Today at E3, Nintendo shed some more light on the next installment of the Legend of Zelda franchise: Hyrule Warriors. The game is being developed by the same company, Tecmo Koei, that brought us the Dynasty Warriors franchise. It featured large-scale battle where players would mow down endless waves of enemies using an assortment of combos and characters, and the studio has replicated that style for a Zelda version.
That’s right, the game will let users play a variety of characters found throughout the franchise as you play through the game, offering a refreshing change of pace for a longtime Zelda player. So far Midna, Zelda, Link, and Impa are confirmed as playable characters, but the full list has yet to be released.
The co-op mode will utilize the connected TV screen and the Wii U’s game pad screen to offer a more enjoyable experience on smaller TVs. Similar to the Dynasty Warriors franchise, players will clear through various large groups of weaker enemies before encountering powerful bosses that require more strategy and time to take down.
Hisashi Koinuma of Tecmo Koei said that “since this collaboration was a first of its kind, [they] were able to make it a great game that’s like a celebration of both franchises.” This could be important to sway a more broad selection of fans to the game, instead of just loyal Zelda followers.
The game is set to release exclusively on the Wii U on September 26th, 2014. While the Wii U has certainly struggled to prove it belongs in the same class as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the highly anticipated Super Smash Bros. game will certainly give it a boost before the end of 2014, and in turn help this Zelda installment.
