Huge Zelda leak 'all true'

By Tom Bramwell Published 22 April, 2005

Details of all three E3 demos and loads more.

Nintendo is thought to be furious this morning after a Spanish games magazine revealed embargoed details of the new Legend of Zelda GameCube title ahead of next month's E3 trade event.

Scans appeared online late yesterday, posted and translated by GamesAreFun, and a source outside Nintendo but privy to the arrangement has since confirmed to this website that "it's all true".

The Spanish mag's preview reveals a number of key details of the game - though not its official title - and outlines what we can expect to see in the three demo sections cobbled together for people to play at E3 next month.

There are also new screenshots, which you'll presumably be able to see at the above link until someone gets legal.

According to the preview, Link begins the game aged 16 in a place called Toaru Village (without his iconic green tunic, interestingly) and then grows up (and gets changed) as the game plays out.

Although play mechanics are said to be similar to Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker (with Z-targeting returning using the left trigger and automatic jumping still in place), fighting on horseback will play a major part for the first time, cuccos are back and, according to director Eiji Aonuma, the transparent water we've seen Link swimming through in screenshots will also eventually open the door to a new "sub-aquatic world".

Aonuma also revealed that this will be one of the biggest Zelda games ever, apparently two or even three times the size of Ocarina of Time with the potential for more than 70 hours of gameplay. We're always sceptical about these "X hours" claims, and it's not really quantified in the text, but it's sure to be appreciated by Zelda aficionados - assuming most of those hours aren't spent sailing around aimlessly, eh?

Aonuma said that the game's graphics, despite the rendered look, would be taking a stylistic approach heavily influenced by Japanese shonen (boys) manga, and not simply aping the CG look of Square Enix's current-gen Final Fantasy RPGs.

The E3 demos, meanwhile, don't sound like they'll give us much of an impression of the dungeon design, but it sounds like we're in for some treats anyway. The first, set in Toaru Village, will be more of a tutorial than anything, while the second will see Link on horseback trying to guide cows into a stall on a ranch within a time limit - a bit like the old catching-chickens routine.

The third, however, sounds much more exciting. It sees Link on horseback tackling a horde of enemies led by a nasty fellow on an armoured boar. It all plays out on a huge battlefield, apparently, as Link uses his sword and bow (now with a limited range) to bring down his adversaries.

Elsewhere, there's also said to be a battle on a bridge with Link using his sword to joust, so to speak.

We'll bring you our own thoughts on the E3 showing once we're on the ground in LA. The show runs from May 18th to 20th, with a separate Nintendo event going on earlier in the week.

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. Follow him on Twitter.

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

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Comments (35) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Kami #1 7 years ago

    Lol. Leak before E3... not unusual, I suppose, but sucks for Nintendo...

  • Tweakmonkey #2 7 years ago

    Doesn't seem like all that big of a leak to me.

  • L0cky #3 7 years ago

    This is the game I'll finally be buying a Gamecube for. Nintendo really have to fix their Zelda cycles and try and synch them up with console releases. I'm guessing there's another 5 years until we see Zelda on the Revolution.

  • Freek #4 7 years ago

    Interesting way of leaking information: holding an interview with the man himself. lol

  • ProfessorLesser #5 7 years ago

    This is starting to sound sexy as fuck.

    All I ask (aside from the obvious) is that it features the PROPER Zelda theme at the title 'PRESS START' screen. It can play what it likes during the intro, but as the word Zelda' flashes into view, there has to be:

    'CHING! Da-da da-da-da da-daaaa...!'

    Like from Link's Awakening. Even in GB sound, it is still the best of all renditions of the Zelda theme. Remember it?

    Lack of the proper ditty was the single thing OoT left me wanting. Except for more.

    EDIT: Oh, and the title has got to be GOOD.
    Edited by ProfessorLesser at 22/04/05 @ 18:33

  • volb #6 7 years ago

    Ha. Europe strikes back.

  • Vin #7 7 years ago

    More useless block pushing.

    Brilliant.

  • ProfessorLesser #8 7 years ago

    Lol Vin has a deku stick up his ass

    /is prepared to don the Fanboi Cap to defend his most beloved franchise

  • Sid-Nice #9 7 years ago

    If you want big leeks come to Newcastle in September/October.

  • morriss #10 7 years ago

    [moderator edit - nickjacking isn't tolerated, repeat offenders will have their IP blocked]

    Nickjacking??!! Wtf. is that?!

  • L0cky #11 7 years ago

    Hmm, not interested in ResiEvil. I almost bought a GC just for F-Zero, but the urge passed. I'll buy that after I buy it for Zelda :)

    And Viewtiful Joe...

    What else is there?
    Edited by L0cky at 22/04/05 @ 23:00

  • Rahul #12 7 years ago

    Interesting way of leaking information: holding an interview with the man himself.

    They didn't actually interview him, they just got a bunch of standard answers to some questions via, say, email (like EGM, probably) along with several versions of his photograph and then smashed that all together in InDesign to make it look original.

    That said, it's the last time that magazine is getting any information from Nintendo. Whoops.

  • Nintendo_Revolution #13 7 years ago

    looks really good to me

  • Burton2000 #14 7 years ago

    3 times longer than ocarina and upto 70 hours or so. this sounds great i loved ocarina becus it took so long to complete and ive bin disapointed with most games generaly now as they juust arent long enuf. but 70hours!!! sounding better by the minute!!

  • valli #15 7 years ago

    Scans appeared online late yesterday

    They're not scans, they're photographs.

  • SanktePer #16 7 years ago

    Does everyone around here diss WW?

  • sopaman #17 7 years ago

    It was not a leak...

  • Burton2000 #18 7 years ago

    i dont diss WW i loved WW but like most peeps i think it was wel short

  • captain-future #19 7 years ago

    guys, this comes straight from the Ninty Department of Propa...Marketing.

    nice example of viral marketing, though.

  • ProfessorLesser #20 7 years ago

    Viral marketing? Er... no...

  • Shadar #21 7 years ago

    Chaos Legion: Soooo ... a big fan of Final Fantasy X?

  • gerg #22 7 years ago

    Well to be fair, the Playstation 2 has the EyeToy (which I LOVE) and a bigger library of games, but Nintendo has better games, and I wouldn't give up all the goodness of Nintey for Sony.
    Anyway, I don't really like Animal Crossing. The 'symptom' that gets pople out of it goes like this:

    1. You get it. You play it every day for a week.
    2. One day you can't play it. The next day, you don't feel the urge to and/or can't play it.
    3. A week passes. You don't play it because you can't be bothered to clean up all those weeds.

    That happened to me... Other people have said that too.
    Man... my town must be a JUNGLE by now. :/

  • maclander #23 7 years ago

    "...I'm guessing there's another 5 years until we see Zelda on the Revolution."
    It'll probably take at least five more years for Nintendo to release revolution... so they’re pretty well-timed after all.

  • Galvanizer #24 7 years ago

    I'm upset they went for a Manga style rather than a SQUARE ENIX CG style.

    I mean look at the characters in FF XII. Realistic but STILL polygons. SQUARE ENIX can do it so why not Ninty?

  • Blerk #25 7 years ago

    Skipping past all the shite....

    I'm not sure how this can be classed as a 'leak' - it was an interview with the guy responsible for the game. Surely Nintendo must have sanctioned it? At worst it must be a 'published earlier than you promised', surely?

    Anyway - Zelda! Yum.

  • Blerk #26 7 years ago

    The only thing I can think is that they gave the interview but told them they couldn't use certain bits and pieces until after E3. And then they published the lot.

    Regardless, it smells of 'carefully orchestrated publicity stunt' to me. :-)

  • drumbaby #27 7 years ago

    How could I have been so amiss...?

    'Pika! Pika!'

    :)

  • Tonka #28 7 years ago

    This 'leak' got me playing my GC version of OoT again.

  • pjmaybe #29 7 years ago

    Someone nicking my nick eh?

    And what was said? Otto, email please.

    Peej

  • morriss #30 7 years ago

    now I know what nickjacking is!!!

  • otto #31 7 years ago

    peej, he didn't say anything particularly worth remembering, certainly I've forgotten it, the issue wasn't what he said it was the name he chose to use while saying it. :)

  • pelolep #32 7 years ago

    "I wish I had all 3 consoles, but I could have only one... so I went with the GC."
    You and me both.

  • seiken #33 7 years ago

    It's said that this game is going to be 3 times bigger than the previous instalment. That surely sounds promising, but one can't help to be a little bit sceptical. Just because the map is bigger doesn't mean that it will take 3 times more to complete.

    There might just be filler areas, such as the water in ZWW. A recent article stated that much of the map will be similar to the water in ZWW. And there is a big risk that Nintendo will create huge boring areas without anything to do, but they will hopefully not make that mistake. They will hopefully implement more enemies and other things to do, while traversing from one point to another.

    I’m also a bit afraid of the game will be played. I hope that they don’t just put the emphasis on battles but also on intriguing puzzles too.

    One thing that I would really appreciate would be an option in the beginning of the game, there one has the option to choose a hard mode, in which the puzzles will be significantly harder, for those who are up to it. It wouldn’t hurt either if the battles become harder too, since it’s a really rare sight to die in a Zelda game.

    It’s also getting repetitive to always play around with a sword, shield and a boomerang. I want a whip, or other innovative weapons such as the Gust Jar seen in Minish Cap.

  • cardboardMonster #34 7 years ago

    Lol. I like the comments on that link: "OoT is the worst Zelda game ever, let's have a big row about it". :|

  • tiny_Kephri #35 3 years ago

    bump