Zelda: Phantom Hourglass coming sooner than expected
Posted by inpheaux on July 2nd, 2007 at 9:01 am
The latest in the Legend of Zelda series - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - was only released back on the 23rd in Japan, and we had previously been told that we'd be waiting until much later this year to get the non-moonspeak version, but it looks like Nintendo changed their minds. In a good way.
In a press release issued today Nintendo let loose the stateside release date: 01 OCT 2007.
Phantom Hourglass takes us back to the cel-shaded and water-logged world of Wind Waker, but it's a completely new story this time with brand new innovative DS controls. Pretty much all input in the game is handled through the touchscreen, whether it's quick strokes to slash with your sword, or charting a course for your boat by drawing it on the map, or guiding your boomerang's path by drawing it on the screen. It's definitely something new, and from what we played last year at E3, it's not a bad thing.
In addition to a nice lengthy single player game, Phantom Hourglass also has a multiplayer mode, available over WFC, local multi-cart play, or local download & play. In this two player head-to-head mode, you play hide & seek with one player as Link and one player as his adversaries. Not exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to a Zelda game, but I'll gladly take it as a bonus.
The impressions I've heard from people who got their hands on the Japanese version just over a week ago have been very positive. Looks like we'll find out for ourselves in another three months.
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