Legend of Zelda added to Fusion Tour?

I just got back from the Nintendo Fusion Tour in Atlanta; I went expecting to play Metroid Prime 3: Corruption first since I had heard that it draws the longest lines...so when the doors opened I rushed to find the Metroid Prime kiosk. Only, there was no Metorid kiosk. After asking one of the Nintendo employees about the game, I was informed that the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess had replaced it, and that this was the first night that they had tried this (apparently to test the crowd's reaction to it, as they had a couple of extra workers taking pictures of the people who played it and asking their responses.) They had two kiosks set up for it; with each demo kiosk giving the user the choice of playing a dungeon or fishing. I will say, that they did not say if this was going to be at every date of the tour from now on.
Very cool.

Also, CNBC was there, and they interviewed me and my girlfriend about the Wii, the controller, Zelda, and who was the better gamer. They then filmed us playing against each other in Wii Sports. Apparently the piece will air early next week.

Sheesh, what a long day, with the preorder and the trek to Atlanta.

But it was a fun one!

JOSH

well if the media was there, I'm guessing they had to bring the big guns to the show. Zelda seemed like a prime candidate, I'm guessing.

So how was Zelda:TP ?!?!?

Lol funny how you say you played it , but don't say how was Zelda I been dieing for it now speak.

Impressions, goddamnit! TELL US BEFORE WE' SPLODE!

Impressions, eh?

First of all let me say this: the game is absolutely stunning in person. I had to wait close to an hour to play it (and I was close to the front of the line!), so I had plenty of time to watch other people play it while oogling at the graphics.

I played the dungeon demo, and I'm pretty sure it was the one from the Nintendo conferene in New York last month. The controls take a good five or six minutes to get used to, but once you get the hang of them, they are so intuitive. The nunchuck's analog stick is used to control Link, one of the buttons on the underside of the nunchuck allows you to enter camera mode, and I honestly don't remember what the other button does. Shaking the nunchuck from left to right makes you do a spin attack, and trust me, it is very fun/natural to do it that way.

The wiimote took the longest time to get used to; it is used kind of like a pointer (a la Super Mario Galaxy). As you maneuver Link through the level, wherever you move the wiimote, a fairy moves on the screen. The d-pad at the top of the wiimote allows you to change to a bow and arrow, grappling hook, and a couple of other items. I wanted to try the bow, so I switched to it and gave it a go. The B button (trigger) on the wiimote pulled the bow and arrow back, and releasing the button fired the arrow once you pointed at the enemy/object you want to shoot at. Aiming is a bit tricky, but like I said, after a few minutes it became pretty natural and I did not really think about it.

As for the level, it was quite large for a demo level; it had water and wooden platforms in the first area, with the main enemies being archers (which you had to shoot down with your bow and arrow). After completing some interesting platforming, which included using the grappling hook (very fun!) to reach higher ground, I made my way to the dungeon.

The dungeon is classic Zelda. The lighting looks great, and it sets a nice dungeon atmosphere. I actually got to do some sword fighting in here, which was very cool. This is the new build of the game, so to fight an enemy, you swing the wiimote like a sword. Words cannot describe how awesome that is; you just have to do it.

At the end of the demo came a boss. It was a gigantic stone and fire creature that required a lot of different techniques to take down (like any Zelda game). The fire effects were ridiculous; Nintendo really made great use of the Cube's graphical capabilities of this game. I mean, I'm pretty sure the Cube version of the game is the same game, only with a different control scheme. Obviously, Nintendo had the game running in 480p widescreen, and I'm basically sold on buying the component cables after seeing it like this.

In short, Zelda=rock solid. Hopefully Nintendo will have the game at further stops of the tour so some of you can try it also. My advice: get there early and run to the Zelda kiosk, because the line got to be about...70 people...with a ten minute demo. You do the math.

JOSH

P.S. WarioWare is fantastic as well.

Sounds great. Thanx

Awesome nice to hear it can't wait to get it. I'm also getting component cables I hope they give Release information for US already on the cables.

This kind of word-of-mouth should really propel Wii sales. Now if only all the games are that good with attention to detail and the controls. Thanks for the report.

Thanks for sharing. Now I'm REALLY excited for Zelda.

Glad to see that this helped. Post in this thread if any of you get to play it at another stop on the tour; I'm interested to hear how other people felt about the game.

JOSH