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| GAMECUBE LEGEND OF ZELDA |
Wow. The Legend of Zelda for GameCube was finally shown at Nintendo's SpaceWorld 2001 show. And boy was it different than expected.
Most people were probably expecting a game similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, based on the "Technical Demo" that was shown at the SpaceWorld 2000 and E3 shows, that dipicted Link battling Ganandorf in a grittily realistic and dark environment.
But, it was not to be, as the Zelda shown at SpaceWorld 2001 has been drastically changed to something that resembles a cartoon.
Not much at all is known about the gameplay in the next Zelda title for GameCube, except for the fact that it looks to play similar to Ocarina of Time, and sports a Link that seems to be even younger than in the N64 Zeldas.
The graphics however, are what has gotten the most attention. The next Zelda uses a very advanced Cell Shading techniqe, to make the game look like an interactive cartoon. Nintendo is labeling this style "Toon Shading".
The Link in the demo also boasted a very advanced facial animation and expression system, with his mouth moving and showing different emotions through body language and expressions.
Other than that, nothing is really known about the game.
Nintendo has said that the reason for changing the Zelda from a realistic environment into a cartoon-like environment, is because there are certain things they can do with cartoon-like graphics, that they can't with more realistic one's, such as streching doors and limbs and exagerated expressions.
Some people question if NIntendo can really do that much more with this type of graphical style then they can with a realistic one, but if anyone can do it, it'll be Nintendo.
Most people have mixed feelings about the game's style. Some like it, some don't. I don't really care either way, as long as it still plays like a Zelda game, I'll be satisfied. And I don't think Nintendo would ever mess up a game that's as important to them as Zelda is, so I have faith that they will be able to get it right.
I'll post more on the actual demo that they showed later on.
As for now, click here for more pictures from the SpaceWorld 2001 show of the demo.
And click here, for some pics of the E3 2000 demo that depicted Link battling the evil Ganondorf. Note how different the graphics are!