4 Swords Adventure question

[N_A]

Does anyone know if Gamecube version will include a full port of Zelda: Lttp ?

Also, speaking of the 4 player version, is that game completely new with new maps and labryinths ? Or is it just a rehash of Zelda 3's labryinths for 4 players ?

[The Former DMiller]

LttP is not in the game, and I think the four player version is completely new.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah, this game is a completely new game, and they don't intend on having to ride on the back of LTTP to get it to sell this time.

Anyway, I can tell you one thing. An ENTIRE GAME MODE won't be included in the US version, but IS in the Japanese version. It's a scavenger hunt. I like things like that, so I hope Nintendo comes to their senses and gives it to the Americans, that is, us.

[N_A]

Darn, I was kind of hoping Lttp would be "eternalized" in some kind of modern Gamecube format like the other Zelda games. I heard about that Navi's Trackers mini gamer being dumped as well. Didn't NOA say they would make it a separate game ?


Btw, Nintendo has a pretty good offer on 4 Swords on their website, for $70, it includes the game, the strategy guide, a signed tshirt, the GBA link cable, and a year subscription to NP. You could almost say you bought every item for ~$14 so thats a big saving on the game itself.

[OB1]

DJ, there's no way we're gonna see Tetra's Trackers in the U.S. version. The game is already finished and is going to ship in just a couple of weeks so unless the lied to us and did spend the time and money to get that mode localized, we're out of luck. :(

N_A, all of the maps are new, the game just looks a bit like LttP. No rehashing of old dungeons in the single or multiplayer modes.

[A Black Falcon]

And in single player you control four Links with formations. Something they really should have thought to put in GBA Four Swords...

[OB1]

Give them a break, they only had so much time. The Four Sword item is in the single-player mode of Minish Cap, so I wouldn't be surprised if the mutliplayer mode of Minish Cap (Four Swords 2, I imagine) allowed one person to control four Links.

[Dark Jaguar]

Big savings if you actually WANT all that stuff at once, but if you are like me and ONLY want the game with no need to get the rest, the savings can be found in just buying the game ALONE. Remember, the best way to know you saved is to see what your bank account looks like after either option.

I hadn't heard NOA was going to put the Trackers game in it's own game. That would kinda suck, what with Japan wising up and putting all those games in one. I suppose it's better than not getting the side game at all, but I'd much rather have what the Japanese get.

[N_A]

Well if you only want the game, it will cost your $50 of course, but, if you go to ebgames.com or gamestop.com, you can get the link cable and a t shirt included for $50, so there are some savings there at the same cost of the game. They say preorders only and for limited time.

[Dark Jaguar]

FIRE THE TACO BEAM!

Hmm, anyway, I also heard that Four Swords Adventures was going to launch at a lower price, maybe $40 or something. Could be wrong there.

[N_A]

Well Amazon.com has it listed for $50 without any bonus items, so I'm guessing MSRP is $50.

[OB1]

It's going to be $50, as I've been complaining about for the past few months, DJ. :p

[N_A]

So you might as well pick up some extra stuff while youre paying the same amount of money.

[A Black Falcon]

$50 does seem a bit much for this game... unless the adventure is pretty long, but when they include several other games in it (and then cut one out and don't drop the price??) I wonder about that...

[N_A]

Well thats what I'm saying. Might as well pick up as many goodies as you can to make up for it.

[A Black Falcon]

Or wait until they lower the price. :)

[Dark Jaguar]

Your offer cost more though. The preorder to get some stuff that doesn't actually raise the price seems fine though. Still, I really wish Nintendo would give us the stamp hunt, and not as another game later on...

[A Black Falcon]

IGN review. :)

http://cube.ign.com/articles/520/520523p1.html

And DJ, a comment from it about Tetra's Trackers...

Players who imported the Japanese Four Swords will notice that one of the three gameplay modes is absent from the US release. "Navi Trackers," a narrated scavenger hunt for one to four players (with GBAs only) got the axe due to localization difficulties -- and because it just wasn't very good.

[OB1]

Still, the game cost $10 more here and is missing an entire gameplay mode. And "localization difficulties" translates to "Nintendo is cheap and lazy".

[Dark Jaguar]

Let US decide how good it is or isn't. The scavenger hunt to learn the hurricane spin in LTTP, involving riddles, was a VERY enjoyable experience for me. Racing in all directions trying to find all sorts of stamps I think would be fun!

Seriously, what were they thinking? I REALLY hope this doesn't make a precedent for removing other entire game modes from future games...

"We removed Hard Mode because it was hard." "We decided Americans wouldn't like playing as a ninja, so we removed the ninja gameplay mode." "We had trouble translating "It'sa me, Mario!" into English so we decided not to bring Super Mario Funtastic Adventure to the US."

[A Black Falcon]

I'd care a lot more if the reviews didn't all say that the mode was for a young audience, boring, and just not too well done... but as it is? I don't mind much. We aren't missing out on much, for sure.

[Great Rumbler]

They still should have left it in...and only charge $40 for it.

[A Black Falcon]

Why $40 and not $50? First, it comes with a GBA-GC link cable in the box. That's $10 right there. And second, the main game is 24 levels, which take upwards of 20 mins each... IGN estimated 20 hours for the main game (in single player or not)...

[Great Rumbler]

That's how much it cost in Japan...actually I don't really care how much they charge, because I never really wanted it that much anyway.

[A Black Falcon]

It looks good. I'll almost certainly get it eventually... sure, it's not a traditional Zelda game and is instead basically a sequence of dungeons, but I like action-RPGs, so that's fine...

[Dark Jaguar]

It's more action adventure, and for me the difference is that in one, the thing you concentrate on is the stats, and the other concentrates on pure arcade style fighting skill, ignoring stats almost completely. Anyway, I enjoyed Four Swords, so the sequel certainly intrigues me. However, reading about NES and SNES games, it annoyed me to NO end to find out about all sorts of things changed or removed from those games for the American release. For example, due to NOA's stranglehold on Square at the time, they forced them to censor and ease up the US release. This was later actually altered a little further and released as an Easy Type in Japan, but it was originally made due to NOA's demans. Nintendo Japan had no problem with either the complexity or the story of the original, so they didn't ask for anything to be changed. Playing the PS1 port, and reading various FAQs on the changes, it's really a rather drastic difference and the game by all accounts is MUCH funner in it's original form. For example, the Dark Wave is just plain cool :D.

My point is, from N64 on for a long time companies had finally seemed to get their collective act together and stop doing this butchering to the US versions of games (some cases of voice acting aside :D), and they have been doing a really good job on translations it seems. This sort of thing is a step in the WRONG direction! The idea that "the US gamers wouldn't like this mode" was a bad idea during the NES and SNES days and it's a BAD idea now!

[A Black Falcon]

True, an action-RPG like Diablo or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance has a lot of stat building and item collection while this has none. But that's not the only indicator... Gauntlet: Legends/Dark Legacy has stat building and item collection but I doubt many people would call it an action-RPG, for instance. It's more a pure action game. Each game needs to be examined seperately. In this case, I don't know. It is not a standard Zelda game -- not without item collection, stat building, and overworld, towns, etc... it's a lot closer to a action-RPG/action game in the sense of Gauntlet or BGDA, I think. Or any action-oriented dungeon hack game... there are a lot of them. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is another one to compare it to genre-wise.

As for the third mode, they probably just thought that given how not-good it was that it wasn't worth the effort.