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Twilight Princess

Early next calendar month, Nintendo will be releasing an Hard disk remaster of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii U. Featuring a full Hard disk drive 1080p resolution, revamped textures, better lighting, and improved gameplay, information technology's clear that this Wii U release is superior to the earlier versions in every believable way.

Back when Twilight Princess was originally announced, it was slated as a GameCube-exclusive title. Simply due to numerous delays, the release of the game butted-up against the release of the Wii. It was converted into a cross-gen release with the focus shifted to the new console. The Wii version benefited from 16:nine support and wide distribution, but the tacked-on motion controls and horizontally flipped display were sore spots for Zelda fans. Meanwhile, the limited GameCube release was constrained to 4:3, only it used a traditional control scheme, and allowed Link retain his preference for left-handed sword fighting.

With Twilight Princess Hard disk, Nintendo is finally giving the states all of the good bits with few of the original limitations to ruin our fun. The game runs in a proper 16:9 aspect ratio with drastically improved textures and better lighting effects. Most of the geometry is unchanged, only everything looks much sharper, since it's running at 1920×1080. Motion controls are nowhere to be found, and the original left-handed orientation has returned for the default gameplay mode. Nonetheless, an actress-challenging "Hero style" will requite you right-handed Link if that's what you prefer.

The folks over at Digital Foundry have been given an early copy of the game, and everything looks solid from a technical perspective. We're still stuck at 30fps, but that's no surprise whatsoever since the Wind Waker remaster had the verbal aforementioned cap. It'southward slightly disappointing that 60fps was out of the question, but at least the frame rate is almost perfectly locked at 30fps — dropping merely a few frames in select locations.

The graphical upgrades are nice, but numerous gameplay changes are being made equally well. A lantern has been added to the game to assist find Poes, irresolute forms is at present just a single tap, the wallet holds more than rupees, and you'll need to collect fewer tears of light to progress through the game. These changes are minor, but they add together up to a more streamlined experience that makes for much less frustration. Similarly, Wind Waker HD cut out much of the mindless collecting, and sped-upwardly the sailing process. It may disappoint purists, only this is a big win for the boilerplate actor.

Of form, there's as well the Amiibo outcome to argue with. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo is using this cornball re-release as a way to convince you to buy some toys. The $60 retail version of Twilight Princess HD comes with a Wolf Link Amiibo, and that grants you access to a new area dubbed the "Cave of Shadows." Other Zelda-themed Amiibo (like Link, Toon Link, Zelda, Shiek, and Ganondorf) are compatible likewise, and they'll internet you various in-game benefits. All of these are completely optional, but it can definitely be hard to ignore the siren song of Nintendo'southward toys-to-life offerings.

While Twilight Princess doesn't necessarily benefit from the graphical and pacing changes every bit much equally Wind Waker did, this is still going to be a superb release. And if you've never had the opportunity to play this game with a traditional control scheme, at present is your chance to relish an outstanding Zelda game while nosotros all expect impatiently for Nintendo'due south next installment — or its side by side-generation NX console altogether.