See Hyrule 100 years before the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild game and experience the events of the Great Calamity Join the struggle that brought Hyrule to its knees. Learn more about Zelda, the four Champions, the King of Hyrule, and more through dramatic cutscenes as they try to save the kingdom from Calamity. Play the Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity game to see firsthand what happened 100 years ago.
While I still haven't played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to completion for myself, I still think that this is pretty cool that Hyrule Warriors is getting a sequel that chronicles the events that led to the start of that game. I can't knock Nintendo for wanting to do another Hyrule Warriors when that's an easy cash grab for the folks at Koei to make a reality, especially with the added bonus of a full-blown, fleshed-out narrative to boot with this.
Young Impa has been confirmed by Nintendo to be playable in this game as well, with Screenrant sharing a few screenshots and other miscellaneous information.
On January 12, 2017, Nintendo held a presentation to the public revealing the details on their newest console, the Nintendo Switch, to the masses. The entire conference/presentation can be viewed in its entirety below. I'm going to offer my thoughts and reactions to what was shown off here from our friends at Nintendo.
My Thoughts:
On Hardware
For some reason, I thought Nintendo was going to announce a $500 price tag at launch, but after the lukewarm reception of the Wii U, I should have known that they were going to price another console around that range when both the PS4 and XB1 are in the $250-$400 range. The $300 price tag is more than reasonable and affordable for a lot of people with tax return season coming around the corner in the US.
Just looking at the visuals on this console, I have to say that I'm not really impressed in the least. Zelda: Breath of the Wild has to be their most visually appealing title just from the artstyle alone, but Mario Odyssey and ARMS seems to be pushing the hardware as well. I'm skeptical that the performance will maintain a steady output, especially in portable mode away from its main docking station.
I don't know if people have see the price listings on retailers online, but controllers for the Switch are going to be expensive as a single game for current gen titles on PS4/XB1. The Pro Switch controller retails for $80+, the replacement/extra Joy-Pads will cost you $50 each with an additional $30 to $45 if you buy the docking station and protective casings for them. So yeah, another $80-95 more on that $300 price tag if you want spare controllers. Boy, if you have children that's going to be wrap if they take that thing to school and someone steals the tablet and Joy-Pad(s) or break one. (Whistles) Those things look more fragile than ANYTHING that came with the damn Wii and Wii U.
That would end quicker than Riley fighting Butch Magnus on The Boondocks if some random bully wanted to take that thing from you.
The online service will be free for the first month and $70 per year for the service. Good grief. That's more than I'm paying for Xbox Live every year.
On Games
Suda51 confirmed that the protagonist of No More Heroes, Travis Touchdown, shall return in an undisclosed title for the Switch. He was rambling about indie gaming, so I don't know what that is going to have to do with anything. Just confirm No More Heroes 3, dammit!
Xenoblade 2 was shown off. I'm surprised that's not a launch title but with that, Fire Emblem, and Shin Migemi Tensin on the Switch it looks like they are trying to lure in the JRPG gamers for sure. Nintendo lost a lot of that fanbase going back as far as the transition from the SNES to the N64 (hence why Final Fantasy VII went to Sony's PlayStation console instead of the N64) and it looks like they are trying to get back into fans' good graces.
Ultra Street Fighter II was announced by Capcom in post-event feed and confirms that Evil Ryu and Violent Ken (normally only playable in CvS2 if memory serves...) are playable characters. It looks like an update to Street Fighter II HD Remix to me. If so, a lot of old school fans will love this. Capcom might want to be careful as if this has fight stick support then they could see players abandoning Street Fighter V in favor to this since the community isn't exactly crazy about the changes they are implementing in SFV Season 2.
ARMS looks like Punch-Out!! crossed with One Piece's Monkey D. Luffy. If Luffy isn't a guest fighter or DLC of some kind then I'm going to be disappointed. That game looks pretty damn sweet. I would love to see a tournament of that at EVO next year. Ironically enough, it's one of the poll options for the last spot/fans' choice for EVO this year.
Splatoon 2 I really didn't get "hype" for. It looks fun but I never really played the original so I really don't care to see a sequel. I'm all for a non-violent FPS for kids to enjoy with their own age group instead of trying to curse at adults on Halo and Call of Duty (laughs)... Still if that's your cup of tea, then by all means enjoy yourself.
Super Mario Odyssey reminded me of that episode of the Simpsons where 3D Homer was stuck in the real world. I hope this doesn't end up as facepalm-worthy as those 3D Sonic games where they had him interacting with normal humans and such. And what the hell is this with Bowser trying to marry Princess Peach? Thirty years and he's still dead set on trying to take Mario's girl? Regardless of all of that, the game looks simply amazing. Glad to see Mario get another 3D sandbox outing like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64.
Nintendo saved the best for last, revealing that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a launch title for the console.
As amazing as this trailer was, it's sad that this is the best that Nintendo has to offer in terms of a launch title for the Switch in March. Pretty much it's going to be the ONLY title releasing at launch with little to next to nothing coming out until later in the year. It wasn't revealed until AFTER this announcement that the title will be available on both the Switch AND the Wii U. The Switch version won't have any other extra content over the Wii U version outside of better visual quality. So much for a system seller there...
The Verdict?
For me, I don't think it's worth it. I still have potentially 2-3 more Zelda games to go through before tackling this one so it'll be worth the wait (Currently streaming Twilight Princess with possibly Wind Waker and Skyward Sword to follow afterwards), so I don't have to jump out and buy this one at launch. Besides, if Breath of the Wild is the only thing that is going to be available at launch, then why bother? It would benefit everyone if they just wait later down road when there's a healthy selection of games available for purchase.
At the same time, I feel that Nintendo is going to handle this release the same as the Amiibos, original Wii, and NES Classic and end up having extremely short units available just to create this false sense of high demand for the product. I still don't have a NES Classic that like I would want for the nostalgia and I honestly don't feel like being caught up into that debacle. I stood with friends hunting down Amiibos and the original Wii units like madmen, when years later I got a slightly used Wii for $7 that works like a dream. Yeah, I don't see any rush to jump out to get this console YET. I'm not saying there's not anything good here, but it seems like Nintendo are just trying to jump the gun before E3 this spring/summer with more incentives to get a Scorpio or PlayStation 4 Pro are on the table.
I know that I'm late to the party as I've FINALLY had a chance to sit down and watch all of the hours of footage that Nintendo released for this game last month during E3 2016.
Just wow. I haven't had goosebumps for a new Legend of Zelda title like this not since the first trailers came out for Ocarina of Time. I'm getting that same vibe here and this looks all kinds of awesome. I'm glad to see Nintendo really stepping outside of the box for this game - from the anime-inspired art style to the survivalist changes to gameplay. From the gameplay and exploration videos it's looking like a mash-up of Zelda, Shadow of the Colossus, Vagrant Story, NIER, and even some elements of the recent Tomb Raider reboot.
2017 seems like FAR too long to make everyone wait on this one. If this doesn't come out soon enough, you can stake that as the last nail in the coffin on the Wii U if you ask me. Not even Pokemon could save it at this rate.
Seeing technology introduced into the Zelda series is going to be an interesting take for sure. I'm anxious to see how that's going to play out in terms of the narrative, especially with the tablet that Link's carrying around is named after Princess Zelda's alias from the Ocarina of Time, Shiek.
Seeing Link cooking and hunting tells me that Nintendo wanted to take a few gameplay nods from the Assassins' Creed series last few outings. It makes sense to say that he's in a new world without any friends so he's going to have to survive on his own for the most part.
Wow, there's even stealth elements too!? This game is going to be awesome. C'mon Nintendo don't make us wait TOO long for this.
