Hyrule Warriors is Zelda meets hack-and-slash. It’s an idea just crazy enough to work.
“With the Warriors series, we’ve had collaborations with Gundam, Fist of the North Star, and One Piece, but we also wanted to do something with Nintendo.” Hyrule Warriors producer, Hisashi Koinuma said in an interview with Weekly Famitsu. According to Koinuma, the concept of turning the world of The Legend of Zelda into a Warriors game was something that came up early on. After pitching the idea of a collaboration and talking things over with Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto and Legend of Zelda series producer, Eiji Aonuma gave the go sign.
“That original presentation was years ago, but at the time, [Tecmo Koei] showed us One Piece: Pirate Warriors. At first I thought ‘What will a Warriors game with One Piece look like?’ but after actually playing it, I found that it managed to take the good parts of the source material and incorporate them into the Warriors system.” Recalled Aonuma. “Then I started to wonder, ‘what would a collaboration with The Legend of Zelda be like?’ About that time, Mr. Miyamoto said, ‘I hear Tecmo Koei is approaching us with the idea of a ‘Hyrule Warriors‘ game. Are you interested?’ To which I said, ‘yes!’”
The upcoming Hyrule Warriors is not only a collaboration between Nintendo and Tecmo Koei, but on the development side, it is also the first collaborative project between Team NINJA and Omega-force. Said Koinuma, “In terms of the exhilarating feeling of defeating enemies, Omega-force is ahead of the curve with their work on the Warriors series. But in terms of a one-on-one element, Team Ninja has the experience with their work on Dead or Alive and could probably execute that better, so we figured, ‘let’s blend the staff together.’”
As for the game itself, the Link in Hyrule Warriors will have an original background — not all that surprising considering The Legend of Zelda‘s series timeline is less a line and more a tangled knot. In Hyrule Warriors the land of Hyrule is threatened by the witch, Shia (シア), who was originally tasked to protect the legendary Triforce but was corrupted by a great evil. The army of Hyrule, led by the queen Zelda, clashed with the forces of evil, but to no avail. As news of the struggles on the front lines reaches the ears of the kingdom, a lone soldier trainee, Link, steps forward to enter the battlefield and to rescue the missing queen and thwart the evil that threatens the land.
The game will introduce several new characters as well as bring in several classic Zelda regulars. Hyrule Warriors will also feature co-op play with players using the TV and Wii U GamePad simultaneously. Nintendo plans to have a playable demo at this year’s E3 next month. I wonder if there’ll be a Water Temple. And if so, how difficult it will be.
Hyrule Warriors is scheduled for release on the Wii U. The game is set to come out in Japan on August 14, with an international release later this year.
『ゼルダ無双』一騎当千の勇者、ハイラルを救う！ [ファミ通.com]
Comments
18 responses to “Zelda Spin-Off Doesn’t Have Dungeons, It Has Armies”
I am glad I have a wiiU
As am I, as am I.
I play mine more than my PS4 (ATM, ATM, I mean I just sorta change monthly between any system as I settle into a particular game, in this case, Windwaker HD.)
I’ve decided to wait for the PC release.
I will have one very soon!
This looks awesome!
But holy jezuz frakking bbq that’s the biggest cleavage Hyrule has ever seen me thinks O_o
Haha, well “pointed” out 🙂
Considering it’s Team NINJA involved it’s remarkably tasteful and restrained.
Telma says hello. :p
Bahahaha fair call, didn’t even think of that XD
what can you expext from the people who made Dead Or Alive? one of their games was made SOLELY for the boobs. :3
This game looks amazing, Too bad I suck at the waiting game.
Starting to look a lot more appealing to get a WiiU, might have to wait and see what news comes out before christmas this year =]
Oh man, I’m not going to be super protective about Nintendo “lending” out the Zelda brand (it’s a nicer word than “whoring”) so that 3rd parties can shoe-horn their franchise into a different genre….. not until I play the game anyway.
But seriously, what the f*ck is with that art direction?
Link looks like a woman. I mean he normally looks kinda effeminate, but now he looks straight up like a woman. Why is he wearing the world’s most sexually questionable scarf (and it’s a scarf, so it was sexually questionable to begin with)?
And what’s with the massive, unnecessary rack on that chick?
Bloody hell Nintendo, I know it will sell more copies if you let them put a ‘Zelda’ logo on the front, but at least make some effort to protect your franchise from an art direction perspective!
Come soon to a 3DS near you, ‘Super Mario 3D Land: Assless Chaps Edition’.
I fail to see how a scarf makes you homosexual. I also fail to see how Link’s sexuality is relevant.
Y’all should check out Impa’s design.
Impa, looks awesome.
The graphics look to have improved remarkably since the initial video.
I’ve not had time to dedicate much time in to reading about this, but by reading this article, it gives the impression this might feel a bit like Dynasty Warriors in the Zelda universe! I’d give that a go!
/edit Having written that, and re-read the article, that’s the whole point isn’t it?! lol
I think this will turn out pretty cool, and It’s nice to see Ninty being a bit more experimental with their IP. In the meantime, let’s all try and forget what happened with Other M. And that the studio that developed Other M is co-producing this game.