Home > Wii U Zelda To Be Released in 2014?
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wiiudaily.com has claimed an unnamed source has let them in on the supposed development of a Wii U Zelda.
According to wiiudaily's "source," the graphics style of this alleged game is the same as the previous game in the series, Skyward Sword. The source is quoted as saying "They [Nintendo] feel they’ve found the sweet spot with Skyward Sword, and they’re continuing this approach with the Wii U Zelda game"
For more details, click the button below! Be warned, it's a long read.
The source goes on to say that Nintendo has put together the biggest team ever for this game and that “They got hundreds of people working on the new Wii U Zelda game." The development of the game is to be led, once again, by Eiji Aonuma.
“It’s a 4-year development cycle with a new console, new technology, new engine etc. It’ll end up being the most expensive game they’ve made to date. It’s a huge investment for them [Nintendo] in money and manpower, this is Rockstar/GTA territory."
The game will feature “about the same amount of dungeons as previous Zelda games, but these will be vastly bigger in scope and will be totally different from each other. Some dungeons are so big they’re broken up in 3 parts and will literally take hours to complete."
The Wii U Zelda game will also “have mini-games and side quests, but these are still on the drawing boardâ€. Finally, the game’s composers are creating a brand new orchestral soundtrack with “hours of musicâ€. No word on whether any characters will speak in the game. In regards to the story, he said “I really can’t comment on that because I have no idea what it is. I dunno where it’s set in the Zelda timeline. I’ve seen a grown up Link who looks like a much higher detailed Link from Skyward Sword. I haven’t see any cut scenes or boss fights either at this point. I’m not sure they’ve made any of that yet."
There is supposed to be a dungeon the size of a forest. “The first test dungeon they made was a giant forest running on early and buggy Wii U hardware. The dungeon was bigger than the Hyrule field in Ocarina [of Time], and the whole thing is
one dungeon. You use the gamepad to navigate, avoid traps, follow clues etc. It’s dark, lush, with a ton of trees, foliage, some which you have to cut your way through. Its scope and details are unlike anything you’ve seen in a Zelda gameâ€. He added that the Wii U Zelda game is so big, it wouldn’t be possible without the 25 GB Blu-ray based storage that the console uses.
This new zelda will not feature any online multiplayer, according to wiiudaily's source. “Online multiplayer was never on the drawing board, they’re sticking with the tried and tested Zelda formula. It’ll have some online features like Miiverse and some sort of system where players can leave hints and help each other in the dungeons. That’s about it. As far as I know, none of this [online] stuff has begun development as of Summer 2012. It’s still on paper only and will probably be one of the last things they’ll add. It’s not a big priority for them. Unless they got some separate team elsewhere working on it."
Nintendo are said to be very pleased with the art direction and visual style of Skyward Sword, and are continuing this look. Of course, it’ll be in full HD with much improved quality compared to what was on the Wii. “They’re using a new, state of the art engine that’s being built from ground up in parallel with the game. It’s got the most advanced visual features Nintendo has ever made and includes a lot of third party tech like Havok for physics and rendering middleware from Umbra."
The source added, “The Wii U Zelda stuff you saw at E3 2011 was just a tech demo, nothing else. I’ve seen none of that in the real game. The tech demo was even made by an entirely different team with an older engineâ€
The GamePad is said to be used innovatively in this game. In fact, the game is said to have been influential to the design of the controller to begin with. “At least one of the hardware features added to the GamePad were solely implemented because the Zelda team figured out they could do something cool with it." The Zelda game was designed from ground up with the tablet controller in mind, “Zelda designers started sketching out concepts as soon as Nintendo decided to include a screen with the new console,†the source said, adding, “everything in the game is built around the controller and its unique abilities. Every single feature in the controller is used to its full potential. Some of this stuff is still in early stages of development, but they’ve already implemented enough to show just what’s possible with the new controller. They showed some of this stuff to key third party devs behind closed doors last year to get them to realize the possibilities of the new tech.â€
“It’ll have some revolutionizing gameplay. It has stuff that would never be possible on any other console, and it’s not just one cool feature, it’s one cool feature after another. Each dungeon will offer a different gameplay experience with the tablet controller. It’ll be the most innovative game ever, they got stuff that will be copied by others for years.â€
You may have noticed from my wording that I'm a bit skeptical about this information. In fact, when there's an unnamed source saying that there's "hours of orchestral music" and there's a dungeon that's a forest bigger than Hyrule Field in Ocarina of Time yet absolutely no story planned I usually will be quite skeptical.
Personally, I don't like the art direction they're supposedly going with. I loved the art style in the tech demo.
What do you think of this information? What are you're opinions on the art style? What do you think of the credibility of these claims? Does this information make you pumped for the possible release of a Wii U Zelda?
Let us know in the comments below!
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Rial Johnson
Rial Johnson founded Nintendo Castle in 2011 with hopes to build the largest collection of Nintendo walkthroughs, guides, and content on the web. He is an avid gamer with a special place in his heart for Nintendo, but often finds himself writing about games more than actually playing them. You'll likely see him around Nintendo Castle and on social media, mostly managing the front-end content of the site.
