Although I've already made a few posts covering some of the bigger
announcements of today, I also wanted to go ahead and provide you guys
with a full update on what is going on with the Wii U. Now I know some
of this information is just repete informaiton, I'm sure some of you
would rather read about it than watch it. So anyway, let's get started!
Zelda Wii U and WW HD:
The next Zelda game for the Wii U is actually going to be quite different. Nintendo is currently looking at the Zelda forum, and they're putting some key elements aside to make way for the new. Apparently the next Zelda game won't be as linear (it may possibly be an open world Zelda game), the dungeons will be handled differently, and there will be other differences as well. Although Nintendo hasn't explained everything about what they all plan on doing with this game, they did say that they are playing around with different art styles. They've checked out The TP style, SS style, as well as the WW style, and they found that the WW style actually looks amazing in HD.
Although we don't know what the next Zelda game will look like, there is a pretty good chance it will NOT be in the WW style. Even though Nintendo has stated that they liked how it looked, they decided to do something else with it instead; they decided to rerelease Wind Waker in HD. From the screen shots they've shown, although it might just be from a tech demo, it appears that the game will have new content, and possibly some minor changes to the story. Still this is unconfirmed, and there is a pretty good chance that the changes we saw were just to test the maps and what not.
No word on when either will be released, but chances are we'll be hearing more about the new Zelda at E3, and I'm guessing Wind Waker will either be released before then, or right after E3 to hold us over.
Yoshi Land News:
For awhile now we've known that a game called "Yoshi Land" has been in the works; however Nintendo has been silent up until now. The newest game in the Yoshi line is being created by the very same team that did Kirby's Epic Yarn, and it will in a way be a spiritual successor to it. Although it is in fact Yoshi and not Kirby, the game shares a lot in common with Epic Yarn, and it even uses some of the same systems.
Everything is still made out of yarn, enemies explode into yarn when you kill them, the same gems are still there to collect, and there seems to be other yarn based features; however there ARE in fact some changes.
First of all, you can die in this game. Yoshi has a hollow Kirby Epic Yarn style body, and he also has a complete body that is fully made out of yarn. This apparently works like the "big" and "little" Mario we've seen since Super Mario Bros, but there might actually be more too it than we know. There may be other power ups in this game as well, and there may actually be more health options besides just "hollow" and "complete" Yoshi.
Another difference is that Yoshi is apparently a toy. In some screen shots (and small gameplay clips Nintendo has released) we see that Yoshi runs through areas with cardboard backgrounds, as well as areas that appear to be a human house. In one screen shot we actually see Yoshi running in front of a window that has some kid toys in the window seal. Although it isn't clear how much of the game will take place in realistic areas like this, it is clear that the game is a spiritual sequel to both Yoshi's Story and Kirby's Epic Yarn and not Yoshi's Island.
X ("Xenoblade 2"):
Although I saw the trailer was already posted here, I'll share what I know about it so far as well. For the past few months or so we've known that Monolith Soft has been working on a new game for Nintendo. Even though they didn't release a name (and still haven't) or a system, they did say that it was a new original title, and that it would be Nintendo exclusive. Ever since then people have been talking about rumors of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and they may just be right.
As the trailer shows, the new game is in fact at LEAST a spiritual sequel to Xenoblade, and it also apparently HAS the Xenoblade in it as well. The game is an open world style JRPG, all enemies are on the map at all times, enemies act like wildlife, all combat takes place in real time, you can drive mechs that transform into other vehicles, and may other similarities can be seen as well.
Although we really don't know if this will be Xenoblade 2 or not; it is actually quite possible. During the trailer you can actually see the Monado's symbol on the attack bar, and the very last clip of the trailer shows a character who looks a lot like Shulk as well. If you've finished Xenoblade for yourself, then you'll know that it's possible to have a sequel, but you'll also know that it's VERY possible for a prequel as well. Still I'll avoid explaining why both options are possible to avoid massive spoilers. Still, there's a good chance that it'll just be a second game in the Monado series, and not actually be related to the first.
(For anyone who does not know, Xenoblade Chronicles was actually originally called "Monado: Beginning of the World," and was unrelated to the Xeno series; however they renamed it to Xenoblade out of respect for Tetsuya Takahashi who apparently "poured his soul" into the development of Monado, as well as the Xeno series.)
Other News:
There's also a few other minor announcements as well. Soon we'll be able to create fan communities in Miiverse, Wii U Play is coming out (which is a lot like a virtual board game this time around), and we can also pay an extra $1 to bring our Wii VC games over to the Wii U with added Miiverse and game pad support.
Zelda Wii U and WW HD:
The next Zelda game for the Wii U is actually going to be quite different. Nintendo is currently looking at the Zelda forum, and they're putting some key elements aside to make way for the new. Apparently the next Zelda game won't be as linear (it may possibly be an open world Zelda game), the dungeons will be handled differently, and there will be other differences as well. Although Nintendo hasn't explained everything about what they all plan on doing with this game, they did say that they are playing around with different art styles. They've checked out The TP style, SS style, as well as the WW style, and they found that the WW style actually looks amazing in HD.
Although we don't know what the next Zelda game will look like, there is a pretty good chance it will NOT be in the WW style. Even though Nintendo has stated that they liked how it looked, they decided to do something else with it instead; they decided to rerelease Wind Waker in HD. From the screen shots they've shown, although it might just be from a tech demo, it appears that the game will have new content, and possibly some minor changes to the story. Still this is unconfirmed, and there is a pretty good chance that the changes we saw were just to test the maps and what not.
No word on when either will be released, but chances are we'll be hearing more about the new Zelda at E3, and I'm guessing Wind Waker will either be released before then, or right after E3 to hold us over.
Yoshi Land News:
For awhile now we've known that a game called "Yoshi Land" has been in the works; however Nintendo has been silent up until now. The newest game in the Yoshi line is being created by the very same team that did Kirby's Epic Yarn, and it will in a way be a spiritual successor to it. Although it is in fact Yoshi and not Kirby, the game shares a lot in common with Epic Yarn, and it even uses some of the same systems.
Everything is still made out of yarn, enemies explode into yarn when you kill them, the same gems are still there to collect, and there seems to be other yarn based features; however there ARE in fact some changes.
First of all, you can die in this game. Yoshi has a hollow Kirby Epic Yarn style body, and he also has a complete body that is fully made out of yarn. This apparently works like the "big" and "little" Mario we've seen since Super Mario Bros, but there might actually be more too it than we know. There may be other power ups in this game as well, and there may actually be more health options besides just "hollow" and "complete" Yoshi.
Another difference is that Yoshi is apparently a toy. In some screen shots (and small gameplay clips Nintendo has released) we see that Yoshi runs through areas with cardboard backgrounds, as well as areas that appear to be a human house. In one screen shot we actually see Yoshi running in front of a window that has some kid toys in the window seal. Although it isn't clear how much of the game will take place in realistic areas like this, it is clear that the game is a spiritual sequel to both Yoshi's Story and Kirby's Epic Yarn and not Yoshi's Island.
X ("Xenoblade 2"):
Although I saw the trailer was already posted here, I'll share what I know about it so far as well. For the past few months or so we've known that Monolith Soft has been working on a new game for Nintendo. Even though they didn't release a name (and still haven't) or a system, they did say that it was a new original title, and that it would be Nintendo exclusive. Ever since then people have been talking about rumors of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and they may just be right.
As the trailer shows, the new game is in fact at LEAST a spiritual sequel to Xenoblade, and it also apparently HAS the Xenoblade in it as well. The game is an open world style JRPG, all enemies are on the map at all times, enemies act like wildlife, all combat takes place in real time, you can drive mechs that transform into other vehicles, and may other similarities can be seen as well.
Although we really don't know if this will be Xenoblade 2 or not; it is actually quite possible. During the trailer you can actually see the Monado's symbol on the attack bar, and the very last clip of the trailer shows a character who looks a lot like Shulk as well. If you've finished Xenoblade for yourself, then you'll know that it's possible to have a sequel, but you'll also know that it's VERY possible for a prequel as well. Still I'll avoid explaining why both options are possible to avoid massive spoilers. Still, there's a good chance that it'll just be a second game in the Monado series, and not actually be related to the first.
(For anyone who does not know, Xenoblade Chronicles was actually originally called "Monado: Beginning of the World," and was unrelated to the Xeno series; however they renamed it to Xenoblade out of respect for Tetsuya Takahashi who apparently "poured his soul" into the development of Monado, as well as the Xeno series.)
Other News:
There's also a few other minor announcements as well. Soon we'll be able to create fan communities in Miiverse, Wii U Play is coming out (which is a lot like a virtual board game this time around), and we can also pay an extra $1 to bring our Wii VC games over to the Wii U with added Miiverse and game pad support.
