Nintendo talks Zelda Wii U ideas

By Tom Phillips Published 26 August, 2011

Touch screen to replace MotionPlus?

Despite this year's long-awaited Wii Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword still several months from launch, Nintendo is already planning the series' next incarnation for the Wii U.

Zelda head honcho Eiji Aonuma told Nintendo Power he already had several gameplay ideas for the Wii U's touch-screen controller, including ditching Skyward Sword's much-touted MotionPlus gameplay in favour of extensive touch screen controls.

"With The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, we had the Nunchuck and Wii Remote sort of stand in for the sword and shield that Link carries."

"But in a game for the Wii U, I can definitely see something like the controller itself becoming the different items that Link is using, allowing you to interact with the game world and with the game items in a very different way."

Aonuma is also considering a more obvious application of the screen - an always-accessible item inventory.

"Imagine having the contents of Link's satchel available to you on the screen of your controller," he said. Gamers could then "use elements of the pouch to interact with gameplay on the television".

Nintendo wowed fans at E3 with a Zelda HD concept video that ran on the Wii U in real-time.

But Nintendo was cautious to label that gameplay snippet as just an "experience" that may change completely before release.

Zelda: Skyward Sword for Wii.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • abigsmurf #1 9 months ago

    Zelda needs a complete overhaul really. Twilight Princess kinda showed that the format is starting to get a bit stale. There's only so many times you can get excited about getting the boomerang.

    Although the use of motion+ in Skyward Sword looks interesting and they've promised an overhaul of how dungeons work, I'm still not terribly convinced SS will invigorate the franchise enough.

    I'd love to see the kind of jump there was between LTTP and OOT, with all the innovation that went with it, again.

  • alcides #2 9 months ago

    I hope it's half as good as Wind Waker, and not half as mediocre as Twilight Princess.

  • Bigmac1910 #3 9 months ago

    "in favour of extensive touch screen controls." sounds like it might as well be an IPad game lol.

  • dun0790 #4 9 months ago

    hmm i dont think zelda can change its the stuff were used to that makes it what it is id rather nintendo launch wii u with new franchises they got the talent and the money

  • the_dudefather #5 9 months ago

    Tingle Tickling game is constantly available on the screen, thereby making the game an instant 10/10

  • Golgo #6 9 months ago

    I'd love to see an update of 4 swords, with proper online multiplayer, in that fabby top-down style of old.

  • Cid #7 9 months ago

    Conventional controls + touch pad inventory = perfect

  • Der_tolle_Emil #8 9 months ago

    Twilight Princess did indeed feel a bit stale. It seems the games are all built on the same concept even if executed differently (young/old link, normal/wolf link etc.). The games are still very good but they lack the magical feeling I got up until Ocarina of Time when I started to play a new game.

  • Schmoke-n-a-pancake #9 9 months ago

    I'd like a Link To The Future.

    It might sound like heresy, but Zelda needs a radical new environment, range of weapons and storyline. Taking Hyrule forward in time rather being this constant relic from the past might just be the solution.

  • Sid-Nice #10 9 months ago

    What Eiji Aonuma said in a recent interview ("You probably remember that when we introduced the GameCube, we showed a somewhat realistic Zelda demo. And what we actually created was the cel-shaded Wind Waker. So when we show a graphic demo, people think, 'Oh, this is what the next Zelda will look like,' but that's not necessarily the case.) in reference to the HD Wii U Zelda demo.

    A cel-shaded Wii U Zelda would be fine by me.

  • Bremenacht #11 9 months ago

    A link to the future would be great. Wasn't there something about that a few years back, or was that fan-made stuff?

  • sega #12 9 months ago

    I love how Wind Waker is now seen as a classic Zelda game. I remember when it was released and there was nothing but hate for it. It's kind of nice to see as I love the game but I wonder why attitudes towards it have changed so drastically.

    I may have to remain sceptical about touch screen controllers on a TV games console, though. As you can't feel anything on the screen you have to look at it - I'm not sure having to look at two screens in two completely different places is very practical for playing games. At least not fast paced ones anyway.

  • Cid #13 9 months ago

    Futuristic Zelda would be bollocks.

  • Sid-Nice #14 9 months ago

    Following on from what (Schmoke-n-a-pancake) said, I would like to see a “Link to the Future Zelda” similar to the Movie ‘Enchanted’ where Zelda is sent from a cartoon world to a realistic environment and Link travels through the portal to rescue her.

  • RoOhDaMite #15 9 months ago

    Still have to try Skyward Sword first. From what I've seen so far the motion controls work really well. In the end they should pick the control scheme that provides players the highest levels of accessability, interaction and immersion.

  • srpiccoro #16 9 months ago

    @Schmoke
    Really? This is what you'd like?
    http://th08.deviantart.net/fs10/300W/i/2...

  • IonOnion #17 9 months ago

    Touch inventory sounds nice but make it easily accessible and easy to remember.

    Looking down on the controller instead of the gameplay screen would break the immersion.

  • grussbarbar #18 9 months ago

    I loved Twilight Princess.

    Also, agree@dun0790
    Gamers keep asking for more and more change, but there's only so much you can do before a game loses it's identity. Change too much and it would stop being Zelda.

    Also, I feel Zelda already changes much with every game. I've seen people say Twilight Princess is exactly the same as Ocarina of Time, but now I'm actually playing Ocarina of Time, I don't see it. To me playing with the Twilight Realm is pretty different from the time traveling and solving puzzles with the Ocarina.
    Some changes and additions to the games are even so big they're pushing it IMO (like the trains in Spirit Tracks).

    Anyway, to each their own. I've had a lot of fun with Twilight Princess and I wouldn't be disappointed sat all if future titles remind me of it.

    @IonOnion
    I'll have to wait and see, but I'm hoping and expecting that looking down to the controller would actually increase immersion for me. After all, if you take something out of your bag in real life, or examine a map in real life, you'd normally be doing that right in front of you, looking down... ;-)
    Edited by grussbarbar at 26/08/11 @ 12:02

  • HyperTails #19 9 months ago

    I'd really like to see how Nintendo could make a Zelda game on Wii U. Yeah, we are no doubt a few years off seeing a (hopefully) masterpiece, but it could be really good if they played to the unique features of the controller.

  • Schmoke-n-a-pancake #20 9 months ago

    @Cid

    Why?

    @srpiccoro

    God no. It would have to be done tastefully of course. You couldn't lose too much of what makes it Zelda. I wouldn't want to see guns. Or it become set in the real world. But you know, a Hyrule where they have learned to build skyscrapers and progressed a bit as a society would be nice.

  • IonOnion #21 9 months ago

    @grussbarbar
    Sure maps work that way so its ok i guess. But what if you fight enemy bosses, would they wait for you to take out items in your bag thats lethal to them?

  • Stepharneo #22 9 months ago

    @srpiccoro

    Thinking more like this myself

    http://technabob.com/blog/2011/01/07/a-l...

  • Darren #23 9 months ago

    I want Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii U, especially after that superb looking E3 "tease", and don't especially want to buy it for what I consider to already be a dead format as I very, very rarely use my Wii. Haven't for the past two years. I'm very tempted to sell it to be honest for that reason but I don't want to if it means I'll miss out on Skyward Sword altogether.

  • Cid #24 9 months ago

    I don't think a Wii port would be the most effective launch title for a system capable of so much more.
    Edited by Cid at 26/08/11 @ 12:58

  • grussbarbar #25 9 months ago

    @IonOnion
    That would only add to the tension of the game! You can still run around ( with the left circle pad and maybe the left trigger as Z-lock) while frantically trying to get out that one item that could help you. Of course, this would have to be playtested well to see whether it's viable... =P
    Alone in the Dark (the latest one) didn't stop the action too while you were rummaging around in your inventory and was balanced around that. That worked fine for me. =)

    But Nintendo doesn't have to do this. There's no reason for them not to allow the action to be paused if you were making inventory changes. It's just a matter of how they choose to build the game. With intense continuous action or with pauses for convenience.

  • Paulie_P #26 9 months ago

    I love the Zelda games, I find each one brings something different to the table while retaining some similarities like the Boomerang - you could hardly say Wind Waker was the same as Ocarina and look at the outrage when that came out.

    Oh but I will say one thing, if Zelda Skyward Sword has a flying bird section like those in Mario Galaxy 2, Nintendo can go fuck themselves, the motoin control for those barely worked and that was the only blight in an otherwise fantastic game.

  • spekkeh #27 9 months ago

    Zelda could easily have scifi stuff in there. Worked great for Secret of Mana (the Mana Fortress) too.

  • Zero_g #28 9 months ago

    I don't give a monkey's tuppence about the next iteration when I've been waiting this entire generation for an original zelda title on the wii! (I bought my gamecube with windwaker and got twilight princess on the gamecube too) skyward sword will only be the 5th wii game I've bought so quitting mucking about and release it already!

  • Bremenacht #29 9 months ago

    The stuff I saw had a far-future Link, getting pulled back to a trad-Zelda past. Another World meets Zelda.

  • TonyHarrison #30 9 months ago

    @sega "I love how Wind Waker is now seen as a classic Zelda game. I remember when it was released and there was nothing but hate for it. "

    http://i45.tinypic.com/aw3ygk.jpg

  • Ikaros_O #31 9 months ago

    Touch screen controls you say, that does sound familiar...Phantom Hourglass? Spirit of the Train? (Yeah I forgot the name of the sequel...)

  • Joco84 #32 9 months ago

    would like to see Zelda go a bit more like GTA/Red Dead. Not in terms of the violence & realism, but in terms of towns and mini-quests. This would increase the amount of time playing it and would increase the depth to the franchise - not just the same old "dungeon > dungeon > new weapon > kill ganon > save zelda" storyline

  • scouserfuller9 #33 9 months ago

    @Sid-Nice - The idea of having a Zelda game similar to Enchanted has also come my mind and I'd love to see it. The only difficult bit is Link has an adventure that works pretty much the same in every Zelda game to date regardless the style whilst in Enchanted the people are living in completely different worlds with different lives. We've seen bits that would work such as his spin attack changing into what it is in WW whilst he's cel shaded but from what we've seen it would take alot more to make the cel shaded world different to the realistic world if that makes sense? I also think Link would have to be young and the adventure would be one similar to LA where it plays very little into the Zelda storyline as a whole.

  • RawNinjaKid #34 9 months ago

    With Wind Waker and ICO are now considered classics of the period. Just a matter of time before Killer 7 in added to the list.

    With today's crap; it's no wonder people are searching back in time!

  • Canyarion #35 9 months ago

    Of course depending on how SS will control, I think I prefer the Wiimote+ & nunchuck combo. I'm a sucker for roleplaying and stuff!

  • green_nifta #36 9 months ago

    Time to post this again

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZwbchA4Hw4
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZwbchA4Hw4
    [/link]

    It also synchs up perfectly with the Wizard of Oz, but never say his name backwards three times after midnight.

  • Canyarion #37 9 months ago

    Zelda like Enchanted? Nah, I'd rather have something like Entangled! Huge world, riding a horse, running over buildings, fighting hoards of soldiers.

    Hm now that I think of it... that's already pretty much what Zelda is. Entangled is just prettier, has a story and doesn't have puzzles.

  • SG #38 9 months ago

    I thought a future-style Zelda game would be a great idea about 10 years ago, and I'm still hoping!

    Joco84, that sort of has been done with Majora's Mask, and worked brilliantly.

    For those wanting the realistic/cartoony world idea, it wouldn't be hard to implement at all, as a lot of Zeldas have a 'two opposite worlds' theme.

  • JadedSoul #39 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 08:10:55 26-04-2012

  • up_the_ante #40 9 months ago

    I thought Wind Waker was a better game than Twilight Princess too. What's more its graphics look timeless and fresh today, whereas Twilight Princess is clearly last generation