Princess Zelda will shed her position as damsel in misery to play the heroine for the primary time within the practically four-decade historical past of the Nintendo fantasy collection named after her.
“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom,” which shall be launched Thursday, was directed by Tomomi Sano, the primary girl to take cost of the Japanese big’s long-running providing.
This time round, it’s the flip of perennial main elf Link to be captured by the forces of evil.
That leaves Zelda with the duty of saving the dominion of Hyrule, armed with a magic wand conjuring up varied objects to assist her on her quest, in a title that echoes the childlike graphics of “Link’s Awakening”.
Gamers have been in a position to play because the princess in different titles, such because the combating collection “Super Smash Bros.” and a 1993 CD-i console entry by Dutch group Philips through which she was the principle character, since disowned by Nintendo.
But regardless that she gave the collection its identify — impressed by that of American novelist Zelda Fitzgerald, spouse of “The Great Gatsby” writer F. Scott Fitzgerald — “Echoes of Wisdom” marks her first official solo outing.
Japanese producer Eiji Aonuma, on the reins of the collection for practically 20 years, mentioned he was ready for the fitting proposal that “would really do justice” to Zelda, in an interview on the Nintendo web site.
But when his group had hassle getting Link to juggle between his sword and the magic wand, “I thought, this is exactly the game for her!”
“Zelda being the main character in the new game will change the image of Zelda to something incredibly brave and cool, and I like Zelda, so I very much welcome it,” Saki, a 24-year-old Japanese pupil, informed AFP at a online game store in Tokyo.
“I’m personally thrilled. I’ve always wanted to play Zelda,” agreed Abby Murphy, a vacationer from New York visiting the shop.
The 30-year-old added that whereas most video video games are geared toward males, “Zelda’s done a pretty good job about being aimed at everybody.”
For Fanny Rebillard, a musicologist who has printed a guide on the saga’s much-beloved soundtrack, her rise to prominence got here as no shock.
“For several episodes now, the princess has been taking on greater and greater importance in the plot. She’s no longer a figure to be rescued stuck in a castle, she has her own story,” Rebillard mentioned.
When the final Zelda sport, “Tears of the Kingdom”, launched in 2023, it exceeded 10 million gross sales in three days — a really excessive stage for a sport out there solely on the Switch console.
Its successor might discover that success laborious to emulate.
“The release of a new ‘Zelda’ is always an event,” mentioned Florent Gorges, writer of “The History of Nintendo.”
“But, between two big entries, Nintendo has always offered more modest experiences,” which is the place this title matches in, he mentioned.
For Rebillard, “Echoes of Wisdom” might also be a possibility for Nintendo to “test the waters” with a transitional episode earlier than finally opening the door to a larger-scale Zelda journey.
The builders are “proceeding very cautiously”, she mentioned.
When Linkle, a feminine model of Link, appeared in a earlier sport, “there were rumours that Link might become a woman in the next ‘Zelda’, which provoked some pretty strong reactions” amongst avid gamers, Rebillard recalled.
In March, Princess Peach from the Mario universe was additionally given her personal journey on Switch titled “Princess Peach: Showtime.”
That sport adopted Peach’s portrayal as a peerless warrior in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — the second largest box-office hit of 2023.
“I don’t think there’s a desire to be ideological (on Nintendo’s part), but simply to offer different games,” Gorges mentioned.
© 2024 AFP