Nintendo's GDC Keynote concludes- Zelda DS, Revolution info

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-03-23 03:22pm

http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article. ... icleID=164

Brief recap (quotes from IGN, Gamesarefun, and GameIndustry.biz's coverage):
- Zelda DS is cel-shaded, looks like Wind Waker, and titled The legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass;

-One more adventure today: Zelda DS (woooo!) Has a cel-shaded style similar to Wind Waker. A map is displayed on the top screen, with the action on the bottom screen. Apparently you draw things on the bottom screen which affect the top screen. Officially called The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Playable at E3 along with Twilight Princess; launches later this year.

11:29: Iwata takes the stage. There's one more new adventure for you today: Zelda DS. Short clip plays: cel-shaded-style graphics. Top screen: mostly maps. Action is on the lower screen. Use touch screen to draw things -- transitioning the bottom screen input to the top. Launches later this year -- from Aonuma and team (makers of Wind Waker).

11:29 AM PDT- Iwata explains how even grandmothers loves the DS, and talks about Tetris DS and New Super Mario Bros.. Audience claps upon seeing Mario. A new Zelda game is revealed for the DS, but uses an engine similar to Wind Waker. It has touch-screen gameplay, cel-shaded graphics, anthe game has a puzzle formula where what you draw on the bottom screen reflects to the top. The game is officially called The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

- Revolution will have Sega and TurboGrafix titles downloadable!

-PR hot off the presses!: "Nintendo Also Announces Plans to Offer Classic Sega and TurboGrafx Games" (on Revolution). A selection of the best titles will be available on the Revolution.

11:35 AM PDT- Iwata talks about the new interface of the controller and how easy it is to use, and how expensive it was to get it developed. Iwata felt the money should be better spent in the game experience, and not high-tech screen performance. Begins talking about classic games that will serve a dual purpose, being retro for classic players and new experiences for young players. Sega Genesis games will be on Revolution, and so will several Hudson Soft games, like Adventure Island and Bomberman.

11:37: Games specifically developed for the SEGA Genesis and for the TurboGrafx console will also be playable on Nintendo Revolution. Not all of them -- but the best of them will be.

Nintendo's press release states:

Iwata also announced partnerships with Sega and Hudson to offer downloadable access to their classic games via Revolution's Virtual Console. Revolution owners will be able to relive their past gaming glories from the Sega Genesis console by playing a "best of" selection from more than 1,000 Genesis titles, as well as games sold for the TurboGrafx console (a system jointly developed by NEC and Hudson). These games join Revolution's access to 20 years of fan-favorite Nintendo games from the NES(R), Super NES(R) and Nintendo(R) 64 eras. Iwata also revealed for the first time that a new game called The Legend of Zelda(R): Phantom Hourglass would be released for Nintendo DS later this year.

- E3 will be the Revolution blowout, and it will be playable.

Awesome. I hope they release screenshots (see edit) of Zelda. And 1,000 Sega Genesis games?

EDIT: as posted below:
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article. ... icleID=166
Videos of Zelda for the DS!

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-03-23 03:37pm

You know, I think my craving for the Revolution has reached the point where I might have to buy two.

Nub · Post by **Nub** » 2006-03-23 03:54pm

I hope the downloads aren't too expensive, cause I just might turn out extremely poor after this system launches.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-03-23 04:17pm

Well part of the point of the Revolution as previously bandied around was to undercut the opposition on price terms. That's why they're doing things like not bothering with HDTV output, because they want to keep the unit cost down.

I would expect the old game downloads to be in the same price bracket as Xbox Live Arcade, generally £4-8. (pretty damn good for some of them, like Outpost Kaloki or Mutant Storm)

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-23 05:05pm

Genesis and TurboGrafx?!

Good Lord...

EDIT: A THOUSAND games from the Genesis?! Damn, Sega's gonna get rich from that kind of licensing...

Post by **Dalton** » 2006-03-23 05:08pm

I am in fucking nerd heaven.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2006-03-23 05:13pm

Glorious! Retro games galore!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-03-23 05:47pm

We've got Zelda: Phantom Hourglass videos over at NintendoPlayers, 640x480 res (IGN charges for that)!

http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article. ... icleID=166

The game looks very interesting. I love the Wind Waker style cel-shading, but it's the combat system that raises my curiousity. Too bad it's 2D, but it looks great.

atg · Post by **atg** » 2006-03-23 06:07pm

must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy,
must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy,
must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy, must buy,

Oh and in case I didn't mention it I'm going to buy a Revolution.

Any word on if thats going to be the consoles final name?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2006-03-23 06:11pm

For all we know, it is.

Although it seriously could change, but I personally doubt it. "Revolution" has become way too established.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2006-03-23 06:13pm

atg wrote:Any word on if thats going to be the consoles final name?

No. I kind of like "Revolution," though. And Nintendo has used code-names as final product ones in the past.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-03-23 06:46pm

The Nintendo DS was originally supposed to be the code name.

TheBlackCat · Post by **TheBlackCat** » 2006-03-23 07:33pm

1,000 Sega titles? If that is from a completely different line of consoles it should give us an idea of how many Nintendo titles will be available (a lot).

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2006-03-23 08:02pm

BOOYAH!

Oh yeah...Zelda DS and that many old titles, I will never need to leave my home except for work and food......and possibly sex, but she can revel in my ancient glory

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2006-03-23 08:14pm

Turbografix? Does this mean I might be able to get Ys chapters I and II?!

SQUEEEEE!!!

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-03-24 02:18am

Some new info from IGN.
http://revolution.ign.com/articles/698/698059p1.html

IGN: Is Revolution the final name of your new system?

Beth: No, it's not.

IGN: So it's definitely a codename?

Beth: It's a codename.

IGN: And it's going to change?

Beth: It is going to change.

IGN: Great. When are you going to reveal the final name?

Beth: Well, you're going to have to wait and see.

IGN: E3?

Beth: Not quite sure yet.

IGN: Somehow we think that's a lie.

[Laughter]

Definitely is going to be another name.

IGN: What's the deal with Zelda: Twilight Princess and the Revolution controller?

Beth: We're going to obviously talk a lot more about Zelda when we get to E3. But Miyamoto did talk about the fact that you can use the Revolution controller with the GameCube Zelda. And that's about all we're talking about right now.

IGN: So that will be demoed at E3 then.

Beth: We'll certainly be talking about it at E3. And Mr. Iwata did reference that in his speech today - that we'd see Zelda on GameCube and DS at E3.

It's reconfirmed; after all the rumors and denial, Zelda: Twilight Princess can indeed use the Revolution controller.

IGN: The Virtual Console is going to be home to hundreds of classic games, from the sound of it. But can we expect original games for it, too?

Beth: Yeah, and actually Mr. Iwata touched upon that briefly today - the system being a platform for developers to try out new content. So, certainly. We've been focused pretty heavily on the classic content and now bringing SEGA Genesis and TurboGrafx games, but it certainly will be a forum for bringing some new content.

Apparently the Virtual Console will let developers develop new games too (like XBox Live Arcade, I imagine?). This could be a good way for small developers to start out- especially since IGN reports that a Revolution dev kit is only $2000 (much less than even a PSP dev kit).

IGN: There's still a Revolution secret, apparently. It gets mentioned every now and again.

[Beth laughs]

IGN: Is it a big secret?

Beth: It depends on which one it is, I don't know. Clearly there are things we haven't said yet about Revolution, mainly talking about the games and what you're going to be able to play and what the experience is really like. But yes, there are still some secrets out there about what the system can do.

IGN: Hardware related secrets?

Beth: You know, maybe. It's kind of hard to say. There are just a lot of things that we haven't talked about yet. There's a lot more to learn.

Confirmation that there are in fact more secrets.

http://revolution.ign.com/articles/698/698014p1.html - IGN claims Activision is developing a Revolution-exclusive version of Spider-Man 3.

We've also got a complete transcript of Iwata's keynote at NintendoPlayers.
http://www.nintendoplayers.com/article. ... icleID=169

Awesome stuff, and Nintendo's giving ANOTHER speech tomorrow (probably less eventful, it's the head of the WiFi division talking about DS and Revolution WiFi).

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-03-24 07:59am

Dude! Turbografx?! I wonder if Konami will be nice enough to release Dracula X: Rondo of Blood... that would be beyond awesome

It would take a while to download though...