Daily Debate: How Will Zelda U Take Advantage of the Wii U’s Capabilities?

The only thing we know for certain in the Zelda world when it comes to the next full game in the series is that it will be coming to the Wii U. Beyond this fact, everything could be questioned, from what we initially saw at E3 this year to the intended release period. It could be delayed (though unlikely), the art style or world could see major changes from what we saw at E3. So how can it take advantage of the Wii U hardware?

We saw how The Wind Waker HD used the system. It produced higher resolution textures, a new lighting system, a first person mode that was virtually doable in large part because of the GamePad, and we saw how inventory management can be improved with the touch screen. Still, we know that Zelda games tend to have their own themes, their own toys, and at this point Zelda U is bound to not work exactly like The Wind Waker HD.

I feel there are a few obvious ones we can cross off the board. The world likely will be the biggest we have seen to date, because the hardware can handle presenting that world better than any previous Nintendo hardware. Draw distances are further, so we will be able to see more too. We might even have more enemies on screen at once, or more things going on (butterflies, grass moving, etc), simply because the system is more capable. This is a given at this juncture. But what else? How will that GamePad be used? Is there something about this hardware that can provide more gameplay elements? Will an item be built around the touch screen? If so… how would that work?

There are a lot of possibilities here. So let’s get this debate going strong today, and then we’ll do something extra special with it tomorrow!