Development
Development started in May 2004, at which point the game still had gameplay similar to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. At a press conference in Japan for the Nintendo DS on October 6, 2004, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo said, "We're thinking of bringing Zelda: Four Swords to the DS." In an interview at E3 2005, Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma confirmed that they were working on a game for the Nintendo DS. In 2006, Nintendo presented the keynote address at the annual Game Developers Conference, where they also revealed Phantom Hourglass for the first time and presented a demo. At the conference, Nintendo announced that the game would be released in late 2006. For the holiday season, Nintendo launched two special edition Nintendo DS bundles, each in a different color, on November 23, 2007. One of the bundles, the Gold edition, was emblazoned with The Legend of Zelda's signature Triforce logo and sold alongside Phantom Hourglass.
The same development team that worked on The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures also worked on what would become Phantom Hourglass. In the game's first prototype, the action took place in the upper screen while the touchscreen was a flat map that allowed Link to be controlled. However, the developers believed that this interface caused the player to be too disconnected from the game's action, thereby prompting them to switch the two screens. They felt that this interface would appeal to Japanese players, who they said prefer simple interfaces. The developers added a battle mode that was played over Wi-Fi to appeal to American players.
The game takes advantage of the Nintendo DS's stylus in several different ways. The player can draw an hourglass shape to open certain doors and plot out the path of ships on the ocean, among other tasks. The device's touchscreen can also be used to direct Link's boomerang. Phantom Hourglass features cel-shaded graphics, similar to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, with some influence from The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. Link's appearance in Phantom Hourglass closely resembles that from The Wind Waker.
At E3 2007, Aonuma said that Phantom Hourglass "opened up the series and a fresh, new control scheme to the aging Zelda formula". He also said that, despite the disappointing sales of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker affecting him personally, he still wished to continue the game's style in another Zelda iteration, leading to the inspiration for Phantom Hourglass. Aonuma believed that the game's simple controls, with the help of the Nintendo DS's touchscreen, helped make Phantom Hourglass the first Zelda game to attract casual gamers.
Read more about this topic: The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
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