2020 – The Year of Champions

Let's resist the urge to call this the "Year of Calamity" and solely focus on what the year 2020 had to offer for fans of The Legend of Zelda. The series will be celebrating its 35th Anniversary next year, where it was already the turn for Super Mario in 2020. So, if you didn't expect anything major for Zelda during this year, there is no blaming you.

And while we didn't get a new entry for the main series in 2020, it was a year for Zelda spin-offs to shine. First came Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancher featuring The Legend of Zelda, which was already released on Nintendo Switch in 2019, but got a series of three DLC packs and a physical release this year.

The highlight of the DLC was probably the "Symphony of the Mask", a completely new story campaign, where you play as Skull Kid. But there was also a Character Pack, featuring Impa among others, as well as a Music Pack with a bunch of remixes.

For the longest time it looked like Cadence of Hyrule would be the only thing worth mentioning in 2020, but in September we got the announcement for a completely new game: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which was going to be released already two months later... Quite the surprise!

The first Hyrule Warriors already came to Nintendo Switch two years prior with its Definitive Edition, so this new Hyrule Warriors game focused entirely on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, taking place 100 years before the main events, where you get to meet and finally play as the infamous Champions: Mipha, Daruk, Revali and Urbosa.

And of course these were not the only playable characters, where this game is certainly a beast of its own and you can get entertained for many hours with tons of content in what is essentially just one giant love letter to Breath of the Wild. Maybe it will even set you in the mood for the sequel, where we may hear about the next major Zelda game in 2021. But more on that tomorrow...

Otherwise 2020 has seen the rise of new Champions in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Even though nothing of it had anything to do with The Legend of Zelda, the DLC for Smash has been going strongly with four Challenger Packs in total, three of which came in a new Fighters Pass. While the additions of Byleth, Min Min, Steve and Sephiroth had all sparked some controversies, you can't deny that all these fighters turned out to be quite unique, especially the ones from ARMS and Minecraft. And it will be interesting to follow the development of the upcoming DLC, even if there probably won't be anything in it for Zelda fans, but you never know... So, let's see.

PS: For me it was also the "Year of Champions", because I've played a lot of Quake Champions this year, where it's my most played game in 2020, even more than Age of Calamity. It also features an array of different playable characters from the Quake universe, as well as guest appearances of the Doom Slayer and B.J. Blaskowicz. If you're a fan of classic Arena Shooters, then give this a try.

Cadence of Hyrule: Foreboding Impressions

 

My coop journey through Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda continued, where we've finished the game for the first time. So, we've completed the fourth dungeon, the Temple of Storms, as well as the final dungeon at Hyrule Castle, where the difficulty increased a bit, but not by too much.

The awesome weapons that you get around the final dungeon certainly helped, but overall we became so good at the game that things are usually easy enough. Not so easy that I would dare to play as the Deku or Aria, but certainly not as hard as they were in the beginning, where we've struggled quite a lot...

But you also get pretty packed the more you explore and do, where all we were missing was an entire Heart Container and one bottle. And if all fails, you can always use bombs. Unless you don't have any.

Well, without spoiling anything worthwhile, let me say first that the ending of the game was a complete joke. Suddenly Cadence gets put back at the center of the story, where she's rivaling the importance of Link and Zelda. Thing is, ever since we've unlocked Zelda, we've put Cadence aside and pretended like she didn't exist. So, to suddenly see her in the spotlight again, where the ending sequence revolved around her alone, felt completely wrong and out of place.

Seriously, this game would have probably been better without any Crypt of the Necrodancer crossover stuff. Just Link and Zelda against that Octavo dude, whose campaign we've started right after. His story might be even more like it, though so far his story mode seems almost identical to that of Link and Zelda's, just that he has a different starting point. But he has to do the same dungeons and bosses and so on, where you play the exact same world.

Well... not the exact same world, since this game has quite some random generation behind it. And while it makes replaying the game a lot more interesting, it's not really that impressive. There are certain areas that are always exactly the same, like Kakariko Village, Zora's Domain and the exterior of Hyrule Castle, and simply located in different spots. Curiously, this might even put the Kakariko Windmill (it's actually called that in German) far away from Kakariko...

The screens all around these fixed places are what's random, but from what it seems the screens and caves are based on a pool of presets, where you might have seen certain screens and puzzles already in your previous playthrough. A little bit like the different floors in Four Swords.

And that's okay, but the biggest problem about the world generation is that it's always the same areas and dungeons. You get Hyrule Field, the beach, the Lost Woods, the Gerudo Desert, Death Mountain and that's it. There is nothing else and for a truly randomly generated Zelda game you would need a larger variety of different terrains and areas, where a number of them then gets chosen. Swamps, snowy mountains, canyons, graveyards, ruins and so on...

The variety in music is equally slim, sadly. And I was super disappointed to try the "Melody Pack" DLC only to find out that the 39 "new" songs are apparently all just remixes of the 13 existing songs in different styles, like techno or rock. Eh... while they aren't bad, I was hoping more for something like Dragon Roost Island or Deku Palace. The music in this game is really good, it has to be, but it gets repetitive eventually.

Anyway, back to Octavo's Ode, where you play as the game's antagonist, who seemingly just wants to be a hero himself. He's using the Golden Lute from the game's logo as his weapon, which is quite powerful, but I can't really tell, because I haven't played as him myself. As player 2 I've opted for Impa, from the "Character Pack" DLC. I've really liked using the spear on our first playthrough, so she seemed like a good choice. Holding the spear in front of you is also quite fun.

But Impa has this unnerving ability, where she leaves behind a decoy doll when she gets hit by anything on full stamina. While this sounds like a cool feature at first, it teleports you to a field nearby and usually takes me by surprise, where I lose track of where I am. This is usually so confusing that I just might get hit by an enemy anyway, and to make things worse, it costs a full stamina bar. So, instead of losing half a heart or so, I might get damaged even worse and constantly lack the ability to use most items. It's absolutely terrible and I wish I could turn this "help" off somehow.

Apropos not using items, I'm not a big fan of all the depletable stuff in this game. It's interesting that you can have different shovels, torches, rings and boots for different effects, but not being able to dig through certain walls just because you're out of shovel isn't fun. It's like the shovels came from the Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, where everything is 100 years old. But unlike in that game you don't get an overabundance of decayed shovels thrown at you. Well, sometimes the game does, but there are also the times where you don't get a new shovel and you can't complete a dungeon floor because of it.

Anyway, we've completed our first dungeon, which was the Frozen Grotto, as well as the Kakariko Crypt, which was completely pointless, because Link and Zelda are sitting this one out. But at least we didn't die in the Crypt this time. In fact we didn't get a single Game Over so far, so we've gotten much better at the game already. And with a game like this, that is what I call progress.

Cadence of Hyrule: Further Impressions

 

We've continued playing Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda in coop for a bit, where we've finished a total of three dungeons: the Gerudo Ruins, the Frozen Grotto and the Lost Swamp in that order.

In my previous post I complained about how the first dungeon, the Kakariko Crypt, seemed a little bit too difficult with its complete rogue-like approach. It was just a mini-dungeon, though, and the real dungeons are actually much fairer. You have a main floor right at the entrance, which doesn't change. This main floor holds the door to the boss and you keep the dungeon's main items, including the Boss Key, so if you die at the boss, you can try again right away without re-playing the entire dungeon.

Every progress made on the main floor, e.g. shortcuts to later floors, also gets saved. So, only the individual floors are randomly generated to keep them interesting. And if you die later on, you don't have to do the entire dungeon from the start again.

So, that was a relief and actually the dungeons became a little bit too easy, where we haven't died a single time in our last sessions. Once you get a certain amount of Heart Containers and many useful items, the game gets considerably easy, which is a problem that many Zelda games actually have. You're only at risk of dying early on.

Curiously, we completely missed the "tribe items" before going into the respective dungeons. We only solved the puzzle at Gerudo Town after the completing the Gerudo Ruins and we haven't actually found out how to wake the Zora Prince yet. That's a very cryptic puzzle and I think he will give you the Zora Flippers, but it's not like you need those, since there are always alternative ways of doing things. For example, you can still get into the Frozen Grotto dungeon with the Snorkel or the Ice Rod.

But this also sort of undermines the value of certain items a bit. Items like the Hookshot only allow you to take shortcuts for the most part, but they are not required to complete the game. And you do collect a lot of items in this game, where most of it doesn't feel all that useful. On the other hand it makes for some creative puzzles, where there are multiple solutions available thanks to the different items.

We also unlocked the Deku character, Yves, who only has one heart and can't use the majority of items. Okay... skip. And what's with that name? Yves? Did Tingle give him this? He's the first named Deku Scrub anyway, since the Deku characters so far always were called by their roles, like "Deku Princess", "Deku King" or "Deku Butler". And not Cindy, Kevin or Alfred.

Also, this is not the only of the "Super Ultra Hardcore Hard Mode" characters, since the DLC also comes with the weird Aria... I personally don't find "Don't get hit!" challenges to be any fun, it's by far the worst type of artificial difficulty... It's bad enough that there is a chest that requires you to beat a bunch of enemies without missing a beat and without taking damage. And then doesn't open anyway, because there is another artificial requirement on top.

Well, despite all the shenanigans we're still having fun and that's good. I'm actually looking forward to the next play session, but at the same time I can't shake the feeling that I'd rather have a proper top-down Zelda title with a two-player mode and a randomly generated world instead, with the 3D visuals of Link's Awakening and without all the nonsense. That would have the potential of becoming one of my favorite games of all time.

Cadence of Hyrule: First Impressions

Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda isn't exactly new, but I've avoided the game until now, where the physical version of the game came out. The timing was quite perfect, however, because I was in need of another good couch coop game, after we had fully completed Overcooked! 2 the other day with all its DLCs and updates and absolutely all stars, also on Nintendo Switch.

Actually, I've already played the game briefly last year with a friend, but it was late on the clock and we were a little drunk, so it didn't go too well. I remember us missing the beat and dying... a lot. And while it did go a lot better this time, there were still these evil difficulty spikes all over the place. We died early on because I accidentally went into the Lost Woods and we got stuck there. And we also died early on just because we went into a cave, where the game thought it was a good idea to fill it with Lynels, Hinox and other tough monsters...

And this is where the rogue-like elements of this game hit you. The first time where we lost all of our stuff felt really bad. You'll lose all consumable items, like Rupees, Bombs or any tools that break. And all enemies that you've defeated will return as well, where the first death felt like starting from scratch. 

At that point my reaction to the game was basically, "this is garbage". I'm not a fan of Rougelikes. I'm also not a big fan of making modern games in discount retro pixel looks and if it weren't for the Zelda skin, I would not be interested in something like Crypt of the Necrodancer at all. I suppose this is how many Zelda fans must have felt about Hyrule Warriors, but Hyrule Warriors in the least has a certain amount of production value...

But we kept going for a bit and you quickly start to realize that it's not all rouge-like. The overworld stays the same and you get to keep your Heart Containers, main weapons and items, like the Boomerang, the Hookshot and so on. So, it's kind of like going back in time in Majora's Mask, just without the consent. But there was some progress to be made, like in any traditional Zelda game, and that's where the motivation and fun kicked in. Playing in rhythm with the beat of the game also went surprisingly well for me, where the music is really great.

I also enjoy how the overworld plays a lot like classic NES The Legend of Zelda. The map is divided into "screens", though some of them can be connected to form larger scrolling areas, usually around dungeons or for villages. And most screens have a secret in form of a cave or an item to find, where the map keeps track of all the things that you haven't cleared yet, like bosses or chests. And you can access all of the overworld before going into any of the dungeons.

Apropos, we then went into our first dungeon, which was the "Kakariko Crypt" mini-dungeon, which you need to complete if you want to play as Link and Zelda at the same time. And this suddenly was just pure rogue-like again. We died at the boss multiple times and each time you had to do the whole dungeon over again, which got randomly generated from scratch to make things even worse (or maybe a little better). Well, that's not fun. And we're talking about a very small dungeon here, where I'm not too hot about trying the major dungeons of this game yet. Hopefully they all will be equally small...

But exploring the overworld and finding items that you get to keep was fun enough that we will probably keep going, maybe even complete the game at least once. It doesn't seem like you can play any of the DLC offerings in coop, though, but I could be wrong. The only thing I found so far are the Season Pass bonus costumes for Link and Zelda, so at least that's in the cartridge version of the game.

Overall I like the idea of having a Zelda game that's procedurally generated, because it adds a lot of replay value. I also like having another topdown coop Zelda experience, especially one where you can play as Link and Zelda. That's some really good stuff in combination, but with its execution Cadence of Hyrule doesn't really seem like the game that I would love to play, where I still hope that Nintendo might try something of their own in these departments...

Got Cadence of Hyrule

If there's one good thing about holding out on buying a Nintendo Switch until now, then it's certainly this: the physical version of Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer featuring The Legend of Zelda. (Seriously, what's with that freaking long title?)

Actually, I completely forgot that this was coming out this week and was only remembered by Nintendo on Twitter. I suppose, that's one of the cases where their social media marketing did the trick. But the last time that I didn't really care about a new Zelda-related title was when Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland came to Europe. I still ended up liking that game, however, so let's see how this goes...

It has all the DLC on it, which is quite neat and something that Nintendo usually doesn't like to do for their games, unless they are porting them over to the next console. And that's usually fair, because if you go and offer Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Ultimate Edition on Nintendo Switch for half the price of what the game and its DLC did cost you originally, then it's going to piss off the early adopters. But in this case it's about the same of what you would pay for the game and Season Pass digitally (though I did get it for cheaper, actually).

But I prefer having games with box and cartridge for my collection. The only exception to this might be games that you keep playing on a daily basis, e.g. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Animal Crossing: New Horizons, where it can be annoying to swap the cartridges again and again. But at the same time I still like having such big titles as a physical version.

And Nintendo Switch games feel very "collectible" to begin with. The boxes are so small that you always feel like you could have a couple more. This is my eleventh Nintendo Switch game and I don't even have my own Switch yet...! And cartridges are great to have as well. Discs are quite sensitive and can be damaged easily, so I don't actually like collecting discs that much, where I don't even have a DVD or Blue-ray collection, just games. But with Nintendo Switch games everything seems perfect.

However, when it comes to the overall design, Cadence of Hyrule is probably the ugliest piece in my collection. I'm not a big fan of the artwork of this game and the cover art with the purple background already feels kind of bland. But at least there is something there, which is more than you can say about the inside:

 

When I first opened the box, I was actually irritated, because it looked like something is missing... Luckily, it wasn't the game, but Cadence of Hyrule doesn't have anything printed on the inside of the cover and this looks very... empty. Every other Nintendo Switch game I saw has something printed on the inside – some artwork, some map, ingame instructions, something... But apparently something that's not sold for full price isn't really worth the extra ink for Nintendo?

Cadence of Hyrule: DLC and Physical Edition Announced

So, we really did get a Nintendo Direct today... probably just not what most Nintendo fans were hoping for. The first "Partner Showcase" focused on a few 3rd party announcements and surprisingly there was still something in here with relevancy for this blog: Cadence of Hyrule.

Cadence of Hyrule is probably the first Zelda-related title ever (minus the ones on CDi) that doesn't really have my attention, so I would have never come up with predictions for this. I've tried the game once, but I didn't like it enough that it can't wait until I have my own Nintendo Switch one day. And it's probably a good thing that I haven't invested in this game yet, now that it is getting a physical edition later this year, which also includes all the upcoming DLC. I'll certainly get this one.

The DLC is split into three packs:

• Character Pack: Adds Impa, Shadow Link, Shadow Zelda, Aria and Frederick as playable characters.
• Melody Pack: Adds 39 Songs.
• Symphony of the Mask: Adds a new story chapter where you play as Skull Kid, who uses different masks.

This all sounds quite good, especially the Skull Kid story mode looked interesting, where the different playable characters give me small Hyrule Warriors vibes, which is a good thing. Impa even uses a Naginata here, which she so far only did in Hyrule Warriors. So, there was definitely some inspiration taken from Koei Tecmo's Zelda project.

And it will be nice to have it all on one cartridge. The physical edition launces October 23rd, which is probably the same time when the third DLC Pack gets released.

The Character Pack will be available today and the rest gets released until the end of October. And as usual for Nintendo DLCs, this will also come with a Season Pass, where you get bonus costumes for Link and Zelda if you buy the whole thing. It's unclear whether the physical edition will include these costumes or not, but it probably does, since it's stated to come with the Season Pass.

2019 – A Dreamy Zelda Year

The Zelda series was basically on a hiatus in 2018 with the only release being the Definitive Edition of Hyrule Warriors, a spin-off game. But this pause quickly came to an end in early 2019, where already in February Nintendo announced the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for Nintendo Switch with a first trailer.

At E3 2019 the remake then was showcased in great detail with everything around the first dungeon, while we also got a first glimpse at Dampé and the new dungeon building feature, the "Chamber Dungeon". Three months we held the game in our hands and were able to enjoy what's probably one of the most beautiful remakes ever.

The remake of Link's Awakening also saw the release of a new amiibo for Link, as well as Limited Edition with an artbook and in case of Europe also with a GameBoy steelbook.

Sadly, the Chamber Dungeon wasn't able to live up to everyone's expectations, but maybe the latest update of Super Mario Maker 2, which lets you play as Link, gave fans something more of a Zelda building experience.

Other than that we also got Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the Necrodancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda at E3 in June, some sort of crossover spin-off game, where the rhythm-based gameplay of Crypt of the Necrodancer gets a nice Zelda reskin, where you can play as Link, Zelda and others. The game then got a major update in December, which lets you play its villain, Octavo, as well as a dungeon mode.

Cadence of Hyrule also marks the first time, where Nintendo was willing to hand over the IP to an indie studio, which opens the gates for other interesting collaborations.

Overall 2019 really has been a return to form for traditional topdown Zelda games, where thanks to the hybrid approach of the Nintendo Switch we got new 2D Zelda experiences on a home console for the first time since Four Swords Adventures.

At the same time we also got a first glimpse at what's in store for the next, big 3D Zelda game, the sequel to Breath of the Wild. At E3 2019 Nintendo released a first teaser trailer, which shows us Link and Zelda descending into dark underground caves to find a mummified Ganondorf sealed by a mysterious hand, as well as a rising Hyrule Castle. It's really dark and probably creates more questions than it answers, where this game will certainly be a big focus in the upcoming years. For some Zelda fans it already was in 2019.

Cadence of Hyrule: Octavo's Ode Released

Finally! A free content update for a Zelda game... This is what I've been waiting for. There is so much potential with every new Zelda release and Nintendo barely ever scratches the surface here. Oh, wait, it's just for Cadence of Hyrule? Never mind then...

Well, I'm usually a sucker for everything Zelda and that goes for the spin-offs as well. I've enjoyed the BS Zelda games, Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and Link's Crossbow Training. And I love Hyrule Warriors. But Cadence of Hyrule? I didn't really care so far. I've only played it once (in coop) and it wasn't much fun. The fact that I don't call the Nintendo Switch my own yet didn't help either...

It does look fun, however, and certainly I'll get into this game someday, somehow. And when I do I will also be able to play as the Vaati rip-off villain, Octavo. Apparently, he's even called "Vaalni" in the game's code, so the developers aren't even trying to hide the reference. He gets his own little story mode and feels much more overpowered with his three-way attack, from what it seems. It might even be a good start...

There is also a new dungeon mode, but it's not like Nintendo has shared any real details about this and I can't tell what this is all about. I've only heard it's good. Sorry for the lack of coverage about this particular game, but I'll make up for it later.

Anyway, this December seems to be quite focused on updates. There was the one for Super Mario Maker 2 with the playable Link, Overcooked 2 got a major, free update as well (not really a Nintendo game, but still on Switch) and now Cadence of Hyrule. Plus, Nintendo has announced DLC for the multiplayer mode of Luigi's Mansion 3. Now, fingers crossed that Link's Awakening will get something somehow someday as well...

Cadence of Hyrule Released

The new indie rhythm game based on the Zelda universe, Cadence of Hyrule, releases today and Nintendo just showcased the game on their Treehouse Live stream, where you can watch the entire segment here.

Since I don't have a Nintendo Switch yet, I have no plans on playing this any time soon. It looks alright, but I guess you have to really "feel" the game to get it, because simply watching the gameplay didn't do it for me. But I can imagine that doing everything in the rhythm can be a lot of fun.

I'm also not a fan of the rather ugly 2D sprite graphics. Don't get me wrong, I love the 2D visuals of The Minish Cap and similar games, but this looks not as lovely. Well, it's made by a small studio, so I don't want criticize it too much, but the visual quality reminds me more of Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. It looks okay, but it's no match to The Minish Cap or Four Swords Adventures.

But that's not deal-breaker and I will probably get it together with Crypt of the Necrodancer, once I have a Nintendo Switch, out of curiosity alone and because I want to own all the Zelda spin-offs, which weren't released on the Philips CDi.

PS: The game has also a guest appearance of Dampé. As I told you, a rising star!

Cadence of Hyrule Announced

Well, here we have our rumored 2D Zelda eShop game already. Turns out that this wasn't something from Nintendo after all, but a spin-off based on the indie title Crypt of the NecroDancer. You can watch the trailer here.

My first reaction wasn't really a positive one, because this looked a lot like an actual Zelda game, but with super low budget graphics, as this was another Vanpool creation, the makers of the Tingle spin-offs. I'm not familiar with Crypt of the NecroDancer, so I wasn't aware that this actually a rhythm-based Action Adventure, which certainly puts it in a different spot.

According to the press release it also features a randomly generated overworld and dungeons. A randomized Zelda game is something that I've wanted for the series for a long time, where it's kind of disappointing that this idea is now put into a spin-off instead of an actual 2D Zelda title...

It's similar with a playable Zelda. That would have been perfect for a new 2D Zelda game, maybe one that focuses on coop gameplay. But instead of implementing this into one of their own games, they outsource this to a spin-off title.

Let's see, where this is going. But I'll have to play Crypt of the NecroDancer first. Maybe I can appreciate Candence of Hyrule more afterwards.