E3 2005: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The controls are pretty much what's becoming standard fare for Zelda games. For those of us who've been playing them (Zelda games) all along, it should be pretty easy to pick up, but Nintendo has spiced it up here and there with some new and shiny changes. Check it out:

The on-screen display should seem very familiar to most, but it has been through a few notable changes. Think of it as an old friend you haven't seen in years. The heart meter sits on the top left corner of the screen, as it always has, though the hearts have been somewhat stylized now, in the same way the entire display seems to have been. Looping in cursive-like curls, the meters all seem to look like a calligraphy student was given free reign to design their borders. These flashy little additions to something that's already perfectly efficient add a certain sophistication to the entire display, we think. In the screenshot below, you can also see a meter under the heart containers, which is, in this case, displaying the amount of lantern oil remaining. We can only assume that any other meters that may come up as gameplay continues will also appear here. For instance, the magic meter was entirely absent from the demo, but we suspect it will return. On the top right is the button display, which doesn't seem to have changed much:

We opened this page with the control overview, so I won't bore you by repeating that, but the controls should all be very familiar to anyone who's ever played a Legend of Zelda game. A is the context sensitive action button; B uses your sword, etc, etc. However, now items can only be set to two buttons instead of three. Only the X and Y buttons can hold items. The Z trigger is now reserved for hints (for use at your leisure, replacing those irritating cries of "Hey! Listen!" from Navi). Then again, Z was also used for hints in the Wind Waker demo, so maybe it will become an item slot later on. Note the new look though, with rope wrapping its way through every button, continuing the stylish theme and further solidifying Link's new cowboy identity. Neat touch, no? On the bottom right -- again with the familiarity -- your rupees and keys, if applicable, are displayed. Finally, over on the bottom left, we have our map displayed, with a D-pad icon marked "item" directly above it. Should you press the D-pad, it will bring up the item screen, shown here:

The item screen is fairly straight-forward. A radial menu (again, we see the same looping swirls that seem to be present in every menu) appears, and by rotating the control stick to select the different icons around the circle and pressing either X or Y, you can set that item to the button of your choice. Director Eiji Aonuma has said that he prefers the radial menu to the old grid system for items, because it won't have a blank spot for all the items you don't have. It will shift as you get more items, adding spaces for new boxes. That way, we'll never be able to tell how many items we have left to collect. Additionally, pressing the A button will bring up a short description of any item, which, while not a function displayed on-screen, at least in the demo, is something that does exist. And that about wraps up the all-too boring description of Twilight Princess's on-screen display. In short, it's an old friend with a few changes. More style, more class, and more functionality.

The camera is controlled largely via L-targeting as in TWW. Pressing L will snap the camera right behind Link to allow the player to see in front of him. The C-Stick can also be used to rotate the camera around Link to get a quick view of the environment while on the go. Pressing up with the C-Stick will put you into first-person mode, as before, to allow a more detailed and intimate look at the environment. Traditionally, when stuck trying to figure out a puzzle, this would be the time to take a good look around in first-person view. Though, it appears that the ability to zoom out with the C-Stick has been either removed from the game or not yet programmed in.

Aside from allowing the player a good view of the action, Zelda's camera has a few tricks up its sleeve this year. When riding Link's horse, a dash will create a slight blur effect, increasing the sense of speed. Additionally, the brief pause before high damage attacks from TWW has returned to let us all know when the enemy should be running away and screaming. It's the subtle camera tricks like these that add to the game's immersiveness and really make Zelda what it is.

Much like past incarnations of Zelda, items were set to buttons and used by pressing those buttons. The X and Y buttons took on the responsibility in the E3 demo, and that worked out just fine. There weren't a whole lot of items playable in the E3 demo, but we'll detail the items that were available.

Let's start by talking about the smaller items, shall we? The demo for Twilight Princess was kind enough to offer players a red potion as soon as they started, as if to say "it's okay that you suck." It works as red potions have always worked: replenishing hearts. Using it will show a close-up of Link uncorking the bottle and consuming its contents, then wiping his mouth dry. We'd like to note that its description stated that it "healed," but didn't say exactly how much it actually healed. You only have five hearts in the demo, which the red potion fully healed, but we're sure it's possible that it could only heal up to something like ten hearts and then stop. However, because red potions have always fully healed all empty hearts, we assume this game will be no different. After using the red potion and narrowly escaping death, you'll be left with the mainstay of wonderful Zelda items: the empty bottle! Much to our delight, you can still put things in bottles. Some things never change, and they never should. We had far too much fun bottling water and then pouring it on stuff. (To absolutely no avail each time, sadly. We're sure it has a purpose, but nothing in the demo seems to take advantage of it.)

Also provided in the demo were the lantern and lantern oil. We're still not sure why these were in the demo as you never actually got to use them, but they were there. This lantern, unlike its ancestor (We're looking at you A Link to the Past) doesn't seem to be able to throw fire or light torches. Pressing whichever button you bind it to while holding it caused Link to swing it in front of him, but hitting enemies was either impossible or we sucked, and we were unable to light anything on fire. The lantern served the simple purpose of providing light in dark places. We're guessing that there will be pitch-dark areas later on, but the demo provided no reason to use it. Regardless, what's important to mention here is that it brings up a meter showing how much oil remains, which quickly depletes whenever you have the lantern out. You can then refill it by using your lantern oil and emptying another bottle. A bottle of lantern oil refills the meter to full and is used up in one use, regardless of how much oil was left when you used it.

But let's get to what you really want to hear about: The Gale Boomerang which, upon being obtained, boasts that it houses the "Fairy of Winds." Much like every boomerang that has ever existed, it can be thrown and will then return to you. And much like every boomerang to have ever existed in a Zelda game, it can bring things back with it when it returns to you. However, thanks to the aforementioned Fairy of Winds, it now makes sense when the boomerang retrieves things instead of smashing them. By holding down the button you have the boomerang set to, you can 'charge' it, causing it to unleash a tornado of winds that travels along its path. This seemed awfully magical to us, and because there was no magic meter in the demo, we can't help but speculate that charging the boomerang may in fact be assigned a magic cost in the final release. It is this wind that carries things back to you, making it possible to retrieve almost anything, from pots to rupees. The wind will also interact with the environment around you, lifting loose leaves or tiles on the ground. And if you throw it at grass while charged, it will not cut because the wind blows the blades of grass out of the way of the boomerang itself. (If uncharged, it does cut grass and smash pots.)

The Gale Boomerang will be a central fixture in a number of puzzles, with the wind being used to affect or carry various things. As an example, the demo had windmill switches that needed to be spun by throwing the charged Gale Boomerang at them. Additionally, the ability to lock onto multiple targets at once has returned from Wind Waker, and now with a much greater purpose. The demo allowed you to lock onto a maximum of five targets with the boomerang. By locking onto multiple targets and then releasing the boomerang button, the player causes the boomerang to fly from target to target, perhaps triggering multiple switches, or moving objects to new locations. If the player locks onto a liftable item and then locks on to a second target, the boomerang will carry the item from its initial resting place to the second target chosen, which allows Link to move items without having to physically interact with them and opens the door for an immeasurable number of new puzzles.