All aboard! Next stop, Zelda: Spirit Tracks this month.

[Edgerock]

http://www.zelda.com/spirittracks/

Plus the latest trailer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekrmfau-B5Q











Plus Zelda herself for once isn't totally useless outside the final battle...

[Dr. BUGMAN]

So typically menacing and mysterious. Instant popular, just add water.

[Edgerock]

Also some returning chaps from the Wind Waker and some more new ones...

[Crowbar]

So typically menacing and mysterious. Instant popular, just add water.

Sorry, but all I can look at is TWO HATS??

If this turns out better than Phantom Hourglass I may get this. It's been a long time since I bought a game. Have to admit that trailer didn't look bad.

[Neo]

Vaati?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

That looks nothing like Vaati. If anyone, it looks like Ezlo (human form, of course).

[Crazy Penguin]

Apparently she's called Anjean. At first I thought she might be an elderly Tetra. Anyone else think it's really cool that this has an elderly Niko? Not a descendant, but the actual original Niko from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. The Zelda series has been doing the generational thing for years now, with all the different descendants of Malon and Talon and Zelda and so on, but this is the first time it's skipped forward just enough years to have a new Link but still have older versions of previous cast memberes (with the exception of Ganon, and Twinrova I suppose).

[The Turtle Guy]

Sorry, but all I can look at is TWO HATS??

I'm pretty sure he's hiding his horns under those.

It may just be the art style, but the big train with a face their reminds me a bit of the Red Lions boat. Maybe it's the nose.

[K2J]

I'm pretty sure he's hiding his horns under those.

Nintendo Power mentioned this, but I thought it was a joke of some kind.

[The Turtle Guy]

I also like that Four Swords-looking image of the Multiplayer. It's just kind of nostalgic, is all.

The multiplayer in PH was 2P, IIRC, or at least the Online version was. I wonder how it would work with multiple Links running around.

I'm looking forward to seeing what they do to expand that portion of the gameplay.

[j-man]

That locomotive (IT'S NOT A TRAIN GODDAMNIT) with the face is wicked sick. That's like some brutal Thomas the Tank Engine shit.

[Malchik]

The Zelda franchise has gone real cyberpunk these last few installments.

[j-man]

Not really.

[Malchik]

Yah, I'd say so.

[j-man]

Seriously, give me an example.

[Yami CJMErl]

That locomotive (IT'S NOT A TRAIN GODDAMNIT) with the face is wicked sick. That's like some brutal Thomas the Tank Engine shit.

Thomas the Tank Engline...by Frank Miller.

[The Turtle Guy]

Well, maybe not cyberpunk (unless the Twilight Realm counts) but PH and this one have a real Steampunk feel to them.

[Esrever]

I hope Zelda really does go steampunk for a game. That would be awesome!

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Zelda has been dipping its toes into steampunk since Majora's Mask (see: Goht). Steam-tech was largely ingnored, or rather less overt in the WInd Waker; the treasure hunters', and Beetle's boats move without sails (if memory serves, at least one operated via paddlewheels), thus hinting at steampower. It wasn't till Phantom Hourglass that people started noticing it.

Also, Four Swords isn't old enough to be nostalgic.

[Malchik]

Well, maybe not cyberpunk (unless the Twilight Realm counts) but PH and this one have a real Steampunk feel to them.

Steampunk is definitely a better classification.

[Shadow Hog]

The game looks fun, but I just have one qualm.

God dammit Nintendo stop making me speak into my DS' microphone in a Zelda game the mechanic doesn't mesh well with the series at all ffs

Stylus control? Fine. Lack of a proper overworld? Disappointing, but at least the rails mechanic means it's more straightforward to get where I'm going. Forcing me to speak - nay, yell into my microphone, to the embarrassment of myself and those around me? Sort of a deal-breaker.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Heh, yelling into the game has been around since the begging.



It was something we were spared thanks to swappable controllers (which left many head scratchings since the flute did jack shit to 'em).

Anyway, just blow into the microphone if it makes you that self-conscious.

[The Turtle Guy]

Yeah, just blow. I love how the cannon makers tease you after a yelling bit. They're all, "I hope you didn't actually yell. That would have been awkward. You know you could just blow or snap your fingers, right?"

[Shadow Hog]

Blowing is okay, yeah, but there's a shot at the end of GameTrailers' review for Spirit Tracks where you have to explicitly say something to a girl, as to whether she looks cute or ugly (I think?) in a certain dress. I sincerely doubt blowing is going to work for situations like that.

[Crowbar]

Wait, you mean the DS is actually capable of speech recognition?

I call hijinks.