Nintendo Doles Out Wind Walker Details

[Greatluigi]

At a recent teleconference in Seattle, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma discussed the company's upcoming GameCube title, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The pair shared some intriguing details regarding their pet project, which has been in development since before the completion of Majora's Mask.

The story of The Wind Waker takes place a century after the events of Ocarina of Time. Throughout the series, Link and Ganon have represented the epic on-going battle between good and evil, respectively. Essentially, there have been several different characters named Link who have arisen to destroy Ganon's forms. In The Wind Waker, a young man named Link obtains a set of green clothes, which are tied to a legend of a warrior dressed in similar attire. This extensive storyline, combined with the powerful innovations made possible by the GameCube, will create approximately 40 hours of game time.

Miyamoto expressed surprise at the public's response to Link's new anime-inspired look. He emphasized that the series was not redirecting itself toward children, and that they were very pleased with the way the graphics turned out.

The music of The Wind Waker will be the work of Koji Kondo, and will feature remixes of old favorites from previous installments of the Zelda series. The background music will also change noticeably during combat to heighten the action of the game.

Miyamoto and Aonuma also commented on the bonus disk available through pre-ordering, saying that Ura Zelda, or The Legend of Zelda: Master Quest as it is being formally titled, isn't extraordinarily different from Ocarina of Time. Master Quest only contains extra humorous scenes in addition to added difficulty in gameplay, and it did not fully implement the capabilities of the 64DD.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is due to arrive in North America on March 24, 2003, while Japanese fans will be able to purchase the game at the end of this week.