The Zelda series needs a fresh overhaul, and that’s no secret. Twilight Princess, although an excellent game, hasn’t been a huge seller in the United States and other Westernized regions, and could be considered a flop in Japan for the amount of effort that was put into it. Tim Rogers points out that Phantom Hourglass will be the first game to make significant changes to the Zelda formula, in an effort to make the game mechanics appeal to the casual gamer and the mass market while still providing a fresh and challenging game to the “core” fanbase.
Phantom Hourglass, a direct sequel to Wind Waker, borrows the cartoon visual style, and plays with structure in ways previously unseen in the Zelda series. Namely, there’s one large dungeon in the game: you just have a limited time allotted to explore it. Complete various side-quests (using items obtained in the dungeon) to earn more sand for your “Phantom Hourglass”, increasing the amount of time you have to explore the dungeon. If you take the time to stop and think about this the way a casual, Brain-Training gamer would, you might just see the words “Million-seller” emerge from the ether.
Nintendo is doing its fair share to make sure Phantom Hourglass pulls Zelda out of its perceived “rut”. For one thing, it has a Japanese title: Mugen no Sunadokei (literally, “Phantom Hourglass”). Twilight Princess was missing a Japanese title, probably because the majority of players excited about it had been keeping up with the news from foreign sources, where it was being called “Twilight Princess”. This was the first time the Japanese release of a Zelda game didn’t have a Japanese title.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass comes out in Japan tomorrow (or today if you’re in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, etc.) alongside two new DS Lite colors. Only the high-profile games come out on Saturdays there, so Nintendo is clearly positioning the game for expected greatness.
