The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess is the most recent Zelda game to be released to the public. Originally intended for release only on the Gamecube, development shifted towards Nintendo's newer console, the Wii, and the adventure title was eventually released for both systems. It was first released on November 19th, 2006 as the premier launch title for the Wii. It is considered among many to be the most comprehensive and immersing game in the Zelda series.

History
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was first revealed E3 2004 when Nintendo showed a small group of people a "Trailer" to their new Zelda Game. When the Zelda Community found out, they almost exploded with excitement. Threads popping up on Zelda Forums everywhere discussing what the new game looks like, sounds like, even smells like. After 10 months of complete silence from Nintendo, a new trailer was finally revealed at the Game Developers Conference on March 10th, 2005 to an eager audience.

It was learned at the Nintendo E3 conference on May 9th that Twilight Princess will be released in Quarter 4, 2006 and will simultaneously be released on Gamecube and Wii.

On Wednesday September 13, 2006 it was revealed that Twilight Princess will be a launch title for the Wii which will be available on November 19, 2006, while fans will have to wait another month for the GameCube version to be released.



Game Information
The game is meant to have a more mature atmosphere than the rest of the Zelda games, as well as significantly darker and more depressing. It is also the longest Zelda game to date, accumulating at least 60 hours of gameplay, twice as long as Ocarina of Time, confirmed by Iwata. Zelda and another memorable character (spoiler) also appear in Twilight Princess.

The game's story takes place after Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but before The Wind Waker. As featured in The Wind Waker, Link uses special facial expressions to inform the player and give subtle clues on how to solve certain puzzles. For some people, the game still proves to be more challenging than other Zelda games preceding it. Another returning feature is the day and night system of Hyrule, consisting of not only the cycle of days but weather and atmosphere effects as well.

Motion capture is used to bring the characters alive in a realistic manner. This is most evident during cinema sequences.

Story
Link, a young teenager at the start of the game, is a ranch worker (but has also been called a cowboy of sorts) in his hometown of Ordon Village in the Ordona Province of Hyrule. Strange creatures begin to appear in the forest outside of the village just before Link is supposed to make a trip to Hyrule Castle to present a gift to the royal family, a sword and wooden shield crafted by the townspeople of Ordon. Three young children of the village, who serve in the beginning as one of Link's main motivations for fighting, are captured by Bokoblins and King Bulblin while playing with a forest monkey, and taken to the entrance of the Forest Temple. With wooden sword in hand, Link goes to save them. He is able to free the monkey and the girl who were caged by the Bokoblins, but this is only the beginning of his trouble.

Not too much later does Link get attacked by a shadow monster and falls unconscious in the spirit spring outside Ordon Village. He awakes and follows the pathway into the forest, whereupon he sees a large black wall draped over the Earth. Approaching the wall, symbols begin to appear upon it, and as he nears closer a large and menacing black hand reached out and pulls him through the wall.

Link, now in an entirely different looking world, notices a sharp pain run through his body and doubles over. The Triforce symbol on his hand glows, and his entire body transforms into the shape of a wolf. As a Wolf Link is captured and held prisoner within the boundaries of Hyrule Castle, which has been covered in the gigantic twilight spread over Hyrule. In his prison cell he encounters Midna, a rogue shadow monster with mysterious powers, who allows him, while aiding him, to escape and explore his newfound body.

In the tallest tower he and Midna find who appears to be Midna's master - the Twilight Princess. Immediately the Twilight Princess explains to Link how Hyrule came to be shrouded in twilight, and reveals her true identity: Princess Zelda. Although in another world, Zelda is still the princess.

It is now Link's quest to save Hyrule from the Twilight as the hero chosen by the gods, and gain enough strength to defeat the one who controls the Twilight.

Gameplay
Link controls normally, but those using the Wii Remote will find that there are entirely new controls for using each weapon, which some veteran players may need to get used to. Players will also have to become used to Link's two forms: Wolf Link and Human Link. Whenever Human Link enters into the Twilight Realm he transforms into a sacred wolf, changing his attack style but not the controls used for attacking. While in Wolf form Link has the ability to use "senses" - special sight that allows the player to see spirits while in the Twilight Realm, who are unknowing humans that have been changed into floating balls of light as the Twilight covered them.

On top of this, Wolf Link's abilities extend to using his senses to follow scents, the first being the scent of the children of Ordon Village from the wooden sword they dropped. When in the sense view, the entire screen blurs and becomes darker, revealing various hidden objects that were not visible in normal view. Wolf Link is also able to dig for items in the ground and dig through the ground to go underneath fence and into homes. His senses can also be used to find spots to dig, which shimmer while in the sense view.

L-targeting makes its return in Twilight Princess. Wolf Link is able to jump far distances with the help of Midna, who travels to the distance and at which point can be Z-targeted. Pressing A initiates the jump, which Midna calls "guiding Link with sure footing."

Link does not return to a human when leaving the Twilight Realm, contrary to popular belief. Instead, the only way Link is able to return to human form after entering the twilight is to have the power of one of the Spirits of Light return him to normal form. In the beginning this is accomplished by collecting the Spirit's stolen light, in the form of tears of light. Once the light is collected, Link returns to human form, but whether he is in the Twilight Realm or in the normal world does not change his wolf-like state after entering it.

The item menu is circular and does not display the number of items left. However, there is a second item screen available by pressing the "plus" key on the Wii Remote that shows Link's equipped items and his valuables, namely his wallet, clothing, heart pieces, letters, and journals. Logs are kept of such things like fish caught.



Link can summon animals with certain types of plants. For example, the horseshoe-shaped plant summons Epona, Link's horse, with a song strikingly similar to Epona's Song from Ocarina of Time. Hawks can be summoned with other types of grass commonly found in Ordon Village.

Epona also has the ability to walk in shallow water, a new ability absent in previous games. Link is able to steal and ride enemies' mounts, but this does not take place until later in the game.

Both familiar and unfamiliar weapons make appearances. Some familiar weapons have been transformed entirely, such as the Gale Boomerang, which acts exactly as the normal Boomerang but creates a whirlwind when thrown. Other items are entirely new, and some have been left completely unchanged.

Graphics & Sound
This game, like most other Zelda titles, features only one example of voice acting, Midna, with grunts and yells from all other characters. Midna is the first character in a Zelda game to be fully voiced. The graphics themselves have been created to look entirely realistic. Because of the need for such, the graphics from the SpaceWorld 2000 Gamecube Tech Demo were scrapped. A sense of scale and realism was also developed for Twilight Princess.

Along with the standard features of sound in a Zelda game, the Wii console offers something more to the customers buying the Wii version of Twilight Princess. Using the Wii Remote it is possible for "depth of sound" take place - that is, sound comes from both the television and the Wii Remote's internal speaker, providing a much more immersing experience.

Dungeon Info
This section lists the nine dungeons of Twilight Princess in order of exploration, followed by obtained item information and the boss that awaits within.


 * Forest Temple - Gale Boomerang - Diababa: Twilit Parasite
 * Goron Mines - Hero's Bow - Fyrus: Twilit Igniter
 * Lakebed Temple - Clawshot - Morpheel: Twilit Aquatic
 * Arbiter's Grounds - Spinner - Stallord: Twilit Fossil
 * Snowpeak Ruins - Ball and Chain - Blizzeta: Twilit Ice Mass
 * Temple of Time - Dominion Rod - Armogohma: Twilit Arachnid
 * City In The Sky - Double Clawshot - Argorok: Twilit Dragon
 * Palace of Twilight - Light Sword - Zant: Usurper King
 * Hyrule Castle - Zelda: Ganon's Puppet, Ganondorf: Dark Lord

Enemies

 * Armos
 * Boar
 * Bokoblin
 * Bombling
 * Deku Baba
 * Dodongo
 * Keese
 * Lizalfos
 * Bulblin
 * Stalhound
 * Skulltula
 * Stalfos
 * Toadpolis
 * Ganondorf

Items

 * Gale Boomerang
 * Hero's Bow
 * Lantern
 * Bottles
 * Lantern Oil
 * Red Potion
 * Water
 * Bombs
 * Water Bombs
 * Ball and Chain
 * Zora Armor
 * Spinner
 * Iron Boots
 * Slingshot
 * Clawshot
 * Double Clawshot
 * Dominion Rod
 * Magic Armor