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The Legend of Zelda

Update (10/31): Best Buy now taking pre-orders. You can reserve the bundle here.

Original: Retailers have started to open pre-orders for Nintendo’s just-announced Zelda 3DS XL bundle. GameStop’s up first – you can reserve the product here.

No word yet on whether the bundle will be available at other retailers. If others like Best Buy go live, we’ll update this post.

Nintendo has released new screenshots for Zelda: A Link Between Worlds showing two newly-revealed mini-games: Treacherous Tower and Octoball Derby. Here’s the overview of each shared by the Big N today:

Treacherous Tower involves Link fighting his way through numerous floors filled with a variety of enemies via three difficulty levels, while Octoball Derby sees Link step up to bat in a baseball-inspired minigame situated in Lorule where rupees are earned by smashing pots and knocking over enemies littering the field.

31st October 2013 – Prepare to set foot on the magical soil of Hyrule once more when The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds launches on 22nd November for the Nintendo 3DS family of consoles. As a follow-up to the 1991 Super NES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, get ready to conquer new dungeons, fresh puzzles, and experience new gameplay mechanics which open up the way Link explores Hyrule and the foreign land of Lorule, a corrupted, parallel version of Hyrule.

The story begins in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds with an ominous threat looming over Hyrule. A mysterious, wizardly figure named Yuga has been appearing throughout the land, transforming the kingdom’s seven sages into paintings and spiriting them away into another world. With the future of Hyrule at stake, Link must therefore step into the unknown realm of Lorule and stop Yuga’s nefarious plans in order to restore peace and harmony to his home world.

Nintendo tends to make use of various art styles with the Zelda games. We’ve seen approaches that have been realistic, cel-shaded, and even impressionistic.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker most definitely introduced the biggest change in the series. No one saw the cartoon-like visuals coming, and the style initially caused quite the uproar. It’s in part due to Wind Waker’s original reception that it seems as though Nintendo will be more cautious with art styles in future Zeldas.

Eiji Aonuma, speaking with GamesTM this month, said the development team “will be a bit more careful in the future” with regard to the visual direction of Zelda entries. That being said, Aonuma would be willing “to break new ground again” if an approach was created that would appeal to the developers and players.

Aonuma told the magazine:

“We encountered an awful lot of problems from the drastic leap we took with Wind Waker. I think we will be a bit more careful in the future, but if we find a new approach that not just the developers, but also the users would enjoy then I think we will want to break new ground again. But we haven’t found such an approach yet.”

Thanks to joclo for sending this our way.

A whole bunch of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds details have emerged, covering the first few hours of the game. Needless to say spoilers are abound here. If you’re interested in the information, head past the break.

Nintendo has officially revealed the Zelda 3DS XL bundle for North America. The package, which includes a specially-designed system and a digital copy of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, goes on sale on November 22. Pricing is set at $219.99.

Thankfully, it appears that the product will not be exclusive to GameStop. You should be able to find the bundle at most major retailers.

For the official announcement, head past the break.


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