GDC 06: Zelda DS-bound

[UPDATE] Link is on his way to Nintendo's portable in an all-new adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. First trailer inside!

SAN JOSE, Calif.--As part of its keynote address in conjunction with the 2006 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo has announced a new game for the Legend of Zelda series for the Nintendo DS, titled The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

Zelda DS

Check out the first Phantom Hourglass trailer!

The game appears to use the stylus in a few different ways, such as drawing an hourglass shape to open a door, plotting out the path of a ship on the ocean, and writing numbers, though the reasons for the number writing are currently unknown. Gamers will also be able to use the touch screen to direct your boomerang shots, as shown when Link hurled his weapon towards targets on the opposite side of a chasm.

Graphically, the game has a cel-shaded look to it that's similar to Wind Waker, though there's a bit of Four Swords influence in there, as well. The Phantom Hourglass Link is almost a spitting image of his younger self in Wind Waker, with large anime-style doe eyes. The game is shown on the upper screen of the DS, while the lower screen displays your map, but occasionally, the two will switch places. The gameplay appears to rely on some of the same puzzle-based dungeon mechanics seen in previous installments, including hitting multiple colored buttons to affect different things in the world.

The brief demo being shown at the Nintendo keynote also showed Navi, the fairylike sparkling glow that let you see what you were targeting back in The Ocarina of Time, as well as an outdoor battle against a cool, squidlike boss that was perched atop some pillars. Link could attack from the bottom screen with projectiles, and knock the boss to the bottom screen, where he would finish him off with his trusty blade. There was also a clip of Link sailing the seas in a boat, and attacking enemies with a cannon.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is currently scheduled to be released later this year. We'll have more details as they become available.

431 Comments

  • jacko_goku69

    Posted Jan 13, 2007 9:12 pm PT

    @darkslayer4
    These graphics are'nt that bad. judging from that last remark of yours its obvious your a sony fanboy. You probably think your a gangsta by writing "PSP ALL THE WAY!!! GTA!!!!!!!!!!!!" but u r infact a nerd trying to be hardcore by writing comments against games that r superior 2 any of the gay games u play. And also why is it a bad time 2 be buying a ds? Last time i checked it was completely owning the psp. sony is going down while nintendo is going up. just face it, the psp is **** and inferior 2 the ds.

  • Jeansama

    Posted Dec 9, 2006 10:02 pm PT

    Watched the video and it seriously looks smooth. I'm loving the graphics a lot, and it looks like it incorperates the touch bad well.

  • OhhSnap50893

    Posted Oct 11, 2006 10:29 am PT

    Apparently it's delayed until Q1 2007, hopefully it will be a little sooner than that.

  • gang-gsta

    Posted May 24, 2006 8:35 pm PT

    I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS NEW PORTABLE ZELDA GAME!!!

  • overcode

    Posted Apr 27, 2006 8:16 pm PT

    Yeeee-haw! FINALLY! This is the reason I've been waiting for to buy a DS. I'm gonna wait until the DS Lite comes out and I am absolutely gettting this game. I bet they'll make a DS-Lite/Zelda bundle. F*ckin' A! (still waiting for Twilight Princess, mmmm!)

    Go Nintendo!

  • donovad14

    Posted Apr 27, 2006 11:39 am PT

    Zelda DS=Best portable game ever.

  • noblekorhedron

    Posted Apr 19, 2006 1:30 pm PT

    WAHEY! YAAAAAH! Finally, a Zelda game on DS! Thanks Nintendo! Hopefully it'll the be this first of a few, as I don't see the DS going anywhere for about 5 years min. now they've released the 'DS Lite'. Anyone else agree? BTW, is Shighsy still working on Zelda games?

  • qualeel92

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 9:35 am PT

    ... mario, sonic, and now zelda? just dont forget crash bandicoot!

  • Gustoff

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 8:35 am PT

    This is probably going to be one of the greatest games for the DS.

  • markyuppy

    Posted Apr 17, 2006 5:39 am PT

    @ Darkslayer4: I also like the PSP but this game does not look "really bad" the graphics are awsome, also it is not a bad time to be a DS gamer, this is the BEST time to be one. if you dont like the DS why bother posting a comment on a DS topic?

  • AlexSempf3

    Posted Apr 16, 2006 9:55 pm PT

    unusual, unique, and... well, absurd... the way I like it...

  • AlexSempf3

    Posted Apr 16, 2006 9:55 pm PT

    unusual, unique, and... well, absurd... the way I like it...

  • pow1149

    Posted Apr 16, 2006 10:16 am PT

    if you work for nintendo then stop reading this and get back to work!, i want it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    otherwise i hope you share my passion for zelda

  • Icepick2137

    Posted Apr 15, 2006 4:35 am PT

    Nice, but I still want them to make OoT port.

  • DarkSlayer4

    Posted Apr 14, 2006 12:56 pm PT

    This game looks really bad. It's a bad time to be a DS gamer. Really bad graphics. Just ugly. PSP ALL THE WAY!!! GTA!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • WingZero8

    Posted Apr 13, 2006 6:16 am PT

    Not bad a real use of the touch screen I think this game would be a real go getter good gameplay as far as I can tell but I do see some Camera Difficulty.

  • darc03

    Posted Apr 12, 2006 10:30 am PT

    i hope they wont delay again like the tp it bean 2 year i wait for tp

  • teletran59

    Posted Apr 12, 2006 3:38 am PT

    HELL YEAH! i got ds on release and have been waitin 4 this ever since!!!

  • zacazaca520

    Posted Apr 10, 2006 7:36 pm PT

    I MUST HAVE IT!!!

  • Karate_master5

    Posted Apr 9, 2006 8:46 pm PT

    Well this interesting! Hopefully this game will come out soon , so we can play it while waiting for TP to come out!

  • AIRVEGETA

    Posted Apr 9, 2006 3:31 pm PT

    jeje very nice, i want a zelda game now! any one, wait, i want TP lol

  • hionspeed64

    Posted Apr 9, 2006 1:45 pm PT

    I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

  • Mattdaman777

    Posted Apr 9, 2006 11:57 am PT

    crap. you kow what this means? nintendo is probably going to delay tTP again to make it have connectivity with with tPH. or they might have made it have connectivity already and that's just one of the reasons it keeps getting delayed.

  • myahemyaha

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 9:02 pm PT

    There is a god after all.

  • jmm0070

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 3:38 pm PT

    pls make it wi-fi and multiplayer also

  • jmm0070

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 3:37 pm PT

    pls make it wi-fi and multiplayer also

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 10:32 am PT

    haha
    yeah

  • lcsmad14

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 5:12 am PT

    Zelda!!! 3D!!!! awesome!!!! i don't care if it's on DS, it's still gonna rock. Can't wait. Hopefully it wont be too long

  • REVOLUTIONfreak

    Posted Apr 7, 2006 5:50 pm PT

    finally, handheld zelda, and its 3D!

  • andyramone57

    Posted Apr 7, 2006 3:04 pm PT

    Very nice, looks challenging, uses some of that Winder Waker style graphics, and has the zelda puzzles that i would expect from a zelda game.

  • lageasy311

    Posted Apr 7, 2006 11:15 am PT

    ds stands for drill seargent, thought you people knew that? lol

  • ShamanSaix

    Posted Apr 7, 2006 6:44 am PT

    minted,gonna be 1 hell of a game.klklklk

  • buzzoinks

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 8:06 pm PT

    ok tmacyao111, which your fav psp games rock the most?

  • tmacyao111

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 8:11 am PT

    This game doesn't have anything on psp games. The psp rocks, the ds sucks. That's all I am saying.

  • nintendomania

    Posted Apr 1, 2006 5:45 pm PT

    Wi-Fi??? We can only cross our fingers!!!

  • EPaul

    Posted Apr 1, 2006 10:19 am PT

    So when will it come out?

  • gameshark5

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 7:34 pm PT

    please come soon!

  • thps48

    Posted Mar 31, 2006 10:15 am PT

    I hope this doesn't hinder production on TP 'cause they say this is being made by Aunoma. What will happen?...

  • Big_Will

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 10:36 am PT

    very interesting how you do puzzles, should be fun

  • Big_Will

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 10:36 am PT

    very interesting how you do puzzles, should be fun

  • claiross

    Posted Mar 30, 2006 7:18 am PT

    oh sweet man I bet the graphics wont be as good as they would be on the gamecube but it'll be interesting to know how they incorprate the stylus and microphone

  • barkingcats

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 11:00 pm PT

    this could either be super awesome or just okay. it'll be interesitng to see what happens.

  • MilesTormani

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:56 pm PT

    Awesome. Combining the freeform swordplay of Wind Waker with the classic dungeon crawling of old. And you can apparently make notes on the maps whenever the hell you want. Sure, Navi can be annoying, but it seems like she was used in a way that makes sense. What else could you use as a cursor? xx;

    I'm crossing my fingers on this one.

  • hiccup

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:44 pm PT

    Hope this game hit GOLD BABY YEAH.

  • fitootif

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:09 pm PT

    Finally a new zelda game... hope it comes soon this year and has Wi-Fi capabilities.

  • Shekb

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 2:27 pm PT

    Hum... DS, shoulda bought one

  • Jofulikestofu

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 1:29 pm PT

    I'm not getting my hopes up.
    For one thing, I'm sick of top-down Zelda handhelds, and judging by the trailer, thats what we're getting. I just don't think It's a good use of DS harware. Even if a top-down game has 3d sprites, the gameplay suffers and unless they make up for it in a huge way, I'm pretty mad. Enormous monster bosses just don't have much substance on 2d.
    And I've never been a fan of the winwaker/ four swords/ minish cap look, but thats purely taste and won't affect the gameplay, so I'm not too worried.

  • chingadopollo

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 8:51 am PT

    Online Multiplayer like Four Sword Adventures or PSO? Anyway, a Zelda game is always welcome and full of surprises!

  • Dj_Excalibur

    Posted Mar 29, 2006 7:33 am PT

    w000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    0000000000000000000t! Finally!!!

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