Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios needed to make a Zelda recreation within the model of Last Fantasy Techniques, however the thought was shot down by Nintendo earlier than improvement might start in earnest.
Developed in 2004, Heroes of Hyrule was described by Retro Studios in an inside pitch doc as “a story-driven recreation of exploration, puzzle-solving, and strategic fight within the Zelda universe.” Designed for the Nintendo DS, it was supposed to “attraction to followers of video games corresponding to earlier Zelda titles and Last Fantasy Techniques”.
Gameplay and story particulars concerning the canceled recreation have been not too long ago revealed by YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming?, which acquired the sport’s full 22-page pitch doc from former Retro workers.
Misplaced in time, misplaced in area
Heroes of Hyrule would have combined the turn-based fight of Last Fantasy Techniques with the standard journey gameplay of the Zelda collection. Gamers would have fought teams of enemies in discrete tactical fight encounters, in between fixing puzzles throughout an open world.
A lot of the Heroes of Hyrule would have taken place 100 years in the past, and adopted Hyperlink as he teamed up with three unique characters – Dunar the Goron, Seriph the Rito, and Krel the Zora – to cease Ganon. Aping the strategic RPG gameplay of Last Fantasy Techniques, the 4 heroes would have boasted distinct weapons, fight talents and playstyles. Whereas there can be no XP or leveling system, you’d amass armor, weapons, and coronary heart items to enhance your character’s stats.
Puzzle-solving would have been given a big focus, too. Progressing by means of the hunt, you’d regularly purchase new gadgets with which to unravel puzzles and reveal new, beforehand locked areas, a lot in the identical means Samus acquires new gadgets to unlock areas in Metroid.
In between adventuring with Hyperlink and pals, gamers would additionally play as Kori, a boy dwelling in present-day Hyrule. Following the standard Zelda-style RPG method, you’d discover an open world, converse to NPCs, and full quests to regularly acquire pages of a mysterious outdated guide. These segments would have been stuffed with minigames reasonably than fight.
Every web page of the guide would inform a portion of Hyperlink’s quest to cease Ganon, and transport you into the previous to play by means of the story your self. The 2 time intervals would finally intersect, because it’s revealed the guide is in actual fact a vessel that was used to entice Ganon. The villain returns within the last scene, just for the three heroes of the story to burst out of the guide’s pages, and the participant to greatest him in a last battle.
Retro labored on Heroes of Hyrule in 2004 whereas ending the event of Metroid Prime 2. It pitched the sport following the discharge of Last Fantasy Techniques Advance, which launched on the Recreation Boy Advance to vital and business success the earlier 12 months. However Nintendo handed on the venture, asking Retro to maneuver straight onto Metroid Prime 3. In keeping with Retro Studios programmer Paul Tozour, Nintendo was eager for the studio to create an acclaimed FPS to point out off the capabilities of the Nintendo Wii.
Work on Heroes of Hyrule stopped after the pitch was turned down by Nintendo and no early construct of the sport was ever developed. Retro Studios is at the moment at work on Metroid Prime 4.
