Link's Awakening Remake: Chamber Dungeons Announced

Of course the remake to Link's Awakening was getting something new, where at E3 2019 Nintendo announced the "Chamber Dungeons" as a major addition to the game.

Here Dampé returns once more, where instead of digging up graves he arranges underground dungeons for you. By beating dungeons during the game, you unlock more chambers that you can use to solve the different panels, where you have to fit in the chambers into the grid.

When we discussed potential follow-ups to the new Link's Awakening, a "Zelda Maker" was amongst those ideas, where it's nice to see that Nintendo is already experimenting with this in the remake! Of course this isn't a fully fledged dungeon maker, but it goes in this direction, where Nintendo simply might want to test the interest here.

Dungeon making is also presented here as a puzzle in itself, because the rooms have to fit each other. It actually feels similar to the Sky Keep dungeon in Skyward Sword, where instead of sliding the rooms around you'll have to place them in this puzzle. And this seems to work really well.

And as a new feature this is super exciting. I know the original game like the back of my hand. I've played it so often, I can actually replay all the dungeons from my memory alone. But re-arranging the rooms of the dungeons turns it all into a very different experience, where I know the rooms, but there is something else to find on the other side of the doors every time...

However, the Chamber Dungeons only seem to work with the small square rooms of the original dungeons. The big center area of the Tail Cave and the Key Cavern are not available for example. Those do actually scroll like we've predicted, as seen in this video by GameSpot, but they most likely won't work for the Chamber Dungeons.

Some rooms even have been modified to have walls with doors on their side, so they can be used as chambers. One example would be the narrow walkway with the flying heart that leads to the Roc's Feather in the west part of the Tail Cave. In the remake this is all one big scrolling room, instead of three. For the Chamber Dungeons, however, they've added doors to the walkway on each end, where it now has screen to screen scrolling like in the original.

There are also some additional generic rooms with blade traps, which couldn't be found in the original game, probably to compensate for missing pieces.

This might even be a big reason for bringing back the Color Dungeon... Why? Well, this dungeon was exclusively made out of such "chambers" and therefore offers many different rooms to use here.

Anyway, the Challenges themselves could lead to some interesting scenarios. With this mode you could potentially even create your own Boss Gauntlet, where maybe this is even one of the Challenges, where you're restricted to using boss and mini boss chambers only.

It's a really clever concept that Nintendo is introducing here to the series and basically even removes the need for including new dungeons and things like a Boss Rush to the game, because it can be all done via Chamber Dungeons.

Give the Zelda fans a new dungeon and they will be entertained for a little while. Give the Zelda fans their means of making their own dungeons and they will be entertained forever!

Breath of the Wild Sequel Announced

Okay, let's get the big stuff out of the way, before we focus on Link's Awakening once more... As an impressive finish to their E3 2019 presentation Nintendo announced that they are working on the sequel to Breath of the Wild. Well, this isn't really a big surprise, since Aonuma already said as much in Creating a Champion / Master Works one and half years ago. So, they've been working on this ever since they've finished the DLC for Breath of the Wild, maybe even earlier.

It also shouldn't come as a surprise in general. Breath of the Wild has been a huge success, the most successful Zelda game so far, where it's only natural that Nintendo wants to drive on this success by making a sequel in the same style right away. This is common for all the handheld Zelda games, but the only 3D Zelda game so far that got the same treatment was Ocarina of Time, where they had planned expansions for the Nintendo 64 DD and ultimately one of them turned into its own game with Majora's Mask.

So, you can't even blame Zelda fans, if they draw parallels between this and the beloved Nintendo 64 sequel. Both are using the same engine to give us something new. And both seem to follow a much darker tone, at least from what we've seen in the trailer so far, where this let's us dive from the technological approach of Breath of the Wild into something much more... mythical.

However, the thought of this becoming another Majora's Mask is only masking the worries that this trailer brings. When watching this trailer some might even think that this was supposed to announce new DLC for Breath of the Wild and you can't really blame them either, because it heavily looked like an expansion. Of course Nintendo won't be doing more DLC, because fans would be asking for it on Wii U as well and they certainly don't want to maintain the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild any longer. The game could have gotten many more content updates, if it weren't for that... But it still could mean that the development of this new game started originally as another expansion, much like Majora's Mask did.

The Return of Ganondorf? The Absence of Technology?

Overall the trailer leaves you really puzzled with what's going on. We see a mummified corpse that's supposedly Ganondorf under Hyrule, held down by some divine spirit or something similar. And we see Ganon's malice spreading.

What we don't see is any Sheikah technology. The shot of Hyrule Castle doesn't show the pylons around it, which held the Guardians, there also don't seem to be any Sheikah Shrines or Sheikah Towers visible and Vah Rudania is not around Death Mountain... Also, Link is always cut off in a way so that you can't see whether he is carrying the Sheikah Slate or not, but it doesn't seem like it.

This makes it actually difficult to place this trailer. You would think that this takes place after the events of Breath of the Wild, but then the absence of all things Sheikah technology would have to be explained. It might even be what causes Link and Zelda to explore these underground ruins in the first place. Maybe the last scene in the trailer, where Hyrule Castle rises up, chronologically happens before all the other events.

It's also thinkable that this is in fact something that takes place before the events of Breath of the Wild and we just witnessed the awakening of Calamity Ganon from a new perspective, but this also doesn't fit what we've seen so far and Hyrule probably would look quite different, with various housings visible on Hyrule Field and such. Also, there would be no real point in telling this story now, after Calamity Ganon has been defeated...

In any case, this scene might probably be a memory or something similar – something you discover along the way. If it's not and this is actually supposed to be the beginning of the game, we would loose an aspect that made Breath of the Wild so good: dropping you into a world without knowing what's going on. And this leads us right to the next point...

The World?

The trailer overall seems to have the purpose of shocking people with its imagery, similar to the original reveal of Breath of the Wild, where a Guardian came out of nowhere, chasing you. It raised many exciting questions at the time, much like this new trailer has now. However, there is one big difference: the first teaser of Breath of the Wild started by showing us the massive and exciting game world. The first look trailer for the sequel does not.

In fact this gives more the impression of an underground expansion than anything else, where you explore Hyrule's vast underground dungeons in the same Hyrule as before. That's certainly something that some fans wanted, but exploring a massive, seamless overworld is what made Breath of the Wild so good in the first place. If they are simply re-using the same overworld and adding to it, then the sequel would be in a very bad spot already.

It could be a situation similar to A Link Between Worlds, where the old overworld is there, but has been altered in many ways, while there is also a new world to explore: either the underground or a Dark World / Lorule. The latter would have to be very different, however, because having three different versions of the same gigantic overworld would be too much. And as good as the world of Breath of the Wild has been, the sequel first and foremost needs an entirely new world. If you have invested hundreds of hours into the first game, then a sequel that takes place in the same world seems rather exhausting than exiting...

Hopefully, Nintendo will clarify on this soon. Update: Aonuma did confirm that this will take place in the previous Hyrule in an interview with GameInformer. He also confirmed that development started as DLC in an interview with Kotaku.

This really could mean that they most likely will focus on expanding Hyrule's underground world, while they do something different for the overworld.

Link and Zelda? Multiplayer?

A more promising aspect of the trailer is that we see Link and Zelda adventuring together. That's a vision that the end of Breath of the Wild gave us and something that will hopefully now will be delivered. It would be nice, if we could actually play as Zelda next to Link in this game.

(Her new hair style might even have the purpose that it was easier to animate her and put her many different outfits during the game, even though her old hairstyle probably looked a lot better.)

If there really is a two world mechanic, Zelda could be playable in the familiar Hyrule, while Link explores the underground or the Dark World or whatever there is, where you can switch between the characters at any time to make both worlds interact with each other... However, this would put the two characters apart, which wouldn't be as interesting.

This could also lead into a two player coop experience, where one plays as Link and the other as Zelda, either locally or online. Aonuma has stated that he wanted to re-explore the multiplayer aspect of Zelda with what they've learned from Breath of the Wild, where it's entirely possible that they might add multiplayer to a 3D Zelda game for the first time (source).

E3 2019: Roundup

This should be a stage in Smash!

Good show. As a Zelda fan I'm very satisfied and got what I wanted: some nice new things about Link's Awakening and a first glimpse at the Breath of the Wild sequel. The Metroid fan in me is of course a little bit disappointed, but used to it. Maybe next year...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Dragon Quest & Banjo-Kazooie

This is probably only of little interest to me, since I'm not a fan of either games. The Dragon Quest DLC looks really well done, though, with all the different alts for the heroes. It's a little bit weird to have characters originally drawn by Akira Toriyama in Smash now, but it's a very popular series and certainly a good choice overall.

Banjo & Kazooie on the other hand is some serious grave digging. I know this game has its fans, but so does Golden Sun for example, where they also didn't bother. And the Spiral Mountain stage looks kind of bad...But the reveal trailer for Banjo was very funny, I give them that. It's almost frightening how well they are in touch with the Smash community here, where "Banjo would just be a Duck Hunt clone / Echo" was a running gag for a while now.

I suppose, Minecraft might just be getting the single DLC stage, if anything at all. And it might really be that the last two Challenger Packs will be Ryu Hayabusa and Doom Slayer, but I would be hyped about both of them.

Link's Awakening

Yes, Color Dungeon is back and the Camera Shop is gone (good riddance), just as we had predicted here. And instead of the Camera Shop we get the nice new "Dungeon Maker" feature. Absolutely awesome!

It also looks like the game has more Heart Pieces and Heart Pieces to collect, as well as Fairy Bottles. And there is amiibo support for all Zelda amiibo for the new Chamber Dungeons. More about all that later.

Most importantly, it all looks really nice. It's very faithful to the original game, but has improved in many different ways and the whole clay diorama art style is just lovely. I can't wait to play this!

Breath of the Wild Sequel

Okay, wow, while I was playing with the thought of them showing the sequel already, I didn't really expect it. But here it is... And it's not at all what I was hoping for. But let's talk about this in a separate post, like all the Link's Awakening stuff!

E3 2019: Hopes and Expectations

The E3 2019 is about to start and there will certainly a few things to look forward to. Here are my hopes and expectations for the Nintendo Direct event on Tuesday.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Challenger Pack 2

This was already confirmed by Masahiro Sakurai yesterday after the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Championship 2019 - we will see the next Challenger on Tuesday! I would expect a full gameplay reveal for the next newcomer with a release date for this month. But it's also possible that they might end things with a teaser for Challenger Pack 3 as well, so we will know three out of five characters at the end.

Recent rumors have been all about Banjo-Kazooie, Erdrick from Dragon Quest, Steve from Minecraft and the Doom Slayer from DOOM. I personally would prefer the last two, but let's see. Maybe there will be even a surprise fighter that no one saw coming. That would probably be the best...

Other than the Challenger Packs there could be announcements for the next big update with new modes and extras, like the return of Home-Run Contest, a free Echo Fighter or finally a Mii Mage class.

Link's Awakening

Nintendo has already confirmed that the game will be playable at E3 and there will be without a doubt new footage from the remake. I would expect a release date, a potential Nintendo Switch bundle, as well as some information about new features like a bonus dungeon or a 2nd Quest mode. It would also be good to know whether the features of the DX version will make it back or not.

But for Zelda fans Link's Awakening will most likely be the highlight of E3 2019.

First Glimpse at the Breath of the Wild Sequel?

While Link's Awakening will certainly take the spotlight for Zelda at E3 2019, it's possible that we get a first teaser for the next big Zelda game just to show us that Nintendo is working on more than just remakes and remasters when it comes to Zelda. I would not expect anything major here, however, so only a small glimpse at what they have been working on and no real gameplay.

Skyward Sword HD?

It's possible that this might be showcased already, but I'm not fully expecting it, because it would just take the attention away from Link's Awakening. Similar to Majora's Mask 3D and Twilight Princess HD, they could reveal this later this year, when Link's Awakening is already released, for an early 2020 release. So, this probably won't appear at E3 2019.

Metroid Prime Trilogy HD?

Similar to Skyward Sword HD, they could announce this at any time, because these remasters aren't exactly the most spectacular showcase. However, since we would get the entire trilogy remastered in one neat package and these remasters would give us a glimpse at how Metroid Prime 4 will feel on Nintendo Switch, this could warrant a spot at E3 2019 nonetheless.

Retro Studios' Latest Project?

We know that Retro Studios has taken over the development of Metroid Prime 4, but we don't really know what they've been doing for the last five years, ever since the release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in early 2014. It could be one or even more failed projects, which never will see the light of the day, or they could be finished with their latest game, which will also release in 2019. It would be nice to know what they've been up to in any case.

Some Nice Custom Gifts

It was my Birthday earlier this month and I got a couple of nice handmade things as gifts, where I thought I should share them:

• A Makar figurine.
• A small scroll based on the intro from The Wind Waker.
• A glass, which says "The Legend of Tourian Tourist", with a Hylian Shield on it. This also came with the wooden box.
• A birthday card using the artwork from the new Link's Awakening.
• A small music box with a winder that plays the Song of Storms. Made by Tigerbee.

The Minecraft Creeper & TNT key chain is the only official merchandise here and the odd one out (but I still like it a lot as well). Those are all cool custom items and some lovely ideas for presents, where I want to thank those again, who have gifted me with them. Thank you!

10th Anniversary of Minecraft

If I have to name my all-time favorite games or game series, it would be The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Unreal, but also Minecraft. Rarely ever had a game captivated me as much as this one and while I haven't played it in some years, it still has a very special place in my heart, where I have many fond memories of playing Minecraft both alone and with friends.

And by now the game is already ten years old, celebrating an entire decade of existence. Well, I haven't played the game before 2011, where I first tried the Beta and was already fascinated by its atmosphere. However, at the time the game didn't run as well on my computer, so I hadn't played it for long at the time. But with version 1.1 in the following year things changed, where Minecraft became my biggest gaming addiction for two years, until Hyrule Warriors came in 2014 and stole my attention.

While I've played on some multiplayer servers, for the most part I was dedicated to my own world, building a second home there, where you can find some glimpses of this in the screenshots of this post. And this is part of why Minecraft was so fascinating for me: it's your own world.

I love playing Zelda games for the exploration, but Minecraft takes things further by randomly generating a world and letting you change it piece by piece. While there are some templates of how the worlds are created and you have certain repeating constructs like villages, mine shafts and so on, it's all always unique and exploring in Minecraft never gets old. And it never stops, because the worlds are potentially infinite. You can spend a lifetime exploring everything in one world and still won't be able to see it all.

For me it was the first real open world game that I've played, several years before Breath of the Wild, and it was so good because it just puts you in the middle of the world and lets your own curiosity take over. The early Survival game is quite exciting, where at night monsters come out and you want to create a shelter to stay safe. Slowly, but surely you get better gear and are ready to explore more, fight stronger foes and so on.

But once you've found a place that you like, you can settle and build a house, a farm, a village, an underground facility and whatever you like. I've dedicated my main area to farming everything possible, where I have a mob, sugar cane and slime farm under my house, a villager trading center, collections of all animals, fields for all plants, flower farms, an Iron Golem farm and so much more. You could say that I've overdone it, but that was part of the fun and Minecraft really lives from your own goals.

This special combination of exploring, fighting monsters and building your own world is even something that I've wanted since the GameBoy Color games, where I liked playing Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages & Seasons, but also Harvest Moon. At the time I've imagined how nice it would be to build my own farm around Mabe Village on Koholint. And Minecraft kind of gave me this in a very ambitious way.

Simply reminiscing about the game makes me feel really nostalgic, where I even went back to the game after all those years for the 10th Anniversary. But I've stopped playing when version 1.8 came out, where by now we have version 1.14 and lots of things have happened since then. It's amazing how they keep adding to the game, still developing it after all this time, improving it on all ends.

But it also feels quite overwhelming, if you haven't kept up with it... Some of my aforementioned farms and creations don't work anymore due to the (recent) changes to villages and other elements, where I really need to study all the changes in detail to make decisions on how to go on here.

Sometimes it feels like it would be the best to simply start over, enjoy a fresh game in a new world without all the weight of all what was done before. But at the same time I've achieved so much in my old world, like an Enderman farm in the End for near endless Ender Pearls supplies, where I would have to do so many (sophisticated) things a second time, instead of focusing the new things.

And there are so many new things to discover. I really like the additions from the "Update Aquatic" for example, especially the new Trident weapon - it's so good that I hope that it will be part of the moveset for Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if he really makes it into the DLC... And it already inspires new projects, where I want to build a Drowned farm using a Zombie spawner.

Village & Pillage

Last month the "Village & Pillage" update just got released and I've tried some of its additions in a New World, where chance had it that I spawned right next to one of the new Pillager Outposts, not far from a village, so I could try the new Raid mechanics:

It's really crazy and the village gets swarmed with all sorts of hostile "Illager" mobs. It's nothing you could survive early in the game, but a fun idea nonetheless.

For my old game world, however, I had to go back to version 1.3.2 to complete my villager trading center project for Enchanted Books - something that wouldn't work the same way in version 1.4 and beyond, at least not way I intended it to. I even will have to figure out how to keep trades going in 1.4...

But overall I like how you can now directly influence the profession of new villagers now by placing the profession blocks and how villagers are now looking for beds instead of many, many doors. It just feels like they completely overdid things here and some of the profession blocks seem somewhat unnecessary or weird. Like, why would we need a "Smithing Table" without any functions for a Toolsmith, if there already is the Anvil in the game?

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft - Challenger Pack Concept

If you're talking about adding Minecraft contents to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in form of one of the five Challenger Packs, you often get met with anger, because it seems that part of the Smash community really doesn't like the idea of the Minecraft avatar as a playable fighter in their favorite game, mostly because of the aesthetics.

The bargaining often ends with saying that a stage should be enough, because the possibility of Minecraft contents being added to Smash Ultimate is still in the air, ever since Vergeben first mentioned this about a year ago - the guy who accurately "predicted" Ridley, Simon, Isabelle, Ken and Incineroar. He couldn't place the Minecraft contents, which were missing during the release, but has heard about a boss, where it's possible that they might add the Ender Dragon as another boss to the game with the DLC.

But even without the words of so called leakers, it's not unlikely that both Nintendo and Sakurai might want Minecraft in Smash. Nintendo loves Minecraft. They have released a Creeper Edition of the New 2DS XL and Minecraft is on the three most recent Nintendo console with lots of Super Mario skins. Miyamoto openly wishes that Nintendo had made the game (source) and Sakurai loves to play Survival Minecraft (source).

And I personally love Minecraft myself. I have very fond memories of playing the game both alone and with various friends during my time at the university. It was my first real open world game before Breath of the Wild and I wouldn't want to have it any other way, because Minecraft embraces complete freedom. The freedom to explore as you like, to do what you want and to make your own mistakes while facing the dangers of the dark. The freedom to build your own house, underground facility, farm or island in the sky...

It's such a complex game with nearly unlimited possibilities, but yet so simple at its core. It's a game to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, where it has become the childhood favorite of an entire new generation of gamers. Minecraft is today what Super Mario used to be for my generation. So, it would be a great honor for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to have one of its Challenger Packs devoted to this successful game, which has the charm of Nintendo's old classics. And with the 10th Anniversary of Minecraft coming up, it would be the perfect time for this crossover.

While it's possible that they might add only a stage or some other small collaborations in the form of additional Mii Fighter outfits and Spirits, the core of the DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be the five Challenger Packs, bundles of a fighter and a stage. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U offered similar bundles for whenever they had added a fighter from a new franchise (Street Fighter, Final Fantasy and Bayonetta), where it's likely that most, if not all of the five Challenger Packs will be for 3rd party franchises, considering that most of Nintendo has been covered by Spirits already.

So, if they are really working on Minecraft contents for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it most likely will be the full package and might even receive the best efforts from Sakurai's team. A stage alone also wouldn't be entirely satisfying. While it certainly could capture the essence of exploration and the magic of Minecraft's randomized worlds, it could not properly represent all the things you can do in the game. Only a fighter can do that.

In the following we will discuss the possible contents of a "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft" Challenger Pack:

The Stage: New World

Like the Super Mario Maker stage, it would be randomized, starting you in a different biome each time you play on the stage. This part would be a walk-off stage with a randomized layout and a day and night cycle, where at night different monsters come out, like Zombies, Skeleton and of course Creepers. Players can destroy the block based terrain and even pick up the blocks like items to place them somewhere else.

This would be the simplest concept, but they could take it even further by scrolling or morphing the stage. Players could potentially dig their way into a randomized cave system. This could either be a normal cave, a mine shaft or a part of a Stronghold. The transition could even happen in different ways, e.g. the Ender Dragon swooping through the stage, erasing the ground.

The stage could take the players even into the Nether or the End potentially, where in the background Steve shows up and opens the respective portal. The End would be more like a traditional Smash stage with a platform in the dark void and probably would feature the Ender Dragon as a stage boss. The Nether part will have a lava floor similar to Norfair. Both realms then lead back to the beginning via portals, where everything starts over.

Overall there is enough potential for multiple stages here, where a randomized Minecraft overworld stage would already be amazing enough.

The Fighter: Steve & Alex

The big DLC fighters that come bundled with a stage all seem to offer some sort of new gimmick. Ryu had the Street Fighter inputs, Cloud had Limit, Bayonetta had Witch Time and now Joker got Arsene. Three of those are even triggered by the Down Special. If a Minecraft fighter gets into Smash, this gimmick should be obvious: placing blocks. The Down Special would here be used to place blocks below you and pillar up. These blocks can be destroyed by other players with attacks, but you can do so quicker with your pickaxe (Neutral or Side Special).

Ender Pearls could be used for the Up Special, where you throw the pearl in an arc and then get teleported to where it hits at the cost of some percent. The trusty block sword could be used for his normal attacks, where a Diamond Sword could deal the devastating Smash Attacks. Other tools and weapons from the game like the bow, shovel, axe, trident or even potions are available to fill any remaining moves, so there is lots of potential for a moveset here.

The Final Smash could ever be lighting a pile of TNT or summoning the Wither, where both would be equally devastating to your surroundings.

The main issue people seem to have with a Minecraft fighter in Super Smash Bros. usually isn't the moveset potential, but the overall look, despite the fact that we have characters like Mr. Game & Watch playable already. But if you take a look at the Minecraft Dungeons trailer, seeing a Minecraft fighter properly animated doesn't feel so alien after all and could still fit into Smash with its own charms. He would stick out for sure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, making this a truly unique entry.

The fighter would have "Steve" as a the default skin, much like Minecraft itself does, but there are countless possibilities for alt costumes here, including those from the official Super Mario Edition, where you have a majority of the Mario characters including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser and Toad, of course. But they could go for other Nintendo characters like Link or Zero Suit Samus, which all would be easily distinguishable from the actual fighters thanks to their blocky appearance. And even other video game characters altogether are possible, like Master Chief or Banjo...

The female default skin, "Alex", should be part of this as well, but with so many options for alt costumes of both genders, they might even go as far and make her an Echo Fighter. In this case the Challenger Pack would come with both a new Fighter and an Echo Fighter similar to Simon and Richter in the main game. She wouldn't have to be all that different from her male counterpart, but it would be worth it for the possibility of having 16 Minecraft skins together alone.

Another good reason would be the Classic Mode...

Classic Mode & Spirits

With a Classic Mode route for Minecraft it's clear, where it ends: in the "End" with the Ender Dragon as its boss. Well, if they are cheap yet again, they could just use Rathalos on Final Destination to emulate the battle, but depending on how much effort they put into the Minecraft DLC, both the End and the Ender Dragon could become a boss stage of their own.

(If they are planning on adding a Boss Battle mode later on, this could even be the reason, why they are holding it back: the game doesn't have all its bosses as of yet.)

The rest of the Classic Mode could use other parts of the Minecraft stage, depending on how much the stage actually offers. But existing stages could represent certain parts of the Minecraft world, e.g. Norfair could be used to represent the Nether and the Great Cave Offensive as an underground cave.

As for Spirits, the typical / most popular Minecraft enemies and mobs would do the job here:

• Zombie
• Skeleton
• Creeper
• Villager
• Wolf
• Enderman
• Ender Dragon
• Ghast
• Wither
• ...

There's lots of iconic entities in the game, so there is more than enough material for potential Spirits.