Nintendo and Tecmo Koei had quite a lot to share this week on their upcoming collaboration, Hyrule Warriors. Amidst talking about how the game came to be, and the subject of breaking away from Zelda traditions, the Hyrule Warriors developers shared a few more tidbits in a Famitsu magazine interview.
Two of Tecmo Koei’s popular series, the Warriors games and the Dead or Alive games, both games that have a wide range of characters to choose from. Famitsu asked about whether we’ll see a similar selection in Hyrule Warriors.
General producer Hisashi Koinuma agreed that the Warriors games’ main appeal is partly the action and partly the vast amount of playable characters.
“Out of all the playable characters [in Hyrule Warriors], there are some surprising characters that made us say ‘why did you pick this one?!’” added Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma.
When asked whether Aonuma had any requests for certain characters to be in the game, he responded by saying that he didn’t, and that Tecmo Koei took care of most of that. He also joked that Hyrule Warriors has so many characters, that his own staff would get mad at him if he were to ask them to do something similar.
During the interview, the developers also talked about weapon selection for the characters. According to Hyrule Warriors producer Yosuke Hayashi, characters can change their weapons and have a completely different fighting style. Since it’s a Warriors game, he also revealed that there will be weapon enhancement and character growth systems implemented in the game.
While on the subject of weapons, the Fire Rod-type item seen in the trailer might seem like something out of The Legend of Zelda, but Aonuma confirmed that it isn’t from the series, and that if a rod like that existed in The Legend of Zelda, we wouldn’t be able to use it in the same way.
Similar to other Zelda games, weapons and other important in Hyrule Warriors are acquired through treasure chests. Hayashi also said that the iconic treasure chest opening animation has been prepared for all of the playable characters.
“This is actually a very valuable scene [in The Legend of Zelda]. And this also applies to Hyrule Warriors,” emphasized Aonuma.
Hayashi also touched a bit on the game’s boss fights. According to the producer, The Legend of Zelda games have very high-quality boss fights, and if Tecmo Koei were to try emulating something similar, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
Instead, they’re giving the boss fights a Warriors touch, by having instances where you’ll face a bunch of smaller enemies to charge up your meter, then unleash a special attack on the boss. There will also be more Zelda-like features, such as strategically using items that can be found around stages to take on the boss.
Finally, the three developers shared a message each for fans anticipating the game.
Koinuma: “We plan on having Hyrule Warriors’ first playable demo at E3 this year. With E3 being the opener, we’ll be releasing more and more new information afterwards, so please look forward to it!”
Hayashi: “After watching the trailer that will be shown at E3, it would make us happy to know that you guys will get a better idea of what we’re trying to do. We’ll sequentially reveal the other playable characters, so don’t miss it!”
Aonuma: “I believe it’s safe to say that this title was born as one of the answers from thinking of a new The Legend of Zelda game. By all means, we’d love to have as many people possible enjoy this game.”
Hyrule Warriors will be released on August 14, 2014 for Wii U in Japan and later on in the West.
