Zelda: The Wind Waker Summit

On February 16th, Nintendo of America officially begins the pre-sell program for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

To keep Zelda fans busy until the March 24th launch of the new Zelda, gamers who reserve a copy of the game will receive a limited-edition disk featuring The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest.

N-Sider suggests acquiring a copy from your local retailer while supplies last.


Forum member, Ferquin retrieved artwork off the back of the preview pamphlet for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker which is found in the prebook copy of Ocarina of Time/Master Quest. With help from N-Sider artist Josh Langley, the image has been cleaned up and sized for use as desktop wallpaper. For the full size image, click on the above picture.

Gathered from the recent Zelda Summit, read on for Dean's journals and detailed features of The Wind Waker.


On the days of Thursday, December 13th until Saturday, December 15th, I was in Redmond, Washington for a very small Nintendo press event. The following is a collection of my journals from that trip (and I apologize for not having it up a lot sooner, but I had taken over 250 pictures; sorting out the best ones to upload was no easy task). I won't bore you with impressions, because mine are the same as everyone else's. To put it simply: The game was a dream come true. It's beauty, both in graphics and gameplay, nearly made me steal a dev 'Cube with the game in it. (But we won't talk about that...)

Just a short forewarning: one or two of the pictures may contain spoilers (they will be marked) and my notes are still in raw form. To give you an idea of the length of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, we played for three hours before lunch and then another four hours after lunch (for anyone who can't add, that equals seven hours of play). After just seven hours into the game I had conquered the first dungeon, located the first island, and set sail to begin my exploration. I got the furthest into the game out of anyone at the Summit (hence redeeming my Mario Tennis embarrassment at E3 2k1).

And before I begin, I'd like to thank Nintendo of America and Golin Harris for setting this up. It was extremely enjoyable and the hospitality was amazing. NoA knows how to treat its guests, and they treated us like kings. So enough chatter; here are the journals (complete with pictures!) followed by a detailed list of features in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.


2:45pm: I arrive at London airport for a 45 minute flight to Toronto on a lovely Dash-8. I sit comfortably in the back row of the plane and play Metroid Fusion on my platinum Game Boy Advance.

3:30pm: I arrive in Toronto at the Pearson International Airport. Confronted with a three hour layover for my flight to Seattle, I wander around until finding an internet terminal. Content in my terminal, I plop about $5 into it and chat with N-Siders/Staff for an hour and a half.

6:45pm: I board the plane to Seattle; happy to see it empty, I lay across an entire row and sleep. In-flight movie: Bollywood Hollywood, which is even more horrible than the name itself.

8:00pm PT: I arrive in Seattle, finding customs to be a breeze (my Cineplex.com pin set off an alarm, though, heh.) - I find a valet waiting for me, with my name on a sign. I ride a luxurious town-car to Redmond, Washington and the Marriot.

8:30pm: I arrive at the Marriot, meet Sean and Mike from N-Philes and GCAdvanced. I sign in and drop my bags off at my room. Sean and I go downstairs to meet up with Mike.

9:00-9:45pm: The three of us walk around downtown Redmond. We decide to see a Movie (Analyze That) -- not as good as we thought it would be.

12:00am: We get back from the movie and I unpack.



7:00am: I receive my wakeup call -- Sean knocks on my door as well.

7:45am: I wander into the hall, grab Mike and Sean (who doesn't
respond because he took a 45 minute shower). I go and find Billy from PlanetGameCube; I show him a preview of the N-Universe in his hotel room. We drink Diet (ew) Mountain Dew before we head out to Nintnedo.

8:00am: A Shuttlebus arrives to take us to Nintendo. On the drive there, we joke around about Nintendo, Mario, and sexuality involving the two.

8:20am: We arrive at Nintendo of America. I strike a pose in front of my future place of employment.

8:30am: We enter Nintendo (yes, after 10 minutes of poses). The first thing you notice in their lobby is a montage of Nintendo characters on the wall.

8:35am: Welcome, to the Real World. The World of Nintendo is HUGE.

• Nintendo Bling Bling
• History Hallway
• Game on

There's also the Nintendo Store where I buy the Mario Bobblehead.

8:40-9:00am: We explore the world of Nintendo. They have
an entire section dedicated to the History of Nintendo.

• Early Days
• Famicom
• NES and ROB
• Game Boy Advance
• GameCube
• Must touch...

Also, I must mention the foiled glass.

• Super Mario
• Bowser eats Mario
• Beautiful Samus
• Link

9:00am-9:25am: We enter the Conference Room - We receive a GameCube & GameBoy Player demonstration.

• Four Swords
• Zelda

Below are some screens of the GameBoy Player Menus:

• Change Frame-Type
• Change Game
• Controller Configuration
• Change Time-Limit

9:30-10:00am: The GameCube & GBA connection in The Wind Waker is shown to us.

• Map of the sea
• Tingle connection
• Tingle calling?
• Link amazed
• Welcome
• Map say what?
• Tingle alone

10:00am-12:00pm: We finally get what we all came for. It's "Free-Play" with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Japanese version) - NoA Localization guys helped us with translation, what to do, etc. No pictures were 'allowed' to be taken of us during gameplay, however I got permission to take this picture (I got link stuck in the water, just before a waterfall; he looked incredibly pissed).

12:00pm-12:30pm: It's lunch-time and afterwards some more Zelda playing. The NoA guys and some other employees played Super Smash Bros. Melee.

• Castle Chaos
• Fight!
• Wavebird action

12:30pm-1:00pm: We're taken on the Nintendo Tour. We take a trip through Nintendo Power's offices; I notice all their hallways are affectionately named. Next we visit the cream of the crop, the place where everyone wants to be: Nintendo R&D (Under double lock, keycard access and sign-in sheet). We stop off at the store, and strike a pose with Mario, not to mention paying back the love.

1:00-4:30pm: More Zelda playing. (I snuck a little picture: here).

4:45pm-5:00pm: It's time to leave. Everyone else goes to the Airport to fly home; I am the only one staying an extra night (hey, it was free!). I get a town-car back to the Marriot. I managed to capture some shots of the surrounding buildings before leaving:

• Nintendo
• The enemy
• NSTC

5:30pm: I return to the Marriot. I go to a movie (The Hot Chick).

8:00pm: I return to the hotel, turn on the TV for a while, order a movie, and see the GREATEST commercial ever! (it actually pulls the truck...)

8:00-12:00am: I pack my bags to leave.


6:00am: Wakeup Call.

6:30am: Checkout and get breakfast at the in-hotel
restaurant.

8:00pm: I return to London.


So there you have it folks, my entire trip. Below are the notes I took while I was at Nintendo of America. You'll notice they are very rough, but informative.




Tingle Returns

• Tingle is freed from jail early on and gives Link a GBA.
• If Tingle gets knocked down, Link can free him.
• Tingle provides hints and enemy info.
• GBA Hook-up is Wind Waker's "Navi Feature"
• In the overworld, Tingle can use a feather to help Link control the wind
• Players can buy potions in game (from Tingle)
• Tingle is NOT needed, but provides valuable help such as finding treasure
• ** Tingle is Not integral to the plot **
• Players can use Tingle's balloon feature to float Link to places otherwise unreachable
• Tingle CAN hurt link (Dropping bombs etc.)
• GBA/Tingle feature can only see the level (altitude) Link is at (e.g. If Link is at the top of the mountain, Tingle cannot see the items below Links position)
• GBA/Tingle Hook-up is designed for two players

Camera and Hints

• Links eyes move to certain objects and reacts to his surroundings
• His eyes help to find the next objective
• A "Free Camera" option is available
• "L" Button centers camera behind you
• New boomerang, can hit up to 5 targets at once
• Camera follows boomerang

Dungeon

• The first dungeon is VERY far into the game
• The dungeons sizes are vast
• Very Complex puzzles
• Physics are seamless
• Surprise Moblin ambush after obtaining key (D2)
• Player can pull armour/weapons with grappling hook for health and items
• Different colour capsules may contain different item types

The Wind

• A GBA Sleep Mode? NoA is not sure of one.
• Can play the Wind Waker melodies in , 4/4, 6/4, times (Some songs are very involved)
• The "Winds Requiem" controls wind direction
• Weather changes while you play, events/weather can be triggered by phases of the moon

Graphics

• No Visible Loading (done while sailing)
• Can see islands "Three miles away"
• Fog on Water (at night)
• Random Cyclones/Weather events
• Can use grappling hook while on ocean to search for treasure
• Wave height can be seen on GBA linkup
• Boat has a cannon (not at start)

Bad Guys

• Attacking pigs will make them attack you
• Links sword will glow green when enemies attack
• "A" button will perform defense move to evade attack
• Enemies pick up dropped weapons
• Octorocks are in game baddies
• There are random squid attacks while on the boat
• Sea battles (Squid, and other ships)
• Enemies will hit each other
• Bigger enemies drop treasure capsules
• Link can throw weapons at Enemies
• Enemies do have inventory limit
• Enemies react to Link, they will run if there is a bomb in his hand/near by
• Some enemies are smarter than others
• Link can daze enemies
• Musical Score heightens when Link strikes an enemy
• Enemies will get others attention and alert them to Links presence
• Defense Moves = Context Sensitive
• Enemies have arrows sticking out of their backs after being shot/attacked, etc.

Storyline

• The text level is on par with Majoras Mask; For your information, Majoras Mask has two times that of OoTs text
• Very Involved Storyline
• Some characters DO speak hylian
• Older characters will have a better understanding of the world around them

Are there two timelines at the end of Ocarina of Time? There are "Parallel Universes" according to Nintendo of America. The Wind Waker is in the timeline of Adult Link, whereas Majoras Mask took place during the sent to the past to regain childhood link.

Wind Waker opens with the re-telling of the OoT Legend (solo violin playing the classic theme, Very beautiful). Initial game music sounds very renaissance like.


The Spirit of Ganon, thought to be locked away in the sacred realm (it isnt), a giant bird kidnaps Links sister in search of girls with pointed ears (hence his sister). Ganon is looking for Princess Zelda.

According to Nintendo of America, this game has "the greatest ending of any Zelda game yet".

One of the islands is presumably the top of Death Mountain. There is a ring of smoke that circles it (just like OoT). When I said I thought it was the top of Death Mountain, the NoA guys looked at each other and smiled, but refused to comment.

Inhabitants of Death Island (my name for it, heh) look like a Goron/Elf hybrid.

Ocean Over world = Flooded Hyrule? "I dont know" says NoA. In my opinion, lots of evidence suggest it is, including their body language and joking nature.

Is it the same Tingle? "Maybe," EAD says a young boy named Link is born to fight evil when it arises, "Maybe for each boy link, a boy tingle is born too."

Out of seven hours of play, I got the furthest of the group, barely completing the first dungeon and setting sail to the second island (Death Island).

So what are you waiting for? Get out and reserve yourself and even your friend a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.