Age of Calamity: Untold Chronicles 2

It's been a week and Nintendo has just released Untold Chronicles From 100 Years Past - Part 2, featuring three more characters from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which hopefully will become playable at some point.

In this case we get a first look at some villains. We're introduced to Master Kohga, who seems to be the same as in Breath of the Wild. Well, since the Yiga Clan is made out of Sheikah, it's possible that he was able to grow very old or even stay young somehow. But it also might be that this Master Kohga simply got replaced by someone with a similar statue at some point in history, but this really looks and feels like the exact same guy.

Anyway, he gets full voice acting now, as well as a special commander for his troops, who looks like a Yiga Blademaster with the difference that he is dual wielding and has two pigtails on his head. I bet he also likes eating two bananas at once. But he could be like this game's version of Volga, just less serious.

In addition, there is a dark sorceress type of character who's aiding the Yiga and has a Gerudo symbol on the back of her robe, so she could be a Gerudo witch serving Ganon, similar to Twinrova. Of course it doesn't necessarily have to be a Gerudo, where this simply could be someone with allegiance to the old Gerudo Ganondorf from legends, similar to how Onox and Veran used to wear the Gerudo Symbol in allegiance to Twinrova. But since the Gerudo tribe in Breath of the Wild is overall opposed to Ganon, the simplest explanation would be a Gerudo who is still loyal to Ganon somehow.

This character also has the typical villain jewelry on their forehead, but in this case it's an eye that looks very similar to the Glowing Eyeballs that grow in Calamity Ganon's malice, further linking this new villain to Ganon. And her weapon seems to be a corrupted Ancient Core.

People also seem to be quite obsessed with the fortune teller who told King Rhoam about the prophecy, where it would be a cool twist if that fortune teller was this evil figure. But whoever it might be, we can briefly see that person in the Yiga Hideout, but also at the entrance to the Lost Woods at the end of the trailer, where the Yiga are probably trying to get to the Master Sword or chase after Zelda.

This is all very intriguing and I can only repeat myself when I say that all of these characters better be playable. King Rhoam, Robbie, Purah, Master Kohga, that Yiga commander and the sorceress... Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the villains only become playable via DLC, but in the least it's good to see that Koei Tecmo is working on some original characters again. I really liked what they did with Cia, Volga and Wizzro in the first Hyrule Warriors, so this could be equally good.

Zelda Calendars 2021

New year, new calendars. Like the previous two years, I got both the Abrams calendar (on the left) and the Pyramid calendar (on the right). This could change in the upcoming years, however, because the difference in quality between the two keeps increasing.

I've always preferred the Pyramid calendar from a design standpoint, but because they just started doing this two years ago, their motives were a little bit too "vanilla" for my taste. I've seen all those artworks in the Abrams calendars before...

But now, funnily enough, it's the other way around. If you look at the 2020 calendars, four motives from the 2020 Pyramid calendar are now re-appearing in the 2021 Abrams calendar...! Talk about lazy... It's like they just were looking at what the competition is doing and said to themselves, "we can do that, too! Let's just copy that!"

Well, Abrams has expanded their previous focus on the 3D Zelda games to "3D Zelda games + A Link Between Worlds", so there is still not much love for the 2D Zelda games here. I didn't even bother with their new Metroid calendar for 2021, because it's twelve times a Samus render from the Metroid Prime Trilogy games. I'm not even joking, you get one month of Quadraxis and the rest is Prime Samus.

It's like the guys at Abrams have the mindset of "we have to go with the popular 3D games or else no one will buy this". Pyramid on the other hand will offer you artwork from The Legend of Zelda, The Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventures, A Link Between Worlds and the new Link's Awakening remake.

With the latter they are also more up-to-date. Abrams seemingly likes to produce and sell their calendars very early, but because of this they are usually two or even three years behind with what's new in the series. Pyramid doesn't seem to be as bad in that regard, where they got the newest Zelda game covered. Plus, they had a good pick with the Champions for December, where this also works nicely to represent Age of Calamity.

Also, the new design for the months in the Pyramid calendar is absolutely amazing. Check this out:

 

It's a dungeon map! This is probably inspired by the Chamber Dungeon feature from Link's Awakening and I absolutely love this. This looks so cool and you get a different dungeon every month! That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you design a nice Zelda calendar.

I won't even bother showing you the inside of the Abrams calendar, because it's the same uninspired, effortless single-color design as always. And you can see an example on the back above. So, if you only have space or money for a single Zelda calendar, definitely go with the one from Pyramid.

Age of Calamity: Outfits?

There is one part about yesterday's stream that we haven't talked about yet and that's the possibility to change your fighter's "attire". In the showcase they went trough a small collection for Link, which consisted entirely out of familiar armor pieces from Breath of the Wild, like the Snowquill Trousers, Soldier's Armor or the Zora Helm.

That is another thing that Koei Tecmo has taken directly from the source material and it's certainly a lot more versatile than the different costumes in Hyrule Warriors, because you can change your clothes for the legs, torso and head individually. You can even remove everything, if you want to play as Link in his underwear...

And that raises a certain question... Can you undress the ladies? Will you be able to change the attire of other fighters as well and how will this look like? Obviously, they can't just use the same armor pieces from Breath of the Wild for everyone else.

Well, in case of Zelda we have already seen her in three different outfits – her Champion attire, the white Goddess dress and the ceremonial outfit. And there is at least one more outfit that needs to be there, her cute winter clothes from The Champions' Ballad:

Whether all of these will actually be an option for the playable Zelda or not remains to be seen. For some missions it might even make canonical sense for her to wear a certain piece, e.g. the white dress during the final missions. But it certainly would be nice to be able to choose this before side quest missions and so on.

As for Impa, she could have the Sheikah stealth set as an alternative. But with both ladies you probably shouldn't expect the option to fully remove their clothes and play in underwear. Well, it's with all certainty something that Koei Tecmo would do (The Legend of Zelda: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, when?), but it's also probably something that Nintendo wouldn't approve, even though it's totally sexist that it's okay for Link to fight in his underwear, but not for Zelda. But we'll see about that.

As for the four Champions, in the least they do get the Champion cloth / scarf as an option. In the beginning of the game they naturally don't have those yet as part of their outfits and you will probably be able to turn it on and off in the same way as Link's armor. Urbosa certainly will also have the option to wear the Thunder Helmet or not...

They could also do some more creative stuff, e.g. Nabooru's outfit for Urbosa. Speaking of, similar to how Link got the amiibo armor pieces that made him look like a previous incarnation, e.g. the Link from Ocarina of Time, there could be similar sets for both Zelda and Impa.

So, there are many possibilities here and it will be interesting to see more of this feature in the near future.

Age of Calamity @ Treehouse Live October 2020

Today Nintendo streamed Treehouse Live for October 2020 with some new gameplay for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, showcasing Urbosa, Zelda, Link with a two-handed weapon and some more of Impa. We also were able to take a look at the Gerudo Desert stage and the main map for the game, where both confirmed a couple of suspicions about the game.

The Gerudo Desert stage is huge and the Gerudo Town is only a tiny part of the entire stage. That's actually quite impressive and much larger than the battlefields from the first Hyrule Warriors. There is also a much bigger attention to detail, where everything looks like it was taken directly out of Breath of the Wild, even with added details on top with all the villages and places that aren't ruined yet.

The main goal of the story chapter is to defeat Master Kohga, so whoever took that title 100 years ago is confirmed for this game. It's not a big surprise and the question remains whether he will become playable in the end or not, because so far it looks like you will only be able to play as the good guys this time.

In Gerudo Town there was also a nice discovery in form of a Korok, so this collectible feature has been confirmed in the way we expected it to work. I wouldn't even be surprised, if there were 900 in total again.

The most interesting part about the stream, however, was the main map. Unlike Hyrule Warriors, there won't be separate Legend, Basar and Adventure Modes, instead everything has been combined to one giant map, where you access the story chapters, but also play side-quests or visit merchants or use materials:

And this is sooooo smart, I love it! Things that were super trivial in the first Hyrule Warriors, like unlocking a new move for a weapon type, all now have these little stories to them and are all part of one large world. It just makes everything feel more relevant and connected and not like you're grinding through countless discount missions.

The "Challenge Battles" from the Adventure Mode, where you have to defeat 1000 enemies or so, are also integrated into this, so you'll have a nice mix of following the story and playing side missions. In the example here Link was training his two-handed sword style against Hylian soldiers and Daruk at Lon Lon Ranch. Yes, at the Lon Lon Ranch, which we finally were able to see before it was destroyed and which looks remarkably similar to the one from Ocarina of Time.

There also don't seem to be any ranks, like "S", "A" and "B", but I could be mistaken. I would like to see those gone, however, because the arbitrary requirements like "don't take more than ten hearts of damage" were always annoying. In this there are even "Sacrifice Strong Attacks" that consume a part of your life energy, where it would be really silly to have these strictly limited due to some artificial achievement. The ranks also made having many hearts and healing items completely useless, which hopefully will be different for this game...

Well, materials you collect can be used to trade for stuff (like new combos) or to cook recipes, which give you helpful effects for one battle. The materials and recipes seem to be taken out of Breath of the Wild, much like the weapons, where you seemingly can have a limited pool for each character. There is no distinction between weapon types, it's just that different weapons will lead to different play styles, which is actually the same as in Breath of the Wild with its three main weapon types. The number of weapons you can have for a single character might be increased with the Korok Seeds again, I suppose.

As for the new movesets that they've shown today, they did confirm that Zelda is using the Sheikah Slate as her main weapon in addition to using the Runes like everybody else. And it looks crazy... The Special attack where she uses the Sheikah Slate Camera was really funny!

Urbosa is pretty impressive as well, where you have a lightning gauge that you need to charge. But all the flashy lightning attacks really help to set her apart from Link's one-handed sword gameplay.

But I have to say, all of this looks extremely well done. As much as I loved the first Hyrule Warriors, this Warriors game puts it to shame. It's on a whole other level!

What might not be on a whole other level is the number of playable fighters, however. They've shown us seven so far and it's questionable how many more there will be. This might even be it... But I still hope that we will get Hestu, King Rhoam, Robbie and Purah.

 

PS: I fully understand that in these times events like this are done remotely, with people streaming from their home. That's cool and I'm in full support of this, but in the least you should get your employees proper microphones. The one woman was very hard to understand and it felt super unprofessional.

Age of Calamity: Untold Chronicles

After all the news about Minecraft finally coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, let's not forget that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is on the horizon as well. Today Nintendo has released a short trailer, called Untold Chronicles From 100 Years Past, which shows us the King again, as well as a first look at Robbie and Purah in their prime:

In the "Champions' Ballad" DLC Purah appeared behind the camera of one of the cutscenes, but you couldn't actually see her, so it's nice to finally have her "younger" self revealed, where she has the quirky personality that you would expect from her. And the young Robbie seems really cool, too.

All three of these characters were on my list of potential fighters, so I find this trailer to be a little worrying. Why not reveal the other Sheikah as playable fighters right away, like they did with Impa? Unless of course they aren't actually playable and this trailer focuses on showing us cutscene characters...

That would be a bummer, but if they aren't playable in the base game, they are certainly DLC material.

Nintendo Switch Minecraft Edition?

Remember the "Creeper Edition" of the Nintendo 2DS XL that came out in 2018? Yeah, that one:

Well, here's an idea... You put Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and then you sell a Minecraft Nintendo Switch bundle for the Christmas season! How about that? I call that easy money.

They could make the dock look like a bunch of Minecraft blocks, which would be awesome. And attach Joy-cons that look like Creepers or other Mobs from the game. Certainly beats making a Fortnite Edition... And you know what? I'd buy it!

Let's face it, they are not going to make that "Sheikah Slate Edition" for the release of Age of Calamity that I so desperately want. They probably think that every Zelda fan on Earth has already purchased a Nintendo Switch because of Breath of the Wild. Not that this has stopped them from making unnecessary Zelda Editions for the Nintendo 3DS, but there is obviously a certain reluctance here...

And I'm not happy with the thought of purchasing a normal Nintendo Switch now, only to sell it again later when finally a Special Edition arrives that I want to have... It's a possibility, but not one I'd like to take. So, instead I would be willing to buy another collectible edition, as long as it's to my liking. I probably would have purchased the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Edition two years ago, if that didn't look like the cheapest effort of all time.

Plus, back then I was still hopeful about a Zelda Edition coming soon, but Nintendo felt like it wasn't worth it for Link's Awakening and even if they did, I probably would be looking at a Nintendo Switch Lite, because that was coming out at the same day...

In any case I'll need a Nintendo Switch soon and I'm not happy with the current situation. Give me something, Nintendo!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Steve & Alex Presentation

On board the Steve hype train!

Today was the Sakurai Presents for "Steve & Alex" (no love for Zombies or Endermen, it seems), where Sakurai showcased the moveset and "Minecraft World" stage in great detail. And it's pretty awesome...

You can really see the love that went into making this. There is so much effort that went into crafting what's easily the most creative moveset in the entire game, it's like Sakurai's team is trying very hard to outdo themselves with the second Fighters Pass. Both Min Min and Steve are very exceptional fighters.

Well, the use of different tools is actually quite similar to Byleth, where in this case up attacks use the Axe and so on. So, that part was a little underwhelming. But the mining, crafting and block placing mechanics are so overwhelming, it totally makes up for it.

Steve will create his own meta around stage materials, which is absolutely crazy. This will be even a factor for competitive play, where there is quite the limited stage pool, but you will deal with a focus on different materials, like wood (Smashville, Town & City) or iron (Lylat Cruise), as a result, which is something you'll have to consider for counter-picks. This might even lead to a scenario, where you'll have to play the Battlefield version of Battlefield or the Omega-Version of Final Destination just to have the neutral resource distribution of these stage variants, unless they do that already by default. But hey, at least this way these redundant stages would have a use.

The crafting part is quite fun, where this is finally another character who makes use of the backgrounds of the stages. But unlike the Pokémon Trainer, who just stands there and shouts, this will actually be interactive. And it's such a good thing that you can call it to wherever you are with the Shield Special move, which is also a thing that so far was only utilized by a single character (Inkling).

Well, and then there's the blocks. It's funny how Sakurai first says that he has trouble doing his balancing play sessions during home office times and then introduces us to what's most likely one of the most overpowered mechanics in the game...

The block placing in the air is busted. That feels like one of the most broken moves ever and you can't even do that in Minecraft, where blocks only can be placed onto other blocks. But as someone who isn't that good at recovering and edge guarding, this might be a character for me, similar to Min Min.

It's also crazy how this is all one Special Move and Kirby will get all of this, if he absorbs you. He will be able to mine and place blocks in the air, just like you do. Well, the crafting might not be useful or even usable with Kirby, but the blocks certainly are.

And since all of this is one single move, that leaves room for even more crazy stuff. As if the blocks aren't already good enough, Steve also gets a good recovery with the Elytra. And the mine cart feature for the Side Special, as well as the TNT for the Down Special are the craziest things and give you so many ridiculous options.  This is a troll fighter at its finest.

Of course most of this will be balanced by the resource gathering. You need a lot of wood and iron for the mine carts for example, but standing around and mining materials will make you very vulnerable. So, Steve could be an easy victim to rush-downs. He might also be quite bad on certain stages, where you only find little wood and iron.

The "Minecraft World" stage, however, turned out to be a little bit disappointing. I was expecting a stage similar to "Super Mario Maker", where it's something different every time. But apparently there are six hard-coded variants and it loads one of them at random. But still, you get six stages in one and they all really look pretty, where they have lots of nice elements from the original game.

It's also fun how everyone can actually break the blocks above the ground level. Of course it doesn't let you destroy the entire stage, but something like this needed to be part of a Minecraft stage. I just wish that the elements would be more random.

The Creeper and Pig Mii costumes are super weird, though. They just look so freaky... The Creepers would have been perfect for Assist Trophies and it's a shame they never add any of those via the updates. Of course these Mii costumes are based on player skins, but they feel like they are the rejects from the selection of alt costumes for Steve... Oh, and Travis Touchdown got a hard disconfirm, but the Bomberman Mii costume is really nice. Easily the best of the bunch.

But I can't wait and I can't believe that right after Min Min I get another fighter that I'm super excited about and that might turn into a really good secondary of mine. Thank you, Nintendo, Microsoft, Mojang, Sakurai and Bandai Namco for this! It's absolutely amazing!