Zelda U Could Be Shown Off Later This Year, Direction Set in Stone

Yesterday we reported how Miyamoto mentioned that we could see Zelda U soon, and I predicted that meant probably during a spring 2014 Nintendo Direct. Turns out, we could be seeing it much sooner. In fact, we could be seeing it shortly after or around the release of The Wind Waker HD. Here is what Miyamoto had to say about Zelda U in a recent GamesIndustry interview:

Q: The one game many of us were anticipating to be announced today and that many fans have been looking for is a brand new Zelda on Wii U, apart from the Wind Waker HD makeover. Perhaps this is a better question for Aonuma-san, but why haven’t we heard about a new Wii U Zelda?

M: So it certainly is a better question for Mr. Aonuma but we are working on a new Wii U Zelda ,as we do whenever we work on a new hardware system. Development on the new Wii U Zelda game, we’ve pretty much determined our direction on that and the teams are working hard on that. In fact, we actually did consider showing it at E3 this year but we were worried that if we showed the new Wii U Zelda game then that would attract all of the focus, and really what we want people to be aware of and pay attention to here at E3 are the playable games like Pikmin 3 that we have coming in the immediate future, because a lot of fun is with the games that are coming out this year. So that’s why we decided not to show it this year at E3, but it’s certainly something people can look forward to.

Of course, as I’m sure you’re aware E3 used to be the place where you made all of your big announcements but as we’re seeing more and more, particularly with the advantages we have with the internet, we’re able to make announcements really at any time. So the other thing we didn’t want to do was go through all the news here at E3 – we wanted to be able to have some news to continue to share with consumers over time.

Q: So does that mean Nintendo will tell us more about the new Wii U Zelda later this year?

M: I think so, maybe. [Laughs] Maybe after we’ve seen enough people enjoying The Wind Waker HD, then we’ll think about sharing something with them about the new Wii U Zelda.

It would seem to me that Zelda U is rather far along in its development. The direction is all set and they are hitting the ground running. The reasoning for not wanting to overshadow the entire show is understandable. When they showed off the tech demo in 2011, it completely upstaged Skyward Sword that year. With A Link Between Worlds and The Wind Waker HD arriving later this year, I don’t think Nintendo wanted people to overlook those games just because Zelda U was shown off. Could it be that Zelda U‘s art direction mirrors the tech demo then? Because, in reality, it was that art direction that caused the overshadowing in 2011. If they were afraid it would overshadow things again, they must really have something spectacular to show off.

We might not have to wait long folks. We very well could be hearing something this fall/winter before the year runs out. Whatever the case is, they are already ready to show it off. Needless to say, us Zelda fans will be watching every Nintendo Direct the rest of the year in anticipation.