Spaceworld: First details on GameCube Zelda title

[08.23.01] » Cel-shaded graphics, late 2002 release date confirmed.

   The Legend of Zelda title for the GameCube was unveiled today at Nintendo's Spaceworld press conference. The new project features a much "cartoonier" bent than the dark environments of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, with cel-shaded graphics and a younger-looking Link. Legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto explains that the new look for the series came after attempts to make Link look more realistic failed to mesh with his game ideas, thus spurring him to take the series in a different direction.

   In the brief Spaceworld trailer, Link flees from a gang of Moblins and hides behind a wall. The Moblins continue to hunt for him, eventually running off a gap and hanging in the air before they look down, realize they are standing on nothing, and plummet a la Wile E. Coyote. A number of outdoor sequences follows; these look similar to Ocarina of Time in style but again feature a more cartoon-like bent.

   Zelda for GameCube not have yet a complete title, but has been penciled in for a late 2002 release.