N-Bits Volume 1
N-Bits is a column that combines speculation with general thoughts. Each of the thoughts presented are far too small to be in an article of their own, so are instead packed together for a nice read. As we think of interesting things, we will put up new volumes. Enjoy!Water World
The word on the street now is that Zelda GameCubes over-world may actually be a giant sea. This would be a radical change from the land-based world of previous Zeldas. Compiling all the evidence and clues we have up to now may prove this theory to be true:
Exhibit A: The initial part of the game takes place on an island, with the E3 demo level being called Island of beginnings. Obviously to get off this island, you need to traverse over water. If the clues stopped there I wouldnt make anything of it, but they just keep coming...
Exhibit B: The curious swimming limit that has been implemented. This was most probably put in so that the player doesnt attempt to swim extremely long distances (like a sea).
Exhibit C: The sailboat. It is extremely intricate in detail and far too polished to be used only on a simple mini game.
Exhibit D: Pirates with pirate ships. In the E3 demo Link traveled to a fortress (also on an island) with pirates on their ship. Heck, even the fire dungeon on display in the E3 demo seems to be on an island.
So as you can see, there is definitely a wealth of evidence that points towards a water-based central map. But before you start writing hate mail to Nintendo, I have to point one thing out: this wouldnt stop the ground based sections from being massive as well. There could be several islands with absolutely gigantic worlds on them. To top it all off, this ocean could possibly have no loading time since objects in the distance are naturally blurred. The LOD (level of detail) features could be running full tilt to make sure you can see everything in the distance. What this would mean to you, the player, is that you would be able to see for literally miles and miles in the distance, without any loading. So you must try and imagine seeing a gigantic tower on a distant island, only to find out that you can actually sail there, and walk right up to the castle doors that you saw 20 miles away, without any loading in between. In fact, would this not be a perfect use for the included telescope in the game? I get chills just thinking about it. Perhaps the water theme will even be part of the new subtitle.
What Is A Delay?
I think something needs to be said about the lack of delays for Nintendos games (a very big knock on wood). Not only did Mario Sunshine meet its expected release date exactly on the money, but so did Animal Crossing. After the storm of delays at the beginning of this year, N-Sider wrote an article about how Nintendo probably knows just how bad these delays are looking, and are doing something to remedy it. It seems we may have hit the nail on the head. Eternal Darkness made its release date, Starfox Adventures made its release date (even though they both forecast a whole 6 months ahead of time), Metroid Prime and Fusion are most certainly going to make it, and the biggest one of all seems to be that Zelda is going to make it.
When Nintendo can call a release date from a year or more away (Zelda for Japan), you know things are getting better. Mario was the same situation, with its forecasted release being called many months prior to its actual launch. What was once a bombardment of bad news release dates has turned into a schedule that you can almost trust.
Metroid Connected
We were told recently that Metroid Prime will link with Metroid fusion via the GameCube/GameBoy Advance link cable. At the time of writing, it is now the third of October with still nary a word on this supposed connection. To get the ball rolling, let me just throw out a couple of ideas:
The first idea would be item sending. Say you find an old map for a space station in Metroid Fusion. You quickly think to yourself, Hey, there is a space station in Metroid Prime that I havent completely searched through." You link them up, pause the game on the GameCube, and choose the transfer option which promptly sends over any Metroid Prime information from the GBA, and any Metroid Fusion information from the GameCube. After going to the space station in Metroid Prime, you find that you now have a complete map of the entire layout.
Another idea would be to have an extended or altered ending for those who own both titles. This would be very similar to the Oracle games on GameBoy Color. Owning one without the other is definitely fine, but owning both will give you a true ending. Im not saying its right or wrong, Im just saying its a possibility.
Load Times: Be Gone
One thing that Nintendo should receive a big pat on the back for is their eradication of load times for internally developed games. Not one game has been released from Nintendo themselves that had any load times to speak of. Whether its the living environments in Super Mario Sunshine, or the gigantic world in Stafox Adventures, there seems to be no loading at all. Of course, you have some games like Super Smash Brothers: Melee that had one loading time of about four seconds in one level, but 98 percent of the time we are playing load-free. In a way, this has made the transition from carts pretty much seamless. I say Nintendo deserves a great deal of credit for getting rid of these pesky load times that plagued other systems over the years.
Nintendo's Big Announcement: Dragon Quest For Sure? Recently, Japanese publication V-Jump ran a one-year anniversary special on the GameCube. The special concluded with the publication insinuating that Nintendo was planning a GameCube-related announcement in December so big that it would cause a worldwide revolution in GameCube sales, particularly in Japan. Since V-Jump's article, many other publications have chimed in with their confirmations, including IGN, but no-one seems to know what the announcement could be.
It is our firm belief that the announcement will confirm that the hit RPG series Dragon Quest will debut its eighth installment on the GameCube exclusively. There is no other announcement within reason that could have such a gargantuan affect on Japanese GameCube sales; the significance of Dragon Quest in that country simply cannot be understated. To further clarify: if Dragon Quest were to hit the GameCube exclusively in Japan and sales of the system did not massively spike, we could confidently declare it dead in Japan.
Some have suggested that the announcement could be Pokemon related, but we do not believe this to be likely. Pokemon, although still a viable and prolific franchise, simply does not have the recognition it once did. In addition, Nintendo has already hinted at a Pokemon game for the GameCube, and the nature of this year-end announcement indicates that it is something no one has ever heard of before.
We don't have access to any secret information regarding this announcement, so the above should be treated as strictly speculation. Still, we're confident that come December, we'll be seeing the first media of DQ VIII running exclusively on GameCube.
Well, that concludes the first edition of N-Bits. Any comments you have on the subject matter should be directed to Jason or Josh. Hope to see you soon.
Jason Nuyens
Josh Righter