A Perfect Start

For the near future, until we know more about Zelda on the 3DS and Wii U, this blog will focus on what's wrong with modern Zelda and how to improve it. Nintendo's goal is to make Zelda more popular again and they can't do that with the current Aonuma Zelda formula, because it's this formula, which is the problem. A lot has to change.

Check out this Kotaku article. It deals with a very important point: in the classic Nintendo games you jump right into the fun. There are no tutorial phases in Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda. You get the sword right away and you start exploring. The essence of the game is there from minute one.



Modern Zelda completely lost track of this. There are lenghty tutorials for all the newly introduced gimmicks and there are many cut scenes you have to endure, before the real funs starts. Skyward Sword is a perfect example for this. They don't just let you go explore the world below, first you have to find your bird, learn how to fly in some ceremony, watch many cutscenes and so on.

When I observe my gaming behavior I usually prefer games, where I can jump right into the action. For example on the PC I like playing Unreal Tournament or Minecraft. The latter is a nice example, because its Survival Mode shares some similarities with the traditional Zelda gameplay. You get dropped right into the world, you start collecting stuff (to built better items) and you can go, whereever you want. You are free to explore the world like in the first Zelda game. The only restrictions are your own powers. As you become stronger, you can go explore the dark undergrounds. Zelda used to be like that, but it turned more and more into a guided and linear experience. And by now it takes you an hour to get into the real action.

It is very good that Nintendo is looking into this phenomenom. However, Miyamoto sees two major problems with this: one is the game elements that require teaching and the other one is story telling. I think the real problem are actually the teaching and the story telling. Both have to go.

Learning by doing. Actually Skyward Sword's controls were so natural and intuitive that they didn't require any tutorials, you just could learn them on the fly. And in fact there weren't many tutorials, for example you could skip the sword tutorial entirely. Which is the right way. Let the people learn the new stuff by theirselves and only include some optional help for those who really need it. For example Ocarina of Time introduced the 3D targeting controls, but they didn't force any tutorials on you. Beginners would talk to the Kokiki or read the signs at the training center. Experienced players just skip right to the Deku Tree. And that's the way how it should be. It also adds to the replay value. If you already played the game, you certainly don't want to endure any tutorials. Tutorials always should be optional.

Only the flying got its own forced tutorial sequence in Skyward Sword, because this was the new gimmick. But do we really need flying in a Zelda game? Or trains? Or becoming a wolf? Modern Zelda revolves around gimmicks, each new Zelda game gets its own share of new gimmicks. And usually those gimmicks don't have anything to do with traditional Zelda, which is why they get tutorials. For the next Zelda game Nintendo should not think about what amazing and creative new ideas they could stuff into Zelda, but they should focus on the core elements. Exploring, fighting, discovering secrets, collecting items.

And story telling shouldn't be in the way of the gaming experience. Never. I entirely dislike any movie-like games. If I want to watch a movie, I watch a movie. Games are about interaction. Games are about choices. Cutscenes are crap, because they don't offer any interaction or choices (at least not in Zelda, cut those silly multiple choice options with no effects). A video game has many more interesting possiblities of HOW to tell a story. Video games are the only media that allow non-linear story telling. You should explore the story by yourself while exploring Hyrule. By talking to people, reading old books or writings on a wall. Zelda offers many interesting ways to explore a story instead of just showing you cutscenes.

Majora's Mask does it right. You get dropped in Clocktown, where you EXPLORE the story all by yourself. You talk to people and you learn more about the town, the carnival and the Skull Kid. You listen to granny's old stories and get to know more about the backgrounds. It's an amazingly satisfying experience. Zelda doesn't need any lenghty cutscenes. Zelda doesn't need linear story telling. Zelda doesn't need an intro phase filled with cutscenes.

The goal for the next Zelda game should be the following: give you a sword as soon as possible and drop you into the open world as soon as possible. Don't force anything, let the player explore the magic of Hyrule all by himself. For a perfect start into a good game.

No Retro Zelda For You

So, when Miyamoto talked with Wired about how smooth the collaboration with Retro Studios went while making Mario Kart 7, he hinted that Zelda might be next.

Of course this caused massive hype among Zelda fans including myself. Retro understood perfectly what made the classic games great and they knew how to infuse this into a modern game. The Metroid Prime Trilogy is simply one of the finest Nintendo products of the last ten years and Donkey Kong Country Returns was a fun platformer. Zelda fans want Retro to work on Zelda, because those guys could bring Zelda back to glory.



But now Miyamoto denies in an interview with IGN that Retro is working together with Nintendo on the next Zelda, because the collaboration suddenly would be too difficult. Seriously...?

Okay, I understand that in Mario Kart 7 the labor division was probably a lot easier, since Retro was working on their own tracks. But you could still split the work of a Zelda game. Retro could make the dungeons for example. I trust in (old) Retro that they would return to the non-linear, maze-like dungeon design of the classics. So, at least the dungeons would be awesome.

But the problem seems to be a lot deeper than just issues in collaborating. According to these reports (as seen on ZI) Retro Studios is falling apart, most of the core employees have left the company over the past few years. Retro is not the same company anymore, who made the Prime Trilogy. So, Retro has to prove yet again that they're the right guys to work on projects like Zelda. Let them revive another classic franchise, let's say Starfox or F-Zero, so they can show what the new Retro can do.

I'm sad about what's happening at Retro, because I saw a chance for Zelda in this studio. But now this chance seems to be gone.

Zelda Wii U still in Experimental Stage

Miyamoto in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

What we continue to ask ourselves as we have over the years is, “What is the most important element of Zelda if we were to try to make a Zelda game that a lot of people can play?” So we have a number of different experiments going on, and [when] we decide that we’ve found the right one of those to really help bring Zelda to a very big audience, then we’ll be happy to announce it.

With the last game, Skyward Sword, that was a game where you had motion control to use your weapons and a lot of different items, and I thought that was a lot of fun, but there were some people who weren’t able to do that or didn’t like it as much and stopped playing partway through it. So we’re in the phase where we’re looking back at what’s worked very well and what has been missing and how can we evolve it further.

With Skyward Sword we had a long experimental stage. It took five years to make the game, mostly because they experimented for a long time. There was even a phase, where they experimented with a first person perspective, which spawned Link's Crossbow Training. It took them five years to make a streamlined Zelda game with spot on intuitive controls. When the game was released half a year ago, Nintendo acted like the controls were the perfect way of playing Zelda. Aonuma even told the ONM, that they can't go back to button controls. But now it seems like anything is possible. The Wii U is a game system with multiple control layouts. You can use the Wiimote and Nunchuk, the new pad or a typical dual analog gamepad. But in case of Zelda I'd say stay with the Wiimote controls.

The problem with Skyward Sword were not the controls. But how the fighting felt unnatural. Suddenly all fights revolved around "swing in the right angle" puzzles, which wasn't much fun. Stalfos were holding their swords in weird ways just to offer an obvious week point. I think the controls were great, but the fighting and all the motion control puzzles sucked ballz. It would have been much more fun and satisfying to use the new controls in more natural fights. However, I fear that Nintendo doesn't see the flaws in the ways how modern Zelda games tend to work and just keeps throwing new input methods at us, which won't change anything.

Nintendo shouldn't focus on the controls for once, but on the game. They lost track of what a good Zelda game has to look like. Their experiments hopefully will focus on what made the classic Zelda games great. The ones on the NES, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. One might blame me for being blinded by nostalgia, but there are reasons why many people favor the classic Zelda games over games like Skyward Sword or Spirit Tricks. Those games were about exploring and discovering secrets. The fights were tougher, the worlds were more open and dungeons used to be more non-linear and maze-like. Discovering hidden stuff and getting better items felt more satisfying. Modern Zelda games got very linear, too easy and too focused on gimmicky puzzles. Modern Zelda games are bloated with stuff like cut scenes, long tutorial phases, annoying sidekicks and are full of gimmicky gameplay elements like Silent Realms, which shouldn't be part of a Zelda game to begin with.

If they want Zelda to be successful again, they have to strip it down. Down to the very NES basics. Down to the core of what Zelda was supposed to be. And this is were they should start.

The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest Announced

If you read the post's title alone, you might be pissing your pants for excitement. "The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest? That sounds awesome!" Too bad it's just some stupid minigame in Nintendo's next minigame collection for the Wii U: NintendoLand.

The game will feature Miis dressed as Link in an on rail shooter experience in fabric visuals. Two of them can swing the sword similar to Skyward Sword, while the first player uses the Wii U Gamepad to fire arrows with a bow. That's pretty much it... nothing exciting here, much like the rest of the Nintendo E3 2012 press conference.



And I'm pissed that a cool name like "The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest" gets wasted on a minigame.

Source: Kotaku, NintendoEverything

Brace Yourselves, the E3 2012 Nintendo Press Conference is Coming

Two in fact, there will be a seperate Nintendo 3DS event later on Thursday at 3AM.

Well, the Nintendo Direct event yesterday was rather disappointing. I didn't like the bad Big Bang Theory imitation, it wasn't really funny, it distracted from the product and it didn't feel like something, where you would identify yourself with, whether you're a gamer or someone who is interested in the Wii for other reasons like family or WiiFit. The new controller feels forced, Iwata acted like it's the must have solution to many problems. I don't see it. Not to mention that they shouldn't even consider pop psychology crap like "Alone Together", which probably aims against all technology as something bad, I don't see how a new separate screen in your household would help with the "together alone" problem. It rather amplifies it, now your wife can watch Grey's Anatomy, while you play Super Mario on the pad. I actually thought that Microsoft's SmartGlass was a much nicer approach. It didn't feel forced and some ideas like having a map of Westeros while watching Game of Thrones were quite cool (that would in fact be quite helpful, since the show jumps around so often). I'm not a fan of the new controller, I can't see myself playing Zelda with this thing, and I don't like the Miiverse idea that much. My Wii is now turning into Facebook? That's the last thing I wanted, it's a fad that won't add anything to the games in ten years. Most Nintendo games have something in common: they are timeless. You can play A Link to the Past in 20 years and it's still a great game. They shouldn't add any ephemeral features like social networking to their games.

But all hope now lies in the games. The ship Nintendo rise and sinks with its games, the stupid Wii U is just a box I have to buy to play Zelda. We'll definitely learn more about New Super Mario Bros. Mii and 2. As well as Luigi's Mansion 2 and maybe Super Smash Bros Universe (have you seen the Playstation Allstar copycat? trolololol). I don't expect Metroid and I'm not sure about Zelda. It only has been half a year since the last release and they shouldn't have come far. But a simple teaser (trailer) is still a possibility, at least for the 3DS Zelda, just to get people excited and maybe to show the direction of the new games. Maybe a confirmation that Retro is working on Zelda Wii U (that alone would get me hyped). Maybe another Zelda Wii U tech demo that shows more of the Wii U's power. We'll see in a few hours.

Enjoy the show, everybody!

Ocarina of Time 3D and Add-On Content

This week Nintendo released their first official add-on content for a 3DS game, a patch for Mario Kart 7 that prevents you from using some glitch based shortcuts (the one Wuhu track for example). As we all know Nintendo is against "releasing incomplete products", so you should't expect downloadable MK7 tracks or new Super Mario 3D Land levels for 4.99. And definitely not downloadable content for a game like Zelda, where DLC would be hard to include (unless there's multiplayer).

Still I would like to talk about the possibility of Ocarina of Time 3D getting new content, because it could fix the biggest mistake of the remake - the lack of any new content. Like a new optional dungeon offering some bigger challenges. It could be placed as a cave or even a secret grotto somewhere in the Desert Colossus area. Or if you only want Adult Link to enter the dungeon then somewhere in the Haunted Wasteland (this place is perfect for adding some secrets). It could be another 50 story fighting dungeon like the Cave of Ordeals. That still would be better than nothing, especially if it let's you rebattle Dark Link. And it should get even harder in Master Quest. As rewards they should try to fill the two empty slots in the item menu, more bottles or a telescope, something. Maybe new potions that come with the new bottles and can be refilled in the dungeon any time. A larger wallet would also be nice, even though this wouldn't fill a slot in the item menu. But there could be a reward after every 10th floor.



The Cave of Ordeals idea is quite minimalistic and it might sound desperate that they just should add something. But I can't stress it enough, that Ocarina of Time 3D was a missed opportunity and DLC might be a way to fix this.

The Future of Zelda 2012

I opened this blog in 2008 with a post called The Future of Zelda, at a time, where little to nothing was know about it. We knew that something was in development, but there were no announced titles, no concepts, nothing. 2008 was a total void for Zelda fans (save for Smash Bros. Brawl). Right now we're back in the same situation. We left the 25th Anniversary behind us, played many cool new Zelda titles and enjoyed many Zelda goodies such as Hyrule Historia. And now there's nothing. Nothing left to do, nothing to look forward to. We just know that something is in development, but we know nothing about the upcoming game(s). We've entered the Zelda void. Maybe they'll show us something at E3, maybe not. But until then we can only speculate and this is why I will post a new edition of my "the Future of Zelda" article.

A Tale of Two Games

It's not uncommon that there are two Zelda games in development at the same time. Actually it has always been that way ever since Majora's Mask. Right now Nintendo is working on both a 3DS Zelda game and a WiiU one. The 3DS game is probably getting the full priority, while the WiiU Zelda game most likely is still in experimental stages. But for those two games pretty much anything is possible. It's still unclear what play style, perspective or controls they will have. Or how the graphics will look like.

Originally the handheld Zelda games would go with the classic topdown perspective, while the big console Zeldas used the 3rd person play style of Ocarina of Time. But with Ocarina of Time 3D we now got a third person Zelda on a handheld and the new Zelda game on the 3DS might even follow that play style. But unless the WiiU Zelda now goes back to the topdown view, it would mean abandoning the classic Zelda play style. And I guess many Zelda fans wouldn't like that. Of course it's not like with Mario, where the 2D Mario games are ten times more popular than the 3D ones, but "2D Zelda" still should continue to exist. Well, what do we know about the upcoming Zelda game for the 3DS? Nothing really, only some statements by Aonuma. The biggest quote is probably that the game will be something "where 3D really matters". Aonuma also stated that the game will be based on what they built for the Nintendo DS Zelda games (see here). Both of this lead me to the speculation that the 3DS Zelda game actually might be a classic "2D" Zelda experience from the topdown perspective.

Why? In Ocarina of Time 3D the 3D effect didn't really matter. It looks nice, but turning it off doesn't change the gameplay experience in any way. In Super Mario 3D Land, however, certain bonus levels provided optical illusions in a fixed perspective, where jumps were hard to judge with the 3D turned off. Here the 3D really mattered. And ever since they introduced the "3D Classics" I was obsessed with the thought of seeing classic Zelda dungeons with a depth added to them. Imagine the dungeon room going into your screen. Super Mario 3D Land even got a Zelda stage, which shows how this would look like. I think the fixed topdown perspective would work great in combination with 3D. And in case of a topdown Zelda it would also make sense for them to built on the Nintendo DS Zelda engine. However, the stylus controls probably won't return. The 3D screen isn't a touchscreen, so you can't have both and the game will probably implement very old school Zelda controls. So, I guess the 3DS Zelda has a good chance to be a very old fashioned Zelda experience.

On the WiiU I really don't know what to make out of that tablet controller. Also, Nintendo praised their Skyward Sword controls so much, it would look stupid to abandon them immediately. The WiiU Zelda should keep the Skyward Sword play style and focus on nice graphics. They've shown us the incredible Zelda graphics demo and this is what the fans now want. They already made the same mistake with the 2000 Space World GameCube Zelda video, which looked pretty amazing at the time, and then making the Wind Waker instead. They shouldn't repeat this mistake, they've shown us the shiny Temple of Time and now fans want this or at least something similar impressive.

About the controls? All I see in that controller is something similar to Four Swords Adventures. But playing that game with the GameBoy Advance in your hands was pretty uncomfortable. Even though it always says things like "look at GBA screen" and "look at TV screen", switching between screens gets pretty confusing and annoying, It's a terrible play style. So, what could you use the tablet for? For maps and menus, naturally, similar to all the DS and 3DS Zelda games so far. But using this controller would mean giving up the Wiimote play style. And Skyward Sword felt pretty good and natural. So, what's more important? Having an easy access to maps and menus or the cool sword controls? I'd go with the Skyward Sword controls all the time. The WiiU controller could become a glorified "Tingle Tuner" though... okay, the Tingle Tuner was just an aweful feature with its only use to annoy the main player. But the general idea isn't that bad. It happens that you play Zelda and there's someone watching you play the game. That person could use the WiiU controller to study maps and give valuable information or even influence the environment in some ways like shown in the tech demo.

Majora's Mask 3D

Okay, it is actually not true that we don't know anything, because Majora's Mask 3D is pretty much a given. They just said that they will develop an original Zelda game for the 3DS first, before they release another remake. But Majora's Mask 3D is a simple task, take Majora's Mask and make it look like Ocarina of Time 3D. This time though they should definitely add some actual new content. Like a new dungeon or whatever. I will write a more detailed post in the future about MM3D ideas, but one feature I would like to see is expending the game's Pictograph item into the Pictobox experience of the Wind Waker including a new figurine collection. It's a perfect fit, the figurines would look awesome in 3D and thanks to the repeating 3 day cycle there wouldn't be any missables, which was the worst thing about the figurine collection in TWW. And it should work a little bit easier, for example you shouldn't have to wait one day for a figurine to be made. The figurines should also be stored in your inventory, because otherwise you would lose them on your time travels. Also, a Master Quest for Majora's Mask would be pretty sweet. Expect more thoughts about Majora's Mask 3D soon.

Grezzo and Retro

Grezzo established theirselves as the Zelda remake guys, they made both Ocarina of Time 3D and the Four Swords Anniversay Edition. And they probably will also develop Majora's Mask 3D, when it's time. Until then I think they will work hand in hand with Nintendo on the 3DS Zelda game. No matter how the game will look like, their experience and manpower will be an asset. Another valuable asset for Nintendo has been Retro Studios, who have made some pretty amazing games in the past ten years. It already has been hinted by Miyamoto that they could work on Zelda and let me tell you that this would be the best damn thing that happened to Zelda in a long time. They have a good understanding of what made the classic games great and how to put it into a modern game. They could bring Zelda back to its roots, while still giving you a fresh and modern Zelda experience. Of course Nintendo wouldn't hand over their next Zelda game entirely to Retro. So, I think the next two Zelda games will be born under the star of codevelopment. The 3DS Zelda game will be codeveloped by Grezzo and the WiiU Zelda game will be codeveloped by Retro. More manpower for Zelda.

Zelda on the eShop

Let's not forget the realm of the eShop, where past Zelda game will make their return. The Legend of Zelda already found its way to the 3DS Virtual Console and the remaining ambassador games, Zelda II and the Minish Cap, will most likely follow. Also, don't forget Oracle of Ages and Seasons, two games that haven't been available since the GameBoy Color days. The Game & Watch Zelda could also be remade, an actual 3D version where the 3D effects are used to properly emulate the LCD effects would be lovely. Talking about 3D remakes, I still think it would be an awesome idea to get a 3D Classics version of A Link to the Past, based on the GBA version and including the Ancient Stone Tablets addon levels. For the ultimate version of A Link to the Past. I would love to buy that.

Anyway, some Zelda classics will definitely see a return as downloadable games. But I would also like the idea of new 2D Zelda games as exclusive downloads. Similar to the Four Swords Anniversary Edition without the remake part. Imagine a new Zelda game in the lovely style of the Minish Cap. Or something in the improved ALttP style from Four Swords Adventures. Small Zelda games for a small price, no big new gimmicks here, just classic Zelda gameplay. I would love to buy that.

Spinoffs

A big "NO" here at the moment. The Tingle series is over and the Zelda team shouldn't waste their time on something like Link's Crossbow Training 2 or Link's Fishing Adventure.