Though the game is still expected as a spring GameCube title, when you pop it in your Revolution later in the fall of 2006, the game will allow you to control Link & Friends with the new free style controller.
From 4cr: “NGC can exclusively reveal that Twilight Princess will be playable on the forthcoming Revolution using the upcoming console’s unique controller. Zelda will actually ‘bring in’ the Revolution by launching fairly close to the new system, which is set to be released around November of next year, according to our sources.”
[Source: 4cr]
Anonymous
Hot Damn!
I had a feeling they’d do something like this. What a great way to say thanks to the Gamecube owners as well as encourage the transition to the next generation.
It’s gonna be a Merry Christmas!
Albo
… Hmmm… I don’t think this is a good idea. Without the game being built from the ground up with the controller in mind, I don’t think it will be the optimum control scheme. It’s just being tacked on as an option in the 11th hour. I see people getting frustrated with the “gimmick” and going back to their Wavebird, which is death in terms of getting people excited about their controller. In a world where Zelda didn’t have Revolution support, gamers would keep themselves up at night with thoughts of “Oh God, what will controlling Zelda be like with the Rev!?” And when they get it, it will be amazing and change Zelda forever… This is unfortunate, I think.
Anonymous
April doesn’t sound “fairly close” to November. Does that mean Zelda is going to be a summer release?
Rollin
I don’t think “from the ground up” is a fair argument vs a few months. I mean, how much time do you think they need to spend on the controller scheme for this game? Any tasks (minimal or otherwise) will be done with button presses on either controller, so there won’t be drastic problems in using the Revmote in TP. It’s not like it’s a fighter. It probably won’t even incorporate much of the remotes features other than swinging it as a sword, with the nunchuk setup.
You really think 6 months is not enough time to adapt Zelda to the remote? That’s a loooong 11th hour.
Anonymous
It took Retro 2 weeks to map MP:2 to the Rev in time for E3. I think 6 months is plenty for Zelda:TP.
Jacomar
Nintendo has said before that REVO games will not use GC controllers, and viceversa. That is why there is a classic cradle for the revmote. That is why TP will be played with GC controller.
I dont recall when was this said but i recall it pretty clearly.
Also its been said that this will be the last Zelda as we know it. Meaning that this will be a standart Zelda and the next one will be a Zelda revolution.
Anonymous
just because you’re only now hearing it… doesn’t mean they haven’t had this in mind for a long time… don’t be so nomadic… i guess no one actually starts doing anything until they announce it… is that right?..
Moshe
Um…
What’s the source?
I’m not going to believe this if I don’t hear it directly from Nintendo!
Albo
I’m just saying, if a hot GBA game was coming out sometime near the DS launch, and they said that playing it in the DS would give you touch screen capabilities– We’d get a novelty control trick that would undermine the advantages of touch screen control. I’m not saying the game won’t be playable with the controller- of course they have enough time to figure out how to move Link around or whatever. But the Rev needs apps that you couldn’t imagine playing on any other system. This is what’s made the DS the hottest platform on the market. Tacking it onto an existing title sets it up as an unnecessary gimmick rather than a logical and necessary (r)evolution.
Rollin
“But the Rev needs apps that you couldn’t imagine playing on any other system”
That’s what Rev games are for.
TP is a GameCube game. What this does is create a bridge of interest between playing the game on Cube and playing it on the Rev. Since it’ll be out before the Rev is, ppl will want to play it again in an entirely different way on the Rev a few months later. If it were a gimmick, the game would launch with the Rev to play up the fact.
robotplague
I wrote this comment on 4cr about it:
Hmm, I think it will be well done. But I also feel kind of cheated at the same time. Obviously it was a last second addition, so how great/impressive can it be if the game was never tailored for this to begin with? It seems like this is the sort of thing you would have to know at the very beginning of a games project rather then a couple of months before it’s launch. I really, really hope it’s not a stitched together gimmicky addition to sell more Revolutions. Anyone else feel the same way? It seems like any and all Revolution games (that utilize the new controller) need to be carefully planned and thought out for perfect execution. Every aspect of the new controller is unique and you need to bare that in mind throughout the whole process, this way kind of feels like they missed some crucial steps in an effort to sell more Revolutions. I have faith that it won’t suck, but I’m not as excited for it as I thought I would be.
Rollin
Robot, the objective is to sell more copies of TP for Revolution owners, not Revolutions.
Pete
“But the Rev needs apps that you couldn’t imagine playing on any other system”
It also need games that show how old play mechanics can be made to feel totally new again. Why would you want to play Zelda on GC when you can play it on Rev with the Revmote? It opens up the question, why would you want to play Madden 07 with a clunky dual analogue when you could play it with the Revmote?
Revolution is as much about making old genres feel fresh & revitalised as it is about creating new, never before possible games/mechanics.
Let’s trust that Nintendo have spent the last & next six months making sure that controlling Link with the Revmote feels bloody brilliant.
Beskull
I TOLD YOU ALL! This is exactly what I said would happen! Man I’m a genius. 🙂 Anyway, I am really excited to play it with both systems!
and if the game’s dev cycle was 18 months…that means that another 6 months added or 1/4th the dev time JUST to add controls to a new system? This is NOT an 11th hour. Believe me it can and will be awesome!
Jack
I dunno, I think I said this is what they had cooked up from the beginning.
Anyway, Nintendo had access to GC numbers waaaaay before the press did, so they knew it was a sinking ship before those declining statistics went to the public.
Meaning, TP (which stood for toilet paper when I went to college guys, fyi), could have been quickly revamped for a later release as early as late summer early fall.