The Legend of Zelda

Nintendo certainly had some tricks up its sleeve at this years E3, but nothing stopped the show like the unveiling of the new Legend of Zelda title. Gone is the cute cel shaded boy from Wind Waker, replaced by an older looking teenage Link. Also missing in action is a talking sailboat and an overwhelmingly large sea - instead you'll find Link riding on horseback through the countryside and across rivers. Could this be Epona, our heros horse from Ocarina of Time? "In Ocarina of Time, Link also rode the horse, but here, you can actually engage in combat on horseback," explains Producer Eiji Aonuma. During a two minute trailer we were blown away when we saw Link attacking boar-riding enemies from saddleback.

Little was revealed about actual gameplay and the story line, but we did see Link exploring dungeons and solving puzzles. The labyrinths were displayed from an overhead perspective ala A Link to the Past and when Link engaged in combat or pushed a block to solve a puzzle the camera swung in close for an angle similar to Ocarina of Time (third person).

One thing we can be sure about in this new Zelda is that the massive sea exploration won't be returning. We're confident that the majority of the game will take place on land, we're not sure about the geography of the land though. "It may be suitable to the story to have a central Hyrule field with multiple branches off it," says Aonuma. "But, it may also make sense to have more diverse, geographically distant locations that you must travel between." Sounds exciting.

"As far as the underlying engine is concerned, what we've shown here is actually the exact same engine as Wind Waker," explains Aonuma. "We've only placed a different look over the top of it." It should be interesting to see how the combat mechanics play out on horseback. Apart from that we couldn't imagine anyway Nintendo could improve upon the combat, except maybe having more of it (and that's exactly what they've done). We saw Link battling hordes of enemies at once, and each time his sword met contact it would light up the enemies shadows on the walls. You'll find some familiar enemies return from Links previous adventure as well as new faces, except this time they will look shockingly realistic compared to the cartoon foes from Wind Waker.

To date, no official name has been given to the title nor do we have an official release date - But we're anticipating a fall-2005 release. Be sure to scope out the E3 2004 trailer and screenshots we have, we'll keep you posted on any information as it arrives.

Choose your video player and watch the E3 2004 trailer.

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Windows