Nintendo had big plans for the close of The Game Awards 2014 Friday night. Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto showed off some gameplay footage from the upcoming Wii U game in the Legend of Zelda series, demonstrating a few of the game’s new features.
First, to show off how vast the world is, Aonuma climbed to the top of a high cliff, where you could see far off into the distance. He then used a new feature to mark a distant landmark on the mini-map, which was displayed on the GamePad. Since traversing such a distance would take time, he leaped off the cliff, using the Sailcloth to float down to the surface.
The next feature revealed was the return of Epona. This time, though, Epona is programmed with an A.I. so that only minimal controls are needed to control her. Aonuma reasoned since horses ran straight and avoided trees on their own in real life, they should do that in the game. This frees up your hands (and the controller buttons) to do other things, like change the camera angle, swing your sword or shoot an arrow. Link also has the ability to leap off Epona in slow motion, giving you a chance to shoot an arrow at an enemy in midair.
Aonuma confirmed the new Zelda title will be released next year. And in a playful back-and-forth between the two, Miyamoto said the new Star Fox game for the Wii U will also be out next year — before Zelda Wii U — so keep your eyes out for that.
You can watch the full video from the presentation below. Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
