ONM - Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has told ONM to expect surprises at next year's E3 as Nintendo prepares to reveal an overhaul of the critically-acclaimed series.
When asked how different the new Zelda title will be when it arrives on Wii next year, Aonuma replied: "It is something we used to talk about with Mr Miyamoto, and he and I agree that if we are following the same structure again and again, we might not be able to give long time Zelda fans a fresh surprise."
"So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version."
Aonuma also confirmed that alongside full MotionPlus support, we'll be able to see more of what his team have been working on at next year's E3. "I hope that we can show you something at the E3 show next year and it is something we are hopeful will be surprising," he added.
The full, in-depth interview with Eiji Aonuma will be published in Official Nintendo Magazine issue 51, out December 18th. Issue 50, which contains the world's first Zelda: Spirit Tracks review, an exclusive Shigeru Miyamoto interview and much more, goes on sale from Friday 20th November. You can buy Official Nintendo Magazine online right here and get it delivered to your door, or even subscribe if the mood takes you. You get a copy of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games if you fancy it.
So we're guaranteed surprises from the next Zelda game on Wii but what do you think they will be? Tell us in the comments thread!
Finally finished the game today!
44 hours on the clock, pretty much everything collected, apart from a couple of hearts and the Hylian Shield. But I made a copy of my save file to finish getting that stuff, and have hero mode enabled on my original file.
Very much enjoyed it, I just wish that I'd have played this continually from start to finish, rather than having a massive break in the middle of it (MK 7 ), as that kind of ruined the flow of the game/story a little bit.
Surprisingly, I actually had quite a lot of trouble with the controls at times too. Now I'm not sure if this is down do a dodgy Wii Remote Plus or the game itself, but there were a few occasions where the cursor would just drift to the left or right non stop! I'd re-centre with down on the D-Pad, but straight away it would slowly drift to the side again...
Became a real pain in the ass when using the bow/dowsing/etc...
Most of the time I'd have to take the batteries out of my Wii Remote to trigger the M+ start-up configuration again, which would normally fix the problem.
But yeah, doing so obviously marred the experience somewhat. It's fine in Wii Sports Resort or Go Vacation, but when you're engrossed in a game like Zelda and have to pee around with that... not so cool.
However when the controls were working correctly... wow! Mind blowing stuff.
Loved the tactical aspect when fighting some of the smarter enemies/bosses, and the subtle effects that you could achieve using items, like adding curve when rolling bombs.
Just such a shame M+ isn't 100%* consistent.
*I think percentages will always remind me of Fi now.
Another thing that surprised me, was enjoying the final battle against Ghirahim more than Demise. While the last fight was incredibly epic, it just wasn't as much fun to play because it lacked the variety of the preceding fight. That was probably my favourite boss of the game actually, the next one being Koloktos. Least enjoyable was definitely The Imprisoned, ugh... I hated that bloody thing.
Biggest annoyance of the game though by far, was this:
Every... single... time!
I simply cannot believe that this was intentionally designed that way, it has to be an oversight by the developers.
It got to the point that I would actually avoid picking stuff up so I wouldn't need to watch that pointless scene again! Or I'd use the Beetle to collect certain things.
Anyway, that and the occasional control issues still didn't stop this from being a truly phenomenal game, it was an amazing experience.
(I realise this post is mainly negative, but that's only because I can't be arsed regurgitating all the praise that has already been written. And I mean It's pretty clear what this game does right.)
So, next up for me on Wii is Xenoblade. Going to be interesting going into that after something as special as Skyward Sword, hope I'll still be able to enjoy it.