High quality Zelda: Phantom Hourglass footage

by Ross Miller { Mar 23rd 2006 at 4:25PM }

The British Gaming Blog has nabbed a video showcasing the just-announced Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. The video is pretty high quality, and definitely not some amateur bootleg from a keynote attendee. The footage shows off a multitude of ways DS gamers will use both the touch-screen and dual-screen features we've come to know on our handheld. The one that has us most excited is where you actually draw the path of Link's boomerang.

Graphically, the game looks impressive--it is amazing how much of the cel-shaded look they managed to fit into a little DS cartridge. We are definitely looking forward to getting some hands-on testing with this title.

[Thanks, JonathanEx]

Tags: PhantomHourglass, Zelda

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Joe Sap @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:32PM

1st comment!

All i could say upon seeing that video was HOLY... CRAP... the graphics are amazing, the ne gameplay style is amazing, this could be the best handheld zelda/nintendo title ever made.

Jordan @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:40PM

freakin' sweet!!! and get this, there's rumors that it will have ONLINE multiplayer IE Legend of Zelda FOUR SWORDS!!!! HOW SWEET WOULD THAT BE!!!!!!

ronnie @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:44PM

WOW!!!! DID YOU JUST START THAT RUMOR!!11!!!1!!
LOL!!!! LMAO!!! ROFLMAOXOXOXO!!!!!!

McSwindle @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:46PM

I think this begs the question,

Will it connect to the "Revolution" version of Twilight Princess?

Aztech @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:46PM

Thats from the nintendo website. They have the same thing posted on both Nintendo of Europe & Nintendo of America's sites.

Fuzz @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:48PM

Ya, those sneeky folks at the British Gaming Blog. . . getting the video from the nintendo site and all. Very crafty.

http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?articleid=64wsG8LoGw3vuttzAr5zU-s70OLsg6Fm

PS: This looks like a ton of fun.

boots (former bd ( former b)) @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:52PM

"Graphically, the game looks impressive--it is amazing how much of the cel-shaded look they managed to fit into a little DS cartridge"

Well, disregarding my ignorance on the subject, I can conclude this:

-That "Wind Waker" didn't exploit the gamecube hardware.
-That Cel-shaded "textutes" don't occupy much space, or rather, you don't need many textures, if any (you just tell the program through code which color you want to display for each plane).

Any other suggestions?

JonathanEx @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:52PM

Hey now, the High Res one isn't from Nintendo now is it? :P

boots (former bd ( former b)) @ Mar 23rd 2006 4:53PM

correction: textures, not 'textutes'

Majestic XII @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:04PM

@6

However, procedural rendered content is much more processor hungry than the "normal" way of doing it. The processors in the DS isnt the fastest things in the world so i think they have the content on the cartridge. Takes more space and memory, but saves alot of processor time.

fawazr @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:13PM

"The video is pretty high quality, and definitely not some amateur bootleg from a keynote attendee."

Wonders what blog this coul be referring to. LOL.

Pleasantly surprised at how Nintendo manages to pull off consistently beautiful works with such an economy of resources. It takes a lot of vision to be able to do that. There are many tell-tale signs that these shots are lacking the detail and polygon density seen on the GCN, but the overall effect is strangely comparable.

DG @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:18PM

Looks like Animal Crossing. Kind of.

benjamin @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:20PM

Notwithstanding whatever technical specs it required, the game looks sweet. I'm really excited that the game uses the touch screen as much as the trailer leads me to believe. I think that it's the touch screen more than anything else that makes the DS as fun to play as it is.

Chiablo @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:20PM

I like the ability to make notes on the map.

boots (former bd ( former b)) @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:37PM

Majestic XII:

So doing what I said (about programming which color goes where) is a procedural algorithm? Sorry, I'm new at this.

If that's true, then I guess Nintendo hit a Home-Run with this one, just as they did with Resident Evil 2 on 64 (2X650 MB discs on a 64 MB cartridge).

painThreshholdXxX @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:55PM

Looks great, I am very happy that its mainly a top down perspective.
Is it coming out this year? (man 2 zeldas in one year, thats almost too much)

I would definatly buy a ds for this game. I am not a nintendo fanboy, but I am def. a zelda geek.

TECHSev @ Mar 23rd 2006 5:58PM

look carefully on how link always follows the fairy and attacks where the fairy is

conclusion: I believe this game is played exclusivly with the touchscreen, draw a circle around link = spin move, click on the monsters or draw a fast slashe threw them to attack, click and hold and link walks

and the FAIRY is to show where you are clicking, think of it as DiabloZelda

Nintendo sure wants to show off thier stuff when it comes to touch screen

on a side note, what are the odds of this having MP, Adhoc or Online

Kerina @ Mar 23rd 2006 6:08PM

Kinda has the 'world' sloping like AC. Neat style. Not quite getting what the line-drawing is for but I bet it with be fun in practice.

Ross Miller @ Mar 23rd 2006 6:09PM

bd--

compared to 3d graphics, cel shading requires a lot more textures--there is some lighting technique we did an article back, but I forgot where it was.

And the Nintendo main page? i think ill change the link

boots (former bd ( former b)) @ Mar 23rd 2006 6:24PM

Ross Miller,

I thought cel shading required *less* textures, since the figures look so... "dull". They don't seem to have as much detail as in Twilight Princess. I thought that the cel shading technique required simply doing all the polygons, and then adding one or two colors for each surface, plus some light/shade effects when you are playing.

Why is it that you need more textures for a game that doesn't seem to have a wide color palette? Do you have links for that? Thanks.

Dean @ Mar 23rd 2006 7:09PM

Wow....that was beyond epic...I want that NOW!

Ace_ofspade @ Mar 23rd 2006 8:06PM

For a second, I thought I saw Phantom Menace. Good thing thats not the case.

Kristian @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:00PM

When did news of this game originally come out? I haven't heard anything about it.

Otherwise, this looks great. I'll have to get it. It's going to be completely over-shadowded by Twilight Princess though.

MrPolarBare @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:19PM

It is hard not to buy into what Nintendo is selling here. 3 years ago, people were wondering if DS could survive against PSP with inferior hardware. Now I am not sure DS is the one with the inferior hardware. Unique gameplay features are really starting to shine over graphical horsepower. For the last 5 years I keep hearing everyone say that isn't about the graphics, etc... That it is all about the game and the gameplay experience. Well, it seems Nintendo is just saying that anymore... They are showing it. I love my X360, and I'm sure I'll love my PS3, but honestly I am so excited to see what innovations Nintendo will bring with their next console. Because the DS has blown my expectations out of the water. These guys have a vision. And I am starting to buy into it.

Zak @ Mar 23rd 2006 9:45PM

the only games where link had a fairy previous to this one were OoT and MM, so this either means it is the second sequle to OoT, or at least involves the Kokiri. Anyway, i'm looking foward to this game, it looks like it's going to be one of the best handheld zeldas yet. And the controls look great, and by DS standards graphics look superb.

Jago @ Mar 23rd 2006 10:23PM

"When did news of this game originally come out? I haven't heard anything about it."

Today...Iwata unveiled it at his GDC Keynote speech.

shiftup @ Mar 23rd 2006 11:06PM

well not really... we knew about a top down zelda on the ds that uses the touch screen for a while. But that is all we knew.

David @ Mar 23rd 2006 11:15PM

DS:
Metroid Prime Hunters
Nintendogs
Mario Kart DS
Tetris DS
Animal Crossing Wild World
Zelda Phantom Hourglass
Mario 64 DS

PSP:
Can play old SNES games.

Maybe Sony should just quit now, huh? Seems to me like it's basically over.

Jago @ Mar 23rd 2006 11:25PM

Not exactly a "Fair" comparison but I would still chose the DS over the PSP right now...and I own both.

Rare Hare @ Mar 24th 2006 2:10AM

i feel overwhelmed.. *makes room for one more on the gaming list*

-Mario Kart DS
-Metroid Prime: Hunters
-Xbox 360
-The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (for Xbox 360)
-The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
-Okami
-Guitar Hero
-The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
-Hi-Def TV

wow.. gaming is too damn expensive.

Paul Gale @ Mar 24th 2006 2:40AM

It looks like The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS might be a direct sequel to Wind Waker. In fact, I bet that it is the same Link, same time period, etc. (Similar I imagine to Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask's relationship). Awesome.
Paul Gale
1up.com

Paul Gale @ Mar 24th 2006 3:26AM

Annoymous (formely annoymous) lol @ Mar 24th 2006 8:34AM

Actually in terms of geamplay it dosent seem to represent wind waker or any previous 3d versions of zelda.
If you look at the settings/areas, you can see that they are very familair to the original zeldas and gameboy advance versions. What im trying to say is that the game seems to be more like a 3d version of the exsisting gameboy versions, like a 3d perspective of the 2d landscapes. Unlike console versions, the hanheld ones have led paths, a lot more dungeons and not the wide free scoping elements found on recent console versions(n64 and gc). This dosent make the game bad, but what im trying to say is that it dosent really represent the console versions of game, it seems to carry on from the exsisting handheld versions.

just look at the video again and pay more attention to the surroundings then link himself, you will notice what i mean.

sorry for bad spelling and grammar, but to be honest, i wasnt arsed.

Joel @ Mar 24th 2006 11:45AM

It looks good, but I groaned when I saw the boat. The boat is the weak link in Wind Waker.

Jago @ Mar 24th 2006 8:01PM

Well if they make the boat traveling segments shorter or give you more stuff to do during that time then it might not be soo bad. The biggest problem I had with the boat segments from WW were the length of the trips.

n3rrd @ Mar 25th 2006 12:24PM

The boat doesn't seem to require as much attention. If you watch the video again, you'll see them draw the route they want to travel, and then hit "okay". Hopefully it's more of an auto-pilot.

The sailing in Wind Waker did become quite tedious, but I find that it's my favourite story line of all the Zeldas and I really enjoyed the fact that it referred to the previous games for the first time in the entire series. I'm also a huge fan of cel-shading, so I suppose that doesn't help.

Ronald @ Mar 30th 2006 4:05AM

I was very happy to see this video.
I can't wait for the game.

Reading annoymous's comment made me imagine something.
Imagine if they remade Link's Awakening in 3d...

I love link's awakening!