Two versions of Twilight Princess

By Paul Loughrey Published 9 May, 2006

One for Wii and one for Cube!

Speaking at Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime has confirmed that two versions of long awaited Zelda game Twilight Princess are in development - one for GameCube and one for Wii, which will of course make use of the remote controller.

Fils-Aimes described it as "by far the best Zelda game we've ever made," before handing over the controls for a real-time demonstration of exactly why that is.

The game uses the analogue 'nunchuck' attachment to control Link's movement, with items assigned to the wand's d-pad. Targeting is achieved by holding the Z button, and there's a fairy on the screen to keep constant track of your movements with the wand, making sure you don't end up pointing at the ceiling when something's biting your legs, for example.

Attacking is a matter of pressing the B button or moving the wand in a circular motion to perform the spin attack, and jabbing or flicking the wand makes Link perform a shield strike, knocking enemies off guard and leaving them prone to a more serious kicking.

Putting the sword aside and moving onto the bow, you can point the wand where you want to aim, and a targeting reticule appears. If you move the wand outside of that reticule, the camera circles your target.

When you draw back the bow to fire, the speaker in the wand - yes, there's a speaker - lets you hear the sting pulling taught, and when you fire the arrow, you'll hear it and feel it fly from the wand towards your target on screen. The whole thing played out beautifully and looks like a really impressive use of the new technology.

The remainder of the demo, brief as it was, was filled with more examples of sword and bow battles, and how the wand can also be used for fishing - in exactly the way you'd expect, except with fewer maggots, probably.

Visually, the game looks pretty stunning, but as Nintendo kept repeating after almost every game they showed, Wii is not about what you see, but what you feel. Expect more updates once we've had a feel of some Zelda Wii on the show floor.

Picture of Paul.

About Paul Loughrey

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Comments (20) Latest comment 6 years ago

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

  • Tomo #1 6 years ago

    Sounds great to me.

    Will be holding out for Zelda Rev launch title!

  • Ciaran #2 6 years ago

    Zelda Wii on the show floor

    Ban this sick filth!!!

    (^_^)

  • Beano #3 6 years ago

    LOL

  • Contra #4 6 years ago

    Unlike some, I think the integration of the speaker in the wiimote is a great idea. The only problem I could see with a controller based on motion and acceleration was that there is no feedback for the user, so you don't know whats happening. With the integration of the rumble feature AND the speaker there are now 2 ways of giving feedback to the user!
    Interesting that Sony wasn't able to integrate a rumble feature in their controllers, because of "interference" with the positioning system....

  • Psi #5 6 years ago

    wii all saw it coming. it's basically a next gen title.

    you can either play real wii or watered down wii on the cube.

  • DocTep #6 6 years ago

    "Wii is not about what you see, but what you feel."

    Urgency?

  • hcg_wilson #7 6 years ago

    Wait a minute - reggie said: it will be released in NORTH AMERICA the day when WII goes on sale. He didn't mentioned Europe or other regions, no official word since that.

  • IAmBatman #8 6 years ago

    So I can't buy the Cube version, play that, then get a Wii later on and play it as an the enhanced version? And the only difference between the two is the controls - there's no extra content or stuff?

    Oh.

  • richardiox #9 6 years ago

    I also noticed the whole "North America only" comment which has left me a little worried. At first i actually took it as meaning it will be released on two formats in north america only and PAL would just get the GC version which will play on our Wii's but without the extra stuff. So not worth getting basically.

    We will wait and see. Still gutted they didnt announce a release date though. Or price. I need that concrete.

  • Bragelonne #10 6 years ago

    What is it with companies and two versions of things lately?

  • Blerk #11 6 years ago

    Why am I suddenly getting worried about the Cube version? :-(

  • skybluesam86 #12 6 years ago

    Why am I suddenly getting worried about the Cube version? :-(

    I feel it too...

    I can see all the attention and effort going to the Wii version now.

  • smelly #13 6 years ago

    @Contra :

    To my knowledge the wii has a rumble feature. Im SURE that's been announced hasnt it?

  • smelly #14 6 years ago

    @Blerk

    I wouldnt be worried. I personally reacon the cube versions been finished for ages, and they're holding back the release date to launch it alongside the wii version (So the game isnt seen as "old hat" by the time it comes out).

    Which makes sense considering most gamers see games over 3 months old as "too old to bother with".

    The wii version looks like it has the extra controller features, plus improved gfx.

    I cant see any reason why you wouldnt be able to play the cube version on yer wii, but i heavily doubt you'll get the extra controller features.

  • Nikanoru #15 6 years ago

    The wii version looks like it has the extra controller features, plus improved gfx.

    Don't see any proof of improved graphics.

  • dk_rare #16 6 years ago

    Sounds awesome!

    Will it look any different on the Wii though?

  • JetSetWilly #17 6 years ago

    The trailers posted on IGN say they are from the Wii version. Those trailers have just been ripped from the trailers shown at the conference and are the same as the ones you see on the official Wii website.

    So what you see is the Wii version. And it doesn't particularly look like any degree of a step up from the Cube.

  • Nikanoru #18 6 years ago

    So what you see is the Wii version. And it doesn't particularly look like any degree of a step up from the Cube.

    Though that's not exactly a bad thing, is it?

    What I am sorta worried about is, why the hell did they have to release two versions? It's obviously not because the widescreen setting and the new control code would suddenly make the game too big for a Gamecube disk somehow.

    Why?

  • Galvanizer #19 6 years ago

    I'll stick with the GC version thanks.

  • Duckers #20 6 years ago

    I watched the entire Nintendo E3 conference on IGN. Pure joy, the whole way through. Plus, 'hcg_wilson' has a point, there.

    I hope Reggie's little speech about North America's Wii version will be true for the UK, as well.
    However, I don't believe I will be gettin' a Wii, any time soon. Depends on da price, really. I'd be happy with the GameCube Zelda, to be honest. I'm sure a lot of you agree...
    Edited by 1 at 12/05/06 @ 11:41