The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計 Zeruda no Densetsu Mugen no Sunadokei, literally "The Legend of Zelda: Hourglass of Fantasies"), is the fourteenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series released on the Nintendo DS in Japan on June 23, 2007, in North America on October 1, 2007, in Australia on October 11, 2007, and Europe on October 19, 2007.

Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It features 3D cel-shaded graphics with a 2D overhead camera perspective, and is played using several features of the DS for game controls, including the Touch Screen and microphone. Although Phantom Hourglass is not the first entry in the series to include a multiplayer mode, it is the first to have online competition using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Story
Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and is set several months after the events of The Wind Waker. The game starts out like the opening of The Wind Waker, telling the story of what happened in that game. The story is left off with Link riding aboard Tetra's ship. Link, Tetra and her pirates are at sea looking out for the "Ghost Ship" rumored to sail the waters in that area, taking sailors and residents from the nearby islands. Tetra, convinced that the Ghost Ship is simply a bunch of trouble-making pirates, is determined to teach them that pirates have rules, too. When a mysterious ship appears in the middle of a dense fog, Tetra jumps aboard to explore. As Tetra screems the ship pulls away and begins to vanish with her on board. Link attempts to leap over and save her only to fall into the water himself.

After having a vision of Tetra being surrounded by darkness and calling for his help, Link is washed up on Mercay Island and meets a fairy named Ciela, whose appearance is similar to that of Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The fairy has lost her memory and decides to team up with Link. On Mercay Island, Link meets an old man named Oshus who provides him with a sword. Link travels to the far side of the island and meets Captain Linebeck in the Temple of the Ocean King, while he is searching for treasure inside. The temple drains the life out of living thing if one stays in it for too long.

In the first half of the game, Link must rescue three spirits: the Spirit of Power from the Temple of Fire, the Spirit of Wisdom from the Temple of Wind, and the Spirit of Courage from the Temple of Courage. These fairies join Link and assist him in the Ocean King's Temple, where he receives the Phantom Hourglass, allowing him to resist the draining effect of the temple. After defeating the boss of the Temple of Courage, the Fairy of Courage is saved... but unlike the other two, it has no colour. Oshus arrives at the Island and fuses Ciela with the colourless fairy, revealing that she is the Fairy of Courage herself.

With the help of the spirits Lineback and Link then set off to pursue the Ghost Ship. After rescuing and defeating four evil sisters on the ship, Link and Lineback discover that Tetra has been turned to stone. The old man Oshus then arrives and reveals that he is in fact the Ocean King. According to him, a few years ago, an evil monster named Bellum appeared, hungry to eat the life-force possesed by all living things. He used this absorbed force to create powerful monsters, such as the dungeon bosses and the phantoms in the Temple of the Ocean King, and used them to seal away the three fairies of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Ciela, the Fairy of Courage, was able to create an "alter ego" of herself and fled, but she also lost her memory. The Ocean King tried to fight Bellum but failed with his true self still sealed by his evil.

Link then learns that the only way to defeat Bellum is to forge the Phantom Sword from three unique, "pure metals" around the local islands. After collecting the materials and forging the Phantom Sword, Link descends to the bottom level of the Temple, and initially appears to defeat Bellum. Tetra is freed from the statue form and revived, but just the group is about celebrate there victory, Bellum reemerges from the ocean depths and takes Tetra again, posessing the Ghost Ship while doing so. In the ensuing battle of the S.S. Linebeck and the Ghost Ship, Linebeck's ship is lost, as well as Oshus, and Link and Tetra are captured. Linebeck then reluctantly picks up the Phantom Sword shivering with fear and is able to free Link and Tetra at the cost of his own freedom, but is able to give Link back the Phantom Sword before Bellum possesses Linebeck and turns him into a huge Phantom; Link is ultimately able to fully defeat Bellum without harming Linebeck.

As the adventure closes, the sand from the Phantom Hourglass is released into the sea. Oshus, now in his true form of a white blue whale, readies to depart with the Spirits, while Linebeck, surprising everyone, wishes not for treasure but for his ship back. After everyone says their goodbyes, Link and Tetra find themselves back on the pirate ship, where it seems only ten minutes have passed since Tetra jumped on board the Ghost Ship. The rest of the crew say nothing too bad had happend and they insist that all of there adventure had been a dream. However, Link still possesses the now-empty Hourglass, and spies Linebeck's ship on the horizon, knowing full well that his adventure was real.

Gameplay
The gameplay in this Nintendo DS game is mostly overhead, similar to most 2D The Legend of Zelda titles, but the character models and the environments are in 3D. The rendering environment is similar to Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube, and somewhat like the Nintendo DS sequel to Animal Crossing. The touch screen is used to show the main gameplay, used to control Link, or to solve puzzles (such as the hourglass shape at the beginning of the trailer shown at GDC), while the upper screen is mostly used as a map screen. The map can also be brought down to the touch screen, allowing the player to write notes on it. It will also be used to create a taller screen in some events, such as the battle scene in the trailer. All boss battles will use both the top and bottom screen. The microphone will be used in some way as well.

Link will have a fairy yet again, similar to Navi and Tatl from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, respectively. Sierra (the fairy) acts as the cursor for touch screen input with the stylus, as the trailer shows the fairy directing Link. However, unlike in the Wii version of Twilight Princess, the fairy and Link will have some form of communication, as revealed in E3 gameplay.

There will be sailing in this title similar to the sailing system found in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Instead of a sail boat however, a steam boat is Link’s mode of transportation, requiring no manipulation of the wind. The boat’s course is plotted ahead of time using the stylus, allowing the player to concentrate on attacking foes with its cannon as the boat travels to its destination point.

Link will be meeting members of new and old races during his adventure. Gorons make an appearance in this game. The lady could just be a hylian fortune teller. A new race makes an appearance. They are called "Anouki" A yeti like race also appears under the name "Yooks" and have had bad dealings with the new race in the past.

There is one "master dungeon" that Link must complete in the game called the Temple of the Ocean King. However, he can only make limited progress, and must work through other dungeons before he is able to proceed further in the primary dungeon. In the "master dungeon" and other locales there are enemies known as "phantom guardians". These enemies follow the player, cannot be defeated until the phantom sword is created, and can lose a heart container of energy and some time from the hourglass if they hit Link.

Footage from the demo shown at E3 2006, official screenshots as well as the official trailer, show a few items included in the game, including bombs, a bow, the boomerang, and a cannon for the boat. An icon in the lower left corner of the touch screen showing the word "Menu" will bring up a menu in which the player can choose their current item, which will appear in the upper right corner.

The Game Developer's Conference of 2007 unveiled a new trailer for the game, which depicted Link getting trapped by enemies and having to rub the touch screen with the stylus repeatedly to escape.

Battle mode
A multiplayer battle mode will also be included in Phantom Hourglass. This battle mode is a 1-on-1 multiplayer game officially dubbed "Hide-and-Go-Seek" by Eiji Aonuma. In an arena, one player takes on the role of Link, while the other player, on defense, controls three Phantom Guardians. Players of both sides are aided by power-up items that shortly appear on the playing field, such as the Pegasus Shoes, a Decoy, a Time Increase and a Whirlwind maker.

Link’s goal is to grab a Force Gem from one of the many zones and carry it to his own base at one side of the arena. The other player, controlling the three Phantom Guardians, must try to find and catch Link before he scores any points. When Link is caught, or if the turn-time has passed, players switch sides. A game consists of three rounds, and in each round, each player takes a turn at both sides. The maximum length of one whole multiplayer game is 12 minutes.

The game will support multiplayer via both local and online of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Weaponry

 * Oshus' Sword
 * Wooden Shield
 * Phantom Sword
 * Boomerang
 * Bombs
 * Cannon
 * Bow and arrows
 * Shovel
 * Hammer
 * Bombchus
 * Grappling Hook

Development
The main objective in the game’s creation was to fully utilize the DS’s hardware, having a Zelda game controlled by the stylus/touch screen alone. Eiji Aonuma hopes the new control scheme will follow through into future Zelda titles, and maybe even other adventure games for the DS.

The first concept for control was that the player would control Link by using the D-pad and buttons, having a 2D map on the bottom screen, while all the visual 3D action would take place on the top screen; similar to Metroid Prime: Hunters. The team found however that this control scheme didn't work well, which saw the change to the 3D stylus method of control as the game uses now.

The game was first shown to the public at the 2006 Game Developers Conference, in the form of a trailer. At E3 2006, the game was in playable form for the visitors, and also saw the introduction of the multiplayer mode. At E3 it was announced to be released in the fourth quarter of 2006, but as Nintendo kept quiet on the game in the months following, it became apparent it was going to be delayed and in late November, it was officially announced to be delayed into 2007. At the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Nintendo announced the game will be released in the USA in the 2007 holiday season.[3]

The reason for Phantom Hourglass' long delay was recently revealed in an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto. According to him, he had been so busy developing Twilight Princess that he had not been able to get involved in the creation process for Phantom Hourglass at all. When Twilight Princess was finally finished, he was able to look at the nearly finished beta for Phantom Hourglass, and he desperately wanted to become creatively involved in it. He begged Iwata to delay the game, in order to allow him that opportunity. In the interview, Miyamoto apologizes to fans for the delay, but states that the title will be "much better".

Four Swords DS
The project initially started out as a Four Swords game for the DS, and the same team, having discovered the potential of cel-shaded graphics on the console, ultimately decided to opt for a single player adventure instead. When Nintendo first announced the Nintendo DS at E3 2004, Eiji Aonuma also hinted at a The Legend of Zelda title for the system. Shigeru Miyamoto stated in October 2004 "We're thinking of bringing Zelda: Four Swords to the DS", but Aonuma later remarked that the idea never reached the development stage.. In late 2005, Aonuma told Electronic Gaming Monthly in an interview that the new The Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo DS would not be a Four Swords title, and rumors were finally put to rest when Nintendo announced Phantom Hourglass as the actual DS project at the 2006 Game Developers Conference.

Release
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was released in Japan on June 23rd, 2007, at around 4 months ahead of the North American version. The North American version will be released on October 1 2007 As a special bonus for Nintendo's rewards club, My Nintendo members who register the game and their Nintendo DS hardware at MyNintendo.com and fill out a short survey will receive a special Nintendo DS stylus that looks like an old-fashioned quill pen, modeled after an item in the game (although the pen is subject to availability). As of now it is unknown when the European version of the game will be released or if Europeans are eligible to receive the quill pen stylus.

Reception
At both E3 2006 and 2007, Phantom Hourglass won the Game Critics Awards for Best Handheld Game.

On the stylus-driven control scheme, Chris Kohler of Wired gaming blog Game|Life noted that "there seems to be absolutely zero learning curve. Playing with the stylus feels totally natural," predicting that it "will be copied endlessly from here on out. It is like a textbook of how to use a touch screen for a third-person action game."

In issue 179 of Edge, Phantom Hourglass scored 9 out of 10, the UK magazine saying "Phantom Hourglass is a game completely remoulded by its platform. It achieves the deep, all-encompassing synthesis with the most hardware that Nintendo's designers are famous for, but hadn't yet attempted with the idiosyncratic features of the all-things-to-all-men DS. It is an instinctive, ingenious joy to play for every minute, and it sets a new gold standard for game interface design on any platform."

Phantom Hourglass received a 97 out of 100 from Australian gaming magazine Hyper, the highest score it has given to a handheld game.

IGN writer Mark Bozon gave the title a 9.0, saying that it was much more casual and less for the hardcore gamer, but nonetheless was an enthralling piece of software for the Nintendo DS, pushing the system to its limits and using the DS in every way possible. He did, however, criticize the game for being "too simple" and its online features, citing the trading aspect as being unneeded and its Battle Mode for not being as deep or fun as Four Swords.

Sales
In terms of early sales reports, Phantom Hourglass shipped 400,000 copies to Japanese retailers, and over 350,000 of those sold in the first week. These sales on par with The Wind Waker ' s release (around 350,000) in Japan, and just behind Ocarina of Time (500,000) and Majora's Mask (400,000) as the third best opening week for a Zelda title.

As of September 30 2007, Phantom Hourglass has sold 1.35 million copies worldwide, with 910,000 of those copies being sold in Japan.

Screenshots
es:The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass