Yesterday, the creators of the upcoming Hyrule Warriors hosted a Nintendo Direct where they dropped some big knowledge on us. The biggest, though, was the official reveal of Ganondorf, the high bad guy of Hyrule, not as an antagoinst, but as one of the playable characters!
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You can view the full Nintendo Direct stream here. The presentation was hosted by Yosule Hayashi and Eiji Aonuma. The two producers showed off a lot of the content, and best of all, they did it with an English translator. The official site of Hyrule Warriors has been particularly tricky in its own Japanese only way. Thankfully, a more readable site is now available.
Skip to about two minutes before the end to see Ganondorf in action. Nintendo Direct owners who register the game within four weeks of its launch will get a free Ganondorf alternate DLC costume set featuring Ganondorf's costumes from Ocarina, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.
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In addition to Ganondorf, two other playable characters were revealed: Zant from Twilight Princess and Ghirahim from Skyward Sword. Both were announced as villain characters but I'm sure they will undergo some change of heart. Several of their moves were shown off in the video, and I must say, Zant the Usurper King looks like the Hyrule Warriors equivalent of Voldo from Soul Calibur.
A new Adventure Mode was announced. In it, players traverse an 8-bit Zelda map seeking out locations and then are transported into the Hyrule Warriors stage. You can unlock certain weapons and characters only through Adventure Mode, so be sure to give it a whirl or two.
Dynasty Warriors can always be a bit serious. Thankfully, this game is keeping some of the more amusing elements of Zelda games. Players can still aggravate cuccoos, the ubiquitous chickens scattered throughout Hyrule, but now they can also use them as a weapon, provoking the hens to attack enemies. There is even a special move that allows Lana to summon a giant cuccoo. The rat-like Bombchus from Ocarina are now quite large and more powerful. The chain chomp from that other Nintendo franchise will make an appearance and the creepy moon from Majora's Mask can be pulled down to earth like a meteor using the hookshot. Because of course it can.
Though the game is lacking on-line multiplayer, the local co-op mode is a little different. Instead of breaking up the screen, one of the players will control his or her character via the Wii U gamepad. During co-op mode, the resolution will be slightly less to account for the processing, a curiosity considering such thing never happens in say, Mario Kart 8. The lower resolution doubtlessly allows more enemies to appear on screen.
Check out Ganondorf's big debut below. Hyrule Warriors comes out in North America on September 26.
