The Legend of Zelda
Nintendo has made it strikingly clear that the only game they’ll be showing off this year at E3 is The Legend of Zelda. Further, while the game will be coming out on Wii U as well as their next-generation console, currently codenamed NX, we won’t be seeing the latter at the show. With that said, there’s a lot of interesting news to come out of Nintendo about their Zelda showing at E3.
It’s been rumoured that press have been told to allocate up to 90 minutes for gameplay demos during the show. That’s a lot of time. Like, a lot. Considering most gameplay demos at E3 last anywhere between three and five minutes, journalists could potentially be looking at a lot of time playing Zelda. Now, that’s not a bad thing by any stretch, but we wonder if we’ll have played so much of the game that it spoils the experience later on, or if there is just so much game that 90 minutes spread across multiple areas of the game will really only be scratching the very large, open world surface of the game.
With a booth as large as Nintendo’s typically is at E3, and with only one game present on the show floor, we expect the entire space to become a Zelda-themed Disneyland. We envision a few different areas, each showing off a different style of gameplay. The forest area could be a way to show off the open-world encounters within a specific setting, while Hyrule Field would be a great way to demonstrate horseback riding with Epona and her equestrian pals. There would also be a more closed-off dungeon area which would show off some puzzle mechanics as well as a mini-boss battle to get people used to the game’s weapon play.
Of course, this could all be entirely wrong, but we’re hoping Nintendo doesn’t just throw up a booth, a few dozen gameplay stations, and call it a day. If their history at E3 is any indication, we don’t have anything to worry about.