Zelda game for Wii or at least have been involved in the development at some point.

Sources:
ONM
GoNintendo