Nintendo held the first of their two Nintendo Directs for the week this morning, and admittedly, it didn't end up being what I expected. Given the precedent set by the Mario 35th Anniversary Direct and the segment in last year's September Direct dedicated to Mario's 40th, I went into this expecting a barrage of news from all facets of the franchise.
Instead, it really was just the movie and the Ocarina of Time remake, plus some other stuff like a concert series and the previously leaked special edition console and controller. Not that that is inherently a bad thing. I simply let my expectations balloon a little out of control for this one.
Regardless, while I intend to cover everything, including my thoughts on the stunning gameplay debut for the Ocarina of Time remake, all at once after tomorrow's general Direct, I wanted to go ahead and touch on this, as there's not a ton to talk about here.
Following an orchestral tribute to the series that kicked things off, the first thing we saw was a teaser trailer for the upcoming Zelda movie, releasing in theaters next year on April 30th. Unfortunately, this was a very light teaser, only serving to reveal the movie's final title, and nothing more.
That title in question?
The Legend of Zelda.
That's it. No subtitle, no 'Movie' tacked onto the end, just the name of the series, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
Nintendo describes the movie as an original story based on the "stories, ideas and concepts" that have accumulated over the course of the series' 40 year history. In other words, it's not based on any one game, and instead aims to encompass the essence of Zelda into a film, much like what I feel the Mario movies have done. And as someone who has loved both Mario movies thus far, I'm incredibly excited to see what they do with not only a different IP, but an entirely different style of film-making, what with this one being live action.
I'm stoked to see this in theaters, and like the Galaxy Movie, this will likely be another opening night theater trip for me if I'm able. I just wish we saw just a little bit more, like, maybe a single short clip to set the tone.
Ah, well. Even if I found this Direct a bit underwhelming in terms of the quantity of things covered, this was really just the appetizer. We've still got the main event tomorrow, and I'll be sure to report on all the major announcements, plus the OOT remake, in the days that follow! Stay tuned for a full recap of both presentations as well!
