Phantom Hourglass is unintentional Zelda remake

by Justin McElroy { Sep 28th 2007 at 3:00PM }

According to Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma, players who delve into the upcoming Phantom Hourglass on DS may find it somewhat familiar. In speaking with MTV Multiplayer, Aonuma said that in his quest to return the series' roots he unintentionally remade the very first version of the game, which just passed 20 years since its NES release here in North America.

Honestly, the Zelda series has been so impressive under his leadership, we'd trust the guy if he said Phantom Hourglass was an unintentional remake of Kabuki Quantum Fighter. ... Come to think of it, we'd totally buy that game. But if you're looking for something more traditional, you can get that old Zelda feeling for yourself when the portable Wind Waker sequel drops next week.

Tags: nintendods, phantomhourglass, zelda

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JodyAnthony (FDF - Hedonism Bot) @ Sep 28th 2007 3:03PM

my most anticipated game of the year

Slaziman @ Sep 28th 2007 3:11PM

WORD.

I've been anticipating this more than Halo 3, a lot more

NaeemTHM @ Sep 28th 2007 3:20PM

This is my second most anticipated game of the year. Mass Effect is right above this on my list. After Zelda, it's Assassin's Creed.

ssuk @ Sep 28th 2007 3:50PM

I would be if I didn't already complete the jap ver...

BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad) @ Sep 28th 2007 4:32PM

As an official member of the FDF, here's your official FDF avatar. Wear it with pride!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/BPMdotEXE/Avatars/PaperHedonBot.png

BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad) @ Sep 28th 2007 3:12PM

Hmm... I haven't found many (if any) parallels between PH and the original Zelda. And this is after beating the Japanese version. Aside from the fact both have a top-down camera. But even so, PH has an element of 3D gameplay (areas with different elevations and whatnot seem more natural in PH than in actual 2D Zeldas; boss fights).

Still a great game, though. Easily one of the bests in the series.

Joshua @ Sep 28th 2007 5:41PM

If anything, it's closer to A Link to the Past than any other previous Zelda (minus Wind Waker, of course).

MariosInferno @ Sep 28th 2007 3:14PM

Good interview.

Got my reserve in and I'll be picking it up next week. The game looks terrific.

phattie @ Sep 28th 2007 3:15PM

Kinda like how ZTP was an unintentional remake of OoT.. with more monkeys and somehow zero advancement of gameplay mechanics, Zelda cliches, plot, and graphics.

T3H WICKERMAN @ Sep 28th 2007 3:20PM

both of you shut up. (phatie and fernando) thats enough negativity today! ;)

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Sep 28th 2007 3:26PM

@ fatso

Tell me about it! The graphics are so bad in TP I used to play it with the TV off, using the controller noises to make my way. Much more enjoyable!

SoulBlade @ Sep 28th 2007 3:36PM

You'd buy it if it were on the 360.

JodyAnthony (FDF - Hedonism Bot) @ Sep 28th 2007 3:52PM

yeah, twilight princess being similar to a game in the same series of games makes it bad.

Shadow El ( NDF - Zola Ring ) @ Sep 28th 2007 5:05PM

Yeah, or like how Halo 3 was an unintentional remake of the first two, or how Super Mario Galaxy's going to be an unintentional remake of Super Mario 64, or how all games in a series actually play in a similar way, so they must all be sucky remakes, amirite?

Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Sep 28th 2007 5:16PM

And by unintentional remake you mean a game that intentionally takes place 100 years later in the same world with better graphics and controls and without time travel and now with the ability to TURN INTO A FUCKING WEREWOLF, right?

Fernando Rocker (NDF - Water Ring) @ Sep 28th 2007 3:16PM

Eiji Aonuma has the voice a little femenine.

RTYPE1124 @ Sep 28th 2007 3:46PM

I imagine your voice to be similar (that self pic avatar of your pretty much seals this assumption of mine) or as you put it in your broken and mispelled english, you "has the voice a little femenine."

AgentESPIO7 @ Sep 28th 2007 7:55PM

lol, just what I was thinking.

ThornedVenom @ Sep 29th 2007 3:52AM

Oh come on guys! He was just kidding because there was a female narrator! =(

point09micron @ Sep 28th 2007 3:37PM

Hold on.... How do you unintentionally remake a game?

Kazi @ Sep 28th 2007 6:39PM

He's not saying that it's literally a remake, he's saying it recaptures the fun, the freshness, and the basics that made the first game.

Sean @ Sep 28th 2007 3:49PM

So stoked for this.

Sean @ Sep 28th 2007 3:54PM

Does that say next week?! I am so stoked, I have no idea when the game actually comes out.

Donald @ Sep 28th 2007 4:00PM

October 1st is the release date.

joe @ Sep 28th 2007 4:06PM

Dammit! When I first skimmed this post, I thought Aonuma actually said that Phantom Hourglass was an unintentional remake of Kabuki Quantum Fighter. I had no idea how that could be, but I must admit that it made me quite happy. When I actually read the post, I was severely disappointed.

Nintendo needs to make HAL develop another Kabuki Quantum Fighter game. Someone with more power than me, make Nintendo do what must be done!

Agent Five @ Sep 28th 2007 4:17PM

Kabuki Quantum Fighter HD Remix...someone needs to get on that.

Jeremy @ Sep 28th 2007 4:17PM

I want a new Kabuki Quantum Fighter game... or at least the original on the VC

Martin @ Sep 28th 2007 4:23PM

If that's true, I wonder if they put in a 2nd quest...

BPM (FDF - Hypno-Toad) @ Sep 28th 2007 6:51PM

Not as far as I can tell. But my limited Japanese knowledge prevents me from knowing all about the game (and I refuse to look up GameFAQs until after I'm done with the English version).

Mr Khan @ Sep 28th 2007 4:36PM

Doesn't seem that way to me. I'm a little iffy on "pure" 2D Zelda games, but i REALLY like what i'm seeing

Also, won't this game involve a LOT more NPC interaction than the original game entailed?

Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Sep 28th 2007 5:19PM

Let's play money making game!
It's a secret to everybody!
Eastmost peninsula has the key!
Dodongo dislikes smoke!

Atr-Slzr-Ctr @ Sep 28th 2007 5:58PM

I hope the Wii Zelda isnt something like a point and click game or an "IR Pointer moving" one

Psaakyrn @ Sep 28th 2007 6:17PM

Ok, if this is a remake, it puts the game in the "somewhat messy" timeline as in the same place as the first game. Anyone willing to redraw the whole timeline with this new information added? (since we've to assume that the newer version is the now factually accurate game as opposed to the original)

Also.... does that mean there'll be the 2nd quest? :o

Geist @ Sep 29th 2007 9:59AM

Actually this game takes place soon after the events in Wind Waker, if I'm not mistaken. Thus, I believe it is the last game (chronologically speaking) in the Ganon-destroyed-Hyrule timeline.

AgentESPIO7 @ Sep 28th 2007 7:58PM

Looking at it it DOES look like Zelda 1 in a way. Anyways, this will be the first DS game I've bought since Phoenix Wright Justice for All.

DomoBraden @ Sep 28th 2007 9:00PM

I suppose there is the old man and the sword in a cave at the beginning of both...but that's about the only similarities I can think of, (granted I've only played about ten minutes of the Japanese version...DS+Emulator=Epic Phail).

I'd say that a better comparison would be Link's Awakening...i.e. Leaving on a boat after the events of the previous game, (Link's Awakening is supposedly a direct sequel to aLttP), falling off the boat, waking up having washed ashore a distant island, etc.

Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Sep 28th 2007 9:52PM

LINK'S AWAKENING IS THE BEST ZELDA EVARR I WANT TO MARRY IT I'M HAPPY 'CUZ YOU MENTIONED IT YAY!

notsonic @ Sep 29th 2007 12:47AM

isn't every zelda a remake of the last one?

get three things
then get 8 or so things

maybe get the triforce.

all the while you collect the same swords, hookshot, bow, special arrows, tunics, ability to lift things, heavy boots, musical instrument.

theyre all the same.

i still buy em though.

Geist @ Sep 29th 2007 10:01AM

It's the same, but so are many of Nintendo's titles. I'm not entirely sure how, but they make the same formula fun every time they remake it, thus prompting everyone to look forward to the next one. Very much going to get this day one.

Psaakyrn @ Sep 29th 2007 12:05PM

It's not of what is done, but how it's done. Similar to how most stories follow the monomyth, but most of them doesn't succeed in the way LotR did.

Also, Zelda has never been as story focused (more of culture and environment focused), like SMB and Metroid. In fact, quite often if the game plays significantly different, story tends to be more critical and different from other games in the same series.

Char @ Sep 29th 2007 1:29AM

When did he go gray?

ThornedVenom @ Sep 29th 2007 3:53AM

SHIT! College starts on October 1st! =(

mr mobius @ Sep 29th 2007 11:01AM

This is now very depressing. I have a Medicine essay to have done by end of October so how the hell am I going to play this game? I feel sad knowing my whole gaming will be close to zero for the next 5 years.

On the plus side, 2nd hand games will be extremely easily came by at that time.

manashima @ Sep 29th 2007 2:00PM

"isn't every zelda a remake of the last one?

get three things
then get 8 or so things

maybe get the triforce.

all the while you collect the same swords, hookshot, bow, special arrows, tunics, ability to lift things, heavy boots, musical instrument."

That was done in like 3 zelda's, out of 10.

A Link to the Past
Ocarina of Time
Twilight princess.

The rest of them are actually original. Now OOT I can see cause that Shigeru himself said he went into the game wanting to create a 3D ALTTP, but TP was just a blatant copy of ALTTP's formula.

NvM @ Sep 30th 2007 1:52PM

I wasn't going to get it Day 1, but I guess i will.

Adam Zey @ Sep 30th 2007 2:25PM

I tried the Japanese version of PH quite some time ago (the Japanese version has been out for months). I really did NOT like the new stylus controls. I find them difficult and unwieldy, and I don't like the feeling of not being in direct control of the character.

I'd much rather have my D-Pad back.