Miyamoto offers brief update on Zelda

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 November, 2009

Talks about the benefits of Wii MotionPlus.

Shigeru Miyamoto has said that the next Legend of Zelda game will use Wii MotionPlus to make swinging your sword and targeting things easier.

"We're using MotionPlus to make you feel much more like you're actually fighting while holding a sword in your hand," he said during a Q&A in Japan (thanks Wired).

"In the previous game, you aimed at things by pointing at the screen, but this time we'll use MotionPlus to create a much more convenient targeting system and a more pleasurable playing experience."

That seems to be about all he said, mind you, and it doesn't add a whole lot to what we were told at E3, when Miyamoto produced an illustration containing "elements that are central to the storyline", said the game would probably use MotionPlus and would hopefully be out in 2010.

He also said that the next Zelda wouldn't be "that radically different" to existing Zelda games, which isn't too surprising for a series that generally makes its name by telling similar stories using the same main characters with little reference to their past exploits.

We still don't know, however, whether it will require the Wii MotionPlus peripheral to play, but with at least seven million of the things presumably doing the rounds, and a good bit of time to go before release, it's easy to imagine that being the case.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

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

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • paul_haine #1 2 years ago

    Probably the only game that would make me get a Motionplus, unless Red Steel 2 turns out to be worthwhile. Either way, looking forward to this.

  • wizlon #2 2 years ago

    Hopefully the Swordplay and Archery will resemble the Wii Sports Resort games.

  • Eraser #3 2 years ago

    Should be good. I thought Red Steel 2 looked impressive (read: awesome).

  • Cid #4 2 years ago

    MotionPlus or not, I'm still not keen on the idea of using the remote for swordplay.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #5 2 years ago

    I couldn't get on with Red Steel 2 at all. Then again, I wouldn't go against Nintendo being able to produce the goods with their own hardware.

  • viper_h #6 2 years ago

    Euggghhh, not liking the sound of this. Just give us another normal original Zelda, with a crapload of dungeons and items to find. Just don't give it some gimicky piece of crap control system that relies on temperamental controller hardware.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #7 2 years ago

    Shigeru Miyamoto has said that the next Legend of Zelda game will use Wii MotionPlus to make swinging your sword and targeting things easier

    It still won't be as easy as it was on an N64 or Gamecube joypad.

  • Zomoniac #8 2 years ago

    Red Steel 2 doesn't appear to use Motion+ for anything, despite them selling the game on it. Two preset animations for swordplay, either a horizontal or vertical slice no matter what you do.

    If they're not going to bother with 1:1 swordplay, ie the one thing M+ would actually bring as an improvement, why even bother??

  • Ignatius_Cheese #9 2 years ago

    @ Zomoniac - RS2 was definitely using WM+ at the EG Expo. It felt almost 1:1 in places and would horizontally/vertically attack at the angle you swung at.

    Still felt a bit hit and miss though. The gun bound box and getting around on foot, however, is leaps and bounds ahead of RS1.

  • varsas #10 2 years ago

    @Zomoniac: I've only seen videos of Red Steel 2 and it seems pretty clear that attacks other than just vertical and horizontal are used.

  • gorf #11 2 years ago

    The promise of this and only this is the reason keeps me from sellingl my Wii

  • scouserfuller9 #12 2 years ago

    Zelda is the perfect game when it comes to motionplus with the amount of items Link uses in the game!
    I'll probably have a lot of people disagreeing with me here but from the picture we see at E3 I can only guess we'll see the realistic Link. OOT is my favorite game ever but despite that WW was far more enjoyable the first time a played it with it's style and music it's just the amount of sailing and lack of dungeons that lets it down.

  • Rubarack #13 2 years ago

    Anyone believe this? They're going to be using canned animation, that's all the normal wiimote will allow for, so all the MP can really allow for is improved waggle detection.

  • Kami #14 2 years ago

    Twilight Princess was a bit of a dead end for the series but still a glorious game in all shades. Another Zelda will keep me hanging on for a while longer yet!

  • Pasco #15 2 years ago

    "MotionPlus or not, I'm still not keen on the idea of using the remote for swordplay."

    Seconded. In Twilight Princess and Okami it was just too tiring and didn't add anything to the game. At least, give us the option...

  • sneetch #16 2 years ago

    @Pasco
    "MotionPlus or not, I'm still not keen on the idea of using the remote for swordplay."

    Seconded. In Twilight Princess and Okami it was just too tiring and didn't add anything to the game. At least, give us the option...

    Yeah I agree, at least in Twilight Princess and Okami you can just sit on the couch and waggle your wrist (which sounds dodgy I know) and get the same effect from a limited range of motion, if you're talking true 1-1 motion you're going to have to be a lot more active, possibly maybe even have to stand up. That seems like work for me and doesn't suit my TV location (it's quite low down as it's intended to be watched from the couch).

    Let me explain before people get on my case about my perceived laziness: like most people I work and these days I'm very busy in the evenings which means that it's normally well after 9 or 10 before I get a hour or two of gaming in, at that stage I'm really not in the mood to be putting on energetic displays of simulated martial prowess.
    Edited by 1 at 04/11/09 @ 15:04

  • mega7ech #17 2 years ago

    So another Gamecube Zelda with waggle controls - Fuck Off Nintendo!

  • Senate #18 2 years ago

    wheres F-Zero?

  • dougyboy #19 2 years ago

    I thought twilight felt a bit dated, espically after playing oblivion, zelda hasn't really moved on from ocarina, which to be fair is one of the greatest games ever

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 2 years ago

    They're going to be using canned animation

    The Wii may be a bit anaemic in relation to the power of the other two consoles, but it's certainly capable of handling a bit of Inverse Kinematics on a single player character.

    Indeed, Wii Sports resort surely does just that - on two at the same time in its Kendo matches.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #21 2 years ago

    thought twilight felt a bit dated, espically after playing oblivion

    Yeah, despite my love of the Zelda series since paying 40 quid for the original gold cartridge in 1987, I had to disagree with Eurogamer in that Oblivion was my game of the year in 2006.