Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:43, 5 October 2007

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS
Release	JP: June 23 2007 NA: October 1 2007 AUS: October 11 2007 EU: October 19 2007
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer, Online multiplayer

Template:Nihongo title, is a Role-playing game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS as a part of Nintendo's critically acclaimed The Legend of Zelda video game series. It features 3D cel-shaded graphics with an overhead camera perspective primarily, but incorporating different views based on context.

The graphics are similar in style to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Nintendo has confirmed that Phantom Hourglass is the direct sequel to it. Satoru Iwata unveiled it with a trailer during his keynote address at the 2006 Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Phantom Hourglass was first released in Japan on June 23, 2007. The game was released in North America on October 1, 2007, and will be released in Australia on October 11, 2007, and throughout Europe on the 19th.

Gameplay

This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (September 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The gameplay in this Nintendo DS game is mostly overhead, similar to most 2D The Legend of Zelda titles, but the character models and the environments are in 3D. The rendering environment is similar to Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube, and its DS sequel, Animal Crossing: Wild World. The touch screen is used to show the main gameplay, used to control Link, or to solve puzzles (such as the hourglass shape at the beginning of the trailer shown at GDC), while the upper screen is mostly used as a map screen. The map can also be brought down to the touch screen, allowing the player to write notes on it. It will also be used to create a taller screen in some events, such as the battle scene in the trailer. Some boss battles use both the top and bottom screen. The microphone is used as well.

Link has a fairy named Ciela, similar to Navi and Tatl and Tael from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, respectively. The fairy acts as the cursor for touch screen input with the stylus. However, unlike in the Wii version of Twilight Princess, the Fairy has a part in the story and communicates with Link.

The player controls Link by using the stylus on the lower screen of the DS to manipulate the fairy. Running and walking is done by placing the stylus in the direction the player wishes for Link to go, with the speed of his movements determined by the distance between Link (who remains in the center of the screen) and the fairy. Rolling is done by dragging the stylus into the edge of the touch-screen twice in succession, while talking to people, reading signs, and picking up items requires the player to tap them on the touch screen.

Phantom Hourglass takes full advantage of nearly every DS feature including the built in microphone. Throughout the game, there are torches and candles that the player can extinguish by blowing into the Nintendo DS' built-in microphone. On other occasions, the player is required to shout to attract the attention of non-player characters.

Sword swings are accomplished by drawing a small arc near Link in the direction the player wishes to cut. Likewise, a quick tap in one direction with the stylus produces a jab, while a thrust-like motion from Link into a direction makes a thrust, also drawing a full circle around Link will cause him to perform a spinning swing attack. Touching most enemies on the touch screen will cause Link to lock on to them, after which he maneuvers to their location and attacks them.

The sailing system in this title is similar to the one found in The Wind Waker. Instead of a sail boat however, a steam boat is Link’s mode of transportation, requiring no manipulation of the wind. The boat’s course is plotted ahead of time using the touch screen, similar to Sonic Rush Adventure, allowing the player to concentrate on attacking foes with its cannon as the boat travels to its destination point. The boat also has upgradable parts which the player can find and customize to his or her liking.

The overworld, like The Wind Waker's, is set in a vast ocean comprised of four quadrants, mapped out on charts obtained in the Ocean King's Temple. Each quadrant has between 3 and 5 islands, with 16 in all. The overworld is much smaller than that of The Wind Waker, making oceanic venturing much more convenient and user-friendly. Upon departure from any of the several islands scattered randomly (as opposed to The Wind Waker's tile formation) around the sea, players are given a map where the stylus is used to draw out a course in which the boat will follow. This route can be altered at any point during travel.

The game features a full inventory of seven items from classic The Legend of Zelda games, all of which are controlled by using the stylus. To control a boomerang's flight path and Bombchu's travel path, the player has to use the stylus to draw it out on the touch screen. To use arrows, bombs, the grappling hook, the hammer, and the shovel, the player must point at the tile where he wishes to use the item.

The game has seven major dungeons and one "master dungeon" with an initial ground floor and 13 basement levels. The seven dungeons are Fire Temple, Wind Temple, Temple of Courage, the Ghost Ship, the Goron's Temple, Ice Temple, and Mutoh's Temple. The master dungeon, known as the Temple of the Ocean King, is one that Link must revisit many times over the course of the game. Upon each visit, the player can only make limited progress, and must work through other dungeons before they are able to proceed further.

In the Ocean King's Temple and ghost ship, there are guards known as phantoms. These enemies follow Link; every time Link is hit, he loses a heart and half a minute on the timer. There are three colors of phantoms: Blue Phantoms are the slowest. Red Phantoms begin appearing on the fourth basement, are faster than Blue Phantoms, and can pick up Force Gems. Golden Phantoms begin appearing on the tenth basement and can instantly teleport to wherever Link is. Each floor has a number of "safe zones" where the phantoms cannot hit Link; these are marked as purple areas on the map screen. Phantoms can be killed once Link obtains the Phantom Sword before the final boss battle.

Beating the game unlocks a time trial mode for Ocean King's Temple. The player's highest time remaining is recorded on his status screen. Because time bonuses (awarded through yellow pots) are available on each floor of the dungeon, it is possible to complete the time trial with zero net seconds lost.

Footage from the demo shown at E3 2006, official screenshots as well as the official trailer, show a few items included in the game, including bombs, a bow, a shovel, the boomerang, and a cannon for the boat. Other items include the grappling hook, Bombchus, and the hammer. An icon in the lower left corner of the touch screen showing the word "Menu" will bring up a menu in which the player can choose their current item, which will appear in the upper right corner.

The Game Developers Conference of 2007 unveiled a new trailer for the game, which depicted Link getting trapped by enemies and having to rub the touch screen with the stylus repeatedly to escape.

Battle mode

A multiplayer battle mode is also included in Phantom Hourglass. This battle mode is a one-on-one multiplayer game officially dubbed "Hide-and-Go-Seek" by Eiji Aonuma. In an arena, one player takes on the role of Link, while the other player, on defense, controls three Phantom Guardians. Players of both sides are aided by power-up items that shortly appear on the playing field, such as the Pegasus Shoes, a Decoy, a Time Increase and a Whirlwind maker.

Link’s goal is to grab a Force Gem from one of the many zones and carry it to his own base at one side of the arena. The other player, controlling the three Phantom Guardians, must try to find and catch Link before he scores any points. When Link is caught, or if the turn-time has passed, players switch sides. A game consists of three rounds, and in each round, each player takes a turn at both sides. The maximum length of one whole multiplayer game is twelve minutes.

The game supports multiplayer both locally and online through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Local Download Play is also supported. The game is the third multiplayer Zelda game, the first two being Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures respectively.

Plot

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (October 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The game is a sequel to The Wind Waker, set several months after its events. At the start of the game, Link, Tetra and her pirates are at sea looking for the phantom ship rumored to ply the waters in that area, taking sailors and residents of the nearby islands. Tetra, convinced that the phantom ship is simply a bunch of trouble-making pirates, is determined to teach them that pirates have rules, too. When a mysterious ship appears in the middle of a dense fog, Tetra jumps aboard to explore. As the ship pulls away and begins to vanish with her on board, Link attempts to leap over and save her only to fall into the water himself.

After having a vision of Tetra being surrounded by darkness and calling for his help, Link is washed up on Mercay Island and meets a fairy named Ciela, whose appearance is similar to that of Navi from Ocarina of Time. The fairy has lost her memory and decides to team up with Link. On Mercay Island, Link meets an old man named Oshus who provides him with a sword. Link travels to the far side of the island and rescues Captain Linebeck from the Temple of the Ocean King. In doing so, Link secures the use of Linebeck's customizable steamship to travel throughout the overworld (initially restricted to a single quadrant, but expanded as he acquires more sea maps).

In the first half of the game, Link must rescue three colored spirit fairies: the red Spirit of Power, Leaf, from the Fire Temple; the blue Spirit of Wisdom, Nelly, from the Wind Temple; and the yellow Spirit of Courage from the Temple of Courage. However, upon defeating the Courage Temple's keeper, a giant lobster known as Crayk, the rescued fairy is colorless and appears just like Ciela. Ciela wonders why this is, but cannot remember anything due to her amnesia. As Link and Linebeck are about to leave Molde Island, Oshus then arrives, using his magical walking stick to fuse Ciela with the colorless fairy to become a yellow fairy, revealing that she is the Fairy of Courage.

Linebeck and Link then set off to pursue the phantom ship. After rescuing four sisters from imprisonment onboard, it is revealed that they are in fact phantoms themselves. Defeating them, Link obtains the key to where Tetra is being held, but he discovers that Tetra has been turned to stone. The old man Oshus then arrives and reveals that he is in fact the Ocean King himself. According to him, a few years ago, an evil plant monster named Bellum appeared, hungry to eat life-force. He used this absorbed force to create powerful monsters, including the dungeon bosses and the phantoms in the Temple of the Ocean King, and used them to seal away the three fairies of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Ciela, the Fairy of Courage, was able to split herself into two to flee, but in doing so, she also lost her memory. The Ocean King tried to fight Bellum but failed, and he too divided himself into two. Oshus then created the Phantom Hourglass so that someone could use it to venture through the Temple of the Ocean King and defeat Bellum.

Oshus then reveals that the only way to defeat Bellum is by obtaining a weapon known as the Phantom Sword. Oshus asks Link to visit the smithy Zauz on his island. Zauz asks for three steel crystals as necessary ingredients for the sword; the Crimsonine, Azurine, and Aquanine steel crystals are on Goron Island, the Isle of Frost, and the Isle of the Dead, respectively.

Link sails to Goron Island where DaiGoron, the tribe's chief, asks him a quiz to admit him as one of the Gorons. Link defeats Bongorongo in the Goron's Temple and saves Gongoron, a child Goron that became Link's controllable sidekick throughout the temple. Link then sails to the Isle of Frost where he resolves the situation among the Anouki and Yook. The two races lived peacefully on either side of the island for 100 years, until recently, a Yook invaded the Anouki's village and disguised itself as one of them. Link defeats the Gleeock in the Ice Temple and receives the Azurine. Lastly, Link sails off to the Isle of the Dead where he must talk to the spirits of four knights and then finally Mutoh himself, the king of the ancient Coobo kingdom. Link defeats an ancient rock soldier known as Eox and receives the final Aquanine steel crystal.

After taking the three steel crystals to Zauz and having him forge the Phantom Sword, Link returns to the Temple of the Ocean King and journeys to its lowest floor, where Bellum lurks. Link and Ciela defeat Bellum with the help of Phantom Spheres, which enable Link to freeze time and attack Bellum's weak spot. Bellum then appears to be defeated and Oshus, the Ocean King, then arrives to warp them to safety. Ciela recovers her lost memories. On Linebeck's ship, Tetra is unfrozen and thanks Link for all his trouble. When Link is about to reach out to hold Tetra's hand, Bellum suddenly appears and kidnaps Tetra, then takes over the phantom ship. Link and Linebeck chase after the phantom ship and attack Bellum's tentacles in a marine battle, sinking the ship. Finally, on the ship's ruins, Bellum possesses Linebeck and turns him into a sword-wielding Darknut. Link defeats the possessed Linebeck in a sword fight (as in the style of Ganondorf in Twilight Princess), and Bellum is finally defeated and disintegrates into the Sands of Time.

Oshus reappears as the Ocean King, a blue whale, and says that the Fairies of Power, Wisdom, and Courage must leave with him to their world. Oshus asks Linebeck to make a wish, and Ciela replies for Lineback, saying that he hopes to find treasure. Houwever Linebeck says he just wishes for his ship back. Link and Lineback say their goodbyes to Ciela, with Linebeck pretending to not care about her. Then Link looks at Ciela, and the screen fades white. Then, the credits roll while a collage of Link's new adventures (in the graphical style of the introduction) is shown. Later, Link and Tetra find themselves aboard the repaired phantom ship. Soon after, Nico sails by and Link and Tetra reboard their own ship. Nico asks what Link and Tetra had been doing for the past ten minutes, and asks Tetra if she just had a bad dream, which Tetra denies. While the pirates argue, Link gasps, noticing that the phantom ship is nowhere to be seen. Link reaches into his tunic and fishes out an empty Phantom Hourglass. Link then runs over to the opposite deck of the ship, where he sees Linebeck's steamboat sailing off into the distance. Link smiles in relief and there, the game ends.

Development

The main objective in the game’s creation was to fully use the DS' hardware, having a Zelda game controlled by the stylus/touch screen alone. Eiji Aonuma hopes the new control scheme will follow through into future Zelda titles, and maybe even other adventure games for the DS.

The first concept for control was that the player would control Link by using the D-pad and buttons, having a 2D map on the bottom screen, while all the visual 3D action would take place on the top screen, similar to Metroid Prime Hunters. The team found however that this control scheme didn't work well, which saw the change to the 3D stylus method of control as the game uses now.

The game was first shown to the public at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, in the form of a trailer. At E3 2006, the game was in playable form for the visitors, and also saw the introduction of the multiplayer mode. At E3 it was announced to be released in the fourth quarter of 2006, but as Nintendo kept quiet on the game in the months following, it became apparent it was going to be delayed and in late November, it was officially announced to be delayed into 2007. At E3 2007, Nintendo announced the official North American release date of October 1, 2007.

Four Swords DS

The project initially started out as a Four Swords game for the DS, and the same team, having discovered the potential of cel-shaded graphics on the console, ultimately decided to opt for a single player adventure instead. When Nintendo first announced the Nintendo DS at E3 2004, Eiji Aonuma also hinted at a The Legend of Zelda title for the system. Shigeru Miyamoto stated in October 2004 "We're thinking of bringing Zelda: Four Swords to the DS", but Aonuma later remarked that the idea never reached the development stage. In late 2005, Aonuma told Electronic Gaming Monthly in an interview that the new The Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo DS would not be a Four Swords title, and rumors were finally put to rest when Nintendo announced Phantom Hourglass as the actual DS project at the 2006 Game Developers Conference.

Reception

At both E3 2006 and 2007, Phantom Hourglass won the Game Critics Awards for Best Handheld Game.

On the stylus-driven control scheme, Chris Kohler of Wired gaming blog Game|Life noted that "there seems to be absolutely zero learning curve. Playing with the stylus feels totally natural," predicting that it "will be copied endlessly from here on out. It is like a textbook of how to use a touch screen for a third-person action game."

In issue 179 of Edge, Phantom Hourglass scored 9 out of 10, the UK magazine saying "Phantom Hourglass is a game completely remoulded by its platform. It achieves the deep, all-encompassing synthesis with the most hardware that Nintendo's designers are famous for, but hadn't yet attempted with the idiosyncratic features of the all-things-to-all-men DS. It is an instinctive, ingenious joy to play for every minute, and it sets a new gold standard for game interface design on any platform."

Phantom Hourglass received a 97 out of 100 from Australian gaming magazine Hyper, the highest score it has given to a handheld game.

IGN writer Mark Bozon gave the title a 9.0, saying that it was much more casual and less for the hardcore gamer, but nonetheless was an enthralling piece of software for the Nintendo DS, pushing the system to its limits and using the DS in every way possible. He did, however, criticize the game for being "too simple" and its online features, citing the trading aspect as being unneeded and its Battle Mode for not being as deep or fun as Four Swords.

Sales

In terms of early sales reports, Phantom Hourglass shipped 400,000 copies to Japanese retailers, and over 350,000 of those sold in the first week. These sales on par with The Wind Waker's release (around 350,000) in Japan, and just behind Ocarina of Time (500,000) and Majora's Mask (400,000) as the third best opening week for a Zelda title.

References

1. "NCL Official June Release Schedule". Nintendo. April 15, 2007.
2. "Like sands through the hourglass, Zelda's debut on Nintendo DS approaches". Nintendo. 2007-10-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. http://www.nintendo.com.au/nintendo/news/index.php
4. "Partial list of upcoming Nintendo DS and Wii titles across Europe". Nintendo. 2007-07-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. ^ Billy Berghammer (2007-03-09). "GDC 07: Zelda's Link To The Past And Future - The Eiji Aonuma Interview". Game Informer. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker closed with Link and Tetra setting sail for waters unknown ... but their story was just beginning, and it continues on the Nintendo DS." "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass". July, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. Nintendo Power July 2006
8. http://www.thehylia.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1173600944&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5&
9. "Continue the Wind Waker adventure in Link's first DS game". Nintendo.
10. Anoop Gantayat (October 7, 2004). "Miyamoto Speaks to Final Fantasy Producer". IGN.
11. Game Informer Editorial Staff (May 25, 2005). "Zelda's Twilight Prince: The Eiji Aonuma Interview". Game Informer.
12. "Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, The: Reviews". Metacritic. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
13. CVG staff. "Legend of Zelda: DS Review: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass". Retrieved 2007-08-03.
14. "2006 Winners". gamecriticsawards.com.
15. Chris Kohler. "First Impressions: Zelda Phantom Hourglass Awesome". Retrieved 2007-06-23.
16. Chris Kohler. "Second Impressions: Zelda Phantom Hourglass Continues To Be Awesome". Retrieved 2007-06-23.
17. http://www.thehylia.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1182972991&archive=&start_from=&ucat=19&
18. http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/2007/06/27/103,1182923566,74072,0,0.html

External links

• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass at Zelda.com
• Template:Nintendo.com
• E³ page

• Misplaced Pages articles with plot summary needing attention from October 2007
• 2007 video games
• Nintendo games
• The Legend of Zelda games
• Nintendo Wi-Fi games
• Multiplayer online games
• Video games developed in Japan
• Nintendo DS games
• Nintendo DS-only games
• Cel-shaded video games