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[Indie On] Legend of Princess: 2D Zelda revival
Zampano
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Registered User regular
Courtesy of Kotaku:
Joakim "Konjak" Sandberg, developer of the gorgeous IGF nominaated Noitu Love series, has released a one-level "love letter to Zelda" called The Legend of Princess. It's the unofficial sequel to Zelda II we'll never get.
This stunning, two-dimensional, arcadey hack and slash represents a potentially frightening alternate reality scenario, one in which the sidescrolling sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda became the series' norm. The Legend of Princess is beautifully 16-bit in its sprite work, Link's pink hair notwithstanding. Delicious notes of Magic Sword and Wario Land undertones add to the experience.
The pace is fast, the graphics are gorgeous, and the cost is zero. We'd definitely advise checking it out. At the very least, the videos linked to at Indie Games are worth a watch.
Now, unfortunately, it's only one level, but it's one level completely with clever, intuitive puzzles, challenging enemies, not one but two minibosses and totally sweet and fairly original endboss. The controls are tight and the gameplay is not only fun, but somewhat varied as you can choose at the outset which combination of items to bring into the level to increase the challenge if you so desire. And the art and animation is positively gorgeous. It blows my mind.
Now, Zelda II may be my least favorite Zelda game, but this piece fills me with wonder not only about what could have been but for what still could be if Nintendo was so inclined. Dunno if Sandberg intends to continue work on the game, although it seems somewhat unlikely. Still, it's a kickass way to spend twenty minutes.
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Go Sweden!
The Dark Link fight is particularly impressive to me from a design and a gameplay standpoint.
I really hope someone at Nintendo sees this and says "why aren't we making a game like this"
This needs to be an actual Zelda game
Wii: 5024 6786 2934 2806 | Steam/XBL: Arcibi | FFXI: Arcibi / Bahamut
Ending spoilers:
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
"Well excuuuuuusssee me, Princess!"
That one? The one that needs a punch in the mouth?
LINK MAH BOIIII.
You just sold me on Noitu Love 2.
I am also going to look up Noitu Love 2. If it's better than this I'm going to be blown away.
I said that first! :X
I love that line.
I love that whole cartoon.
This is really awesome (although I don't like the controls and Wallmaster can fuck off). The music is great and the graphics are amazing (I love the expression he makes as he flies with the chicken, a sort of angry, grim determination).
I really like how it's obviously based on Zelda, but it's not an exact copy. Probably so Nintendo doesn't rape him, but still, I think it adds to the charm.
Controls can be changed, I believe.
It seems a lot of reviews don't bother to mention the humor behind the game. I think the fast pace of the game accentuates the ridiculousness of the whole thing. I can't explain it very well, but imagine The Legend of Awesome: The Video Game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxY8lpYAUM
At the bottom of the tower, right before the Dark Link fight, I got really stuck. Went up and down that segment once or twice before realizing that there was no wall to the right at the bottom.
But really, great art, fun gameplay. Just generally excellent.
You can change it from keyboard to game pad, but I haven't seen how to actually remap the keys.
This guy needs to be hired by Nintendo and sat down to make a full-length DS game out of this.
Konjak is a very talented indie developer, I'm glad he releases his stuff for free (mostly). Wouldn't be all bad if a big company hired him, though.