Development
Nintendo announced on March 3, 1999 that a new video game system was under development. This system, the Nintendo GameCube, was revealed on August 24, 2000, the day before Nintendo's Space World 2000 exposition. Along with the specifications and designs for the console, Nintendo had several software demonstrations on hand to showcase the power of the GameCube, one of which was a realistically styled real-time duel between Ganondorf and Link. This demo was given the name The Legend of Zelda 128, similar to Super Mario 128. Despite being a hastily assembled technical demonstration, fans and the media speculated that the battle might be from a game under development or at least an indication of the direction the next Zelda game would take. Staff at IGN referred to the demo as an "unofficial sequel", calling it "absolutely everything we could have hoped for in a Gamecube Zelda title" and stating that "the future looks very bright for Nintendo loyalists".
Nintendo said nothing more about the possibility of a GameCube Zelda game until one year later at Space World 2001, where a completely new Zelda was shown. Replacing the dark, gritty demo of 2000 was a new cel-shaded look, which resembled an interactive cartoon. Shigeru Miyamoto said the new look was designed to "extend Zelda's reach to all ages". The cel-shaded approach was a radical shift and IGN staff wondered if two separate games might be in concurrent development.
While some at the event enjoyed the new look, there was a backlash from disappointed fans who had been expecting a realistic Zelda game. Many critics referred to the game as "Celda", a portmanteau of "Zelda" and "Cel-shading". Miyamoto was surprised at the reaction to the footage and the media's claim that Nintendo was shifting its focus to a younger audience, and he refused to reveal anything further until a playable demonstration became available. It was hoped that once critics played the game, they would focus on the gameplay, rather than simply reacting to the new graphic style. Miyamoto promised a playable version for E3 2002 and a release later that year. When Nintendo did exhibit a playable demo at E3 2002 it picked up the 2002 Game Critics Awards for Best Console Game at E3. An editor at IGN said the cartoon look "works very nicely" and that "it feels very much like Zelda". The whimsical style was compared to A Link to the Past and promotional artwork from previous Zelda games. E3 also introduced new features, such as the ability to connect to the Game Boy Advance and receive help from Tingle. The script of the game was written by Mitsuhiro Takano and Hajime Takahashi, based on a story idea by Aonuma.
On October 15, 2002, the Japanese subtitle Kaze no Takuto (Wind Baton) was revealed, to emphasize the role of wind in the game. Nintendo announced the official translation, The Wind Waker, on December 2, 2002, and a North American release date of March 24, 2003 was set two days later.
Read more about this topic: The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“Such condition of suspended judgment indeed, in its more genial development and under felicitous culture, is but the expectation, the receptivity, of the faithful scholar, determined not to foreclose what is still a question—the “philosophic temper,” in short, for which a survival of query will be still the salt of truth, even in the most absolutely ascertained knowledge.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“I could not undertake to form a nucleus of an institution for the development of infant minds, where none already existed. It would be too cruel.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I can see ... only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen.”
—H.A.L. (Herbert Albert Laurens)