At today’s Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo announced a new Legend of Zelda for the 3DS. The new game is set in the world of fan favorite The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it isn’t a direct sequel. Visually, it’s an homage to its 16 bit forebear. It’s made of polygons but has a top-down view, like the SNES game and a reminiscent art style. Nintendo Europe President Satoru Shibata had this to say:
“What we want to achieve with this new Zelda game is to reinvigorate the flat 2D world of A Link To The Past with the sense of height and volume using the three-dimensional display of Nintendo 3DS.
With it, it’s easier to differentiate levels in the environment and we can truly utilize height differences in dungeons as a puzzle-solving mechanic. While this game is set in the game world of A Link To The Past it features entirely new dungeons and an original story arc.”
It sounds like we can look forward to lots of multi level dungeons and 3D puzzles in this new Zelda and as much hacking and slashing as you can shake a Tri Force at! Of course, no new Zelda would be complete without a strange gameplay mechanic unique to the title. Be it lycanthropy, railroad construction or ocarina mastery, each game tends to have a twist. This new Zelda is no different. Link is given the ability to turn into a flat drawing and slide along the walls. That may sound gimmicky, but if it’s used half as well as the 2D/3D switch in games like Fez and Super Paper Mario it has potential to be really fun and a little mind-boggling!
Here’s a video of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime introducing the game. Come for the Reggie, stay for the awesome gameplay footage!
[Via: Zelda Universe]