Guardian Ape – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Immortality in Sekiro is a curse, something you learn firsthand when dealing with the Guardian Ape. It’s torturous enough with its grabs, slams and dung and you’d think things would end upon severing its head. However, the Guardian Ape resurrects and utilizes the sword embedded in its neck along with Terror to make the fight even more annoying. Stabbing its centipede ends the fight but won’t permanently kill the ape. Instead, when traveling to the Ashina Depths, you fight the Headless Ape again, only this time it receives some backup from its mate. Defeating it will result in the centipede taking a rest…until you come back with the Mortal Blade and kill it for good.

Cloud Strife – Final Fantasy 7 to Final Fantasy 7 Remake

The iconic Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 will be making his return soon in the remake. However, the process behind his iconic look is interesting – the spiky hair was meant as a contrast to antagonist Sephiroth but also to keep the polygon count low. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children – and by extension Crisis Core – saw Cloud have a realistic design for the first time with defined hair and facial features. Numerous models were used to capture different expressions and Cloud’s general attire combined elements of his old outfit with a darker, more contemporary look. The overall aim was to showcase how much time had passed in the world and how the guilt of losing Aerith weighed down on him.

In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Cloud once again sports a more realistic look in keeping with the game’s high fidelity approach. His hair and facial expressions are more defined; the overall outfit has a darker look in keeping with Advent Children; and several elements like the waistband, baggy pants and boots are toned down to look more proportionally accurate. Regardless, this is Cloud Strife through and through.

Doom Marine/Slayer – Doom 1 to Doom Eternal

Though mostly represented as the gun mowing down demon hordes, the Doom Marine or Doomguy had a distinctive design. A helmet covering his entire face, save for a visor over his eyes; chest armor with short sleeves; and the signature green shade adorned the entire set. It was iconic and meant to represent the Marine as a human facing overwhelming odds. Doom 2 didn’t make any major changes to this design. The older games emphasized sprites over full 3D models and this was reflected in whatever we saw of Doomguy.

In Doom 3, however, the human aspect of the Marine was emphasized more, showcasing his face fully. The clothing is more distinct from the armor (he now wears a separate t-shirt below the same); the ab window below the chest plate is covered up; and the pauldrons are more accentuated. All of this to reinforce the Marine being prepared but not overwhelmingly powerful, perfect for the game’s survival horror approach. The Marine was packing an estimated 4400 to 5000 polygons and id Tech 4 allowed for real-time light computation, MegaTextures and shadow volumes to bring the world to life in a creepier way.

With DOOM in 2016, id Software made significant changes to the protagonist. Known as the Doom Slayer now, he had full-body armor with more plating, weathered textures, darker shades of green, and a significantly taller build. It fit well with the Slayer’s motif of being an unstoppable badass that could shred entire armies of demons. The game was developed on id Tech 6 which sported physically based rendering, SMAA and TSSAA anti-aliasing, bokeh depth of field and HDR among many other features, with the aesthetic feeling more heavy metal and visceral than previous titles. Ample amounts of gore and hellish landscapes never looked better.

DOOM Eternal takes the same design, bulks up the Slayer further and adds new weapons like the shoulder mounted cannon and arm-blade. There’s also a return to the classic short sleeves worn by previous Marines.

Jill Valentine – Resident Evil to Resident Evil 3 Remake

An abject professional at heart and in stature, Jill Valentine was designed by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Oishi as an anti-thesis to overly sexualized characters. Sporting tactical boots, gloves and a beret, Jill is as no-nonsense as they come. It’s interesting to note that her outfit in Resident Evil 3 received some criticism at the time for going against Mikami’s initial philosophy.

In the HD remake of Resident Evil 1, Jill’s likeness was based on actor/model Julia Voth. This likeness would define Jill’s look for a number of titles including Resident Evil 5, which saw her undergo the most radical change in design yet. Though the shock value of Jill’s return was palpable – especially with the set-up for her apparent demise – many fans reacted negatively to her form-fitting outfit and blonde hair. Resident Evil: Revelations would see Jill adopting a wet-suit in keeping with the infiltration of the Queen Zenobia cruise ship while retaining aspects of her original design. Perhaps the most surprising bit was seeing her with a ponytail instead of the trademark cropped hair.

In the upcoming Resident Evil 3 remake, Jill’s design has changed once again. Model Sasha Zotova provides her likeness, offering a harsher touch to Jill’s expressions. While the clothes have been kept casual, the darker colours, combat boots and tactical gloves reinforce Jill’s status as a former special ops soldier. The RE Engine also provides more freedom for additional details like dirt, grime, cuts, bruises and sweat. How Jill’s demeanor and overall character will change remains to be seen but so far, the design is in keeping with her original approach.

Master Chief – Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo Infinite

It’s easy to underestimate just how many changes Chief’s attire has gone through in the years. This is explained in-universe as upgrades to the Mjolnir Armor. Master Chief was first designed by Bungie developer Robert McLees, art director Marcus Lehto and concept artist Shi Kai Wang. After receiving some more muscle, the Chief would receive his trademark green shade and we got the motorcycle helmet-esque wearing marine in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Halo 2 saw the armor gain much more definition, both in terms of details, texture quality and polygon count. Instead of bright green, Bungie opted for a darker shade. This was carried over into Halo 3 where the armor looked more singular as opposed to a variety of armor sections. Improvements to lighting gave more definition to all of the details, and it felt like the Chief had truly made a generational leap. Then 343 Industries took over the franchise with Halo 4 releasing in 2012.

If Master Chief wasn’t a space marine before, it was heavily reinforced this time. His armor was highly detailed with several more components and looked to have Kevlar weaved into the mesh. Eventually, this gave way to a more streamlined design in Halo 5: Guardians. The overall tone felt less busy and seemingly a combination of the designs in Halo 3 and 4.

With Halo Infinite, 343 Industries is making a rather interesting return to the Mark VI armor from Halo 2 and 3. The green tint is more vibrant than before and the shoulder pads are more defined than Bungie’s iterations. But this feels, once again, like a natural evolution of Chief’s design from the older games.

Link – The Legend of Zelda to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

The Legend of Zelda is an amalgamation of timelines, alternate universes and reincarnations. However, throughout it all, the hero Link has always maintained his signature blond hair and green tunic. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, Link started out as a simple sprite in a top-down perspective. He gained more detail and colour in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, mostly due to the game’s side-scrolling nature, but The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past returned to the top-down perspective with a much more defined sprite with more colours.

From there, Link would see a number of design changes depending on the game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time saw the hero in full 3D for the first time and, as a contrast to previous adventures, featured an adult version with sharper facial features and a white undershirt and pants. The Wind Waker depicted Link with a cel-shaded style channeling the animated style and energy of the adventure with complex facial expressions and animations. Games like The Minish Cap would channel this style, emulating Link’s bright blond hair. Link’s model was about 2600 to 2800 polygons – this would be quickly surpassed by Twilight Princess, which saw our hero in a mature form right off the bat. His overall outfit was a darker shade of green with more defined gauntlets and even brownish blond hair.

For Skyward Sword, Link was a teenager but his outfit returned to the bright green shades of yore while his gauntlets were replaced by gloves. The overall aesthetic was more fantastical as opposed to the gritty atmosphere of Twilight Princess while borrowing some cel-shading from The Wind Waker. Brighter colours to reflect the game’s emphasis on the sky.

It’s interesting when you look at Breath of the Wild – Link’s design went through a number of changes including variants of the blue tunic that eventually made it in. Cel-shading was applied again, giving the world a more stylized animated feel without going over the top like The Wind Waker. With the upcoming Breath of the Wild sequel, Nintendo seems keen on replicating the same look, with Zelda taking some cues from it as well, perhaps hinting at her being a playable character.

Someone at Best Buy really has a bone to pick with Nintendo, because they seem to be leaking a whole lot of Switch stuff. We already discussed how the Joker render for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Persona 5 for Switch, and Metroid Prime Trilogy for Switch were all leaked by Best Buy. Now here’s one more that will cause many to furrow their brows in cultured bafflement: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Nintendo Switch.

Not Link’s Awakening (which has already been announced for the Switch, and exists as such in Best Buy’s system). A Link to the Past. Why is A Link to the Past there? It’s hugely unlikely it’s coming this year, since Link’s Awakening is coming this year. So at the earliest it’s a game coming next year—why is it in the system already if it’s not even going to be releasing for over a year?

It is worth noting that Best Buy has removed the listings for all three of the leaked games from their internal systems as of this morning. Whether that’s because they were fake and Best Buy is scrubbing them from their system, or because they were real, and they are damage controlling, remains to be seen.

alright Best Buy is wild. Now there's a listing for THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST for Switch. Not making any of this up.

Link's Awakening is already on Best Buy's system so it's not a mistake pic.twitter.com/5SjguAwz5I

— Wario64 (@Wario64) April 3, 2019

Multiple WoW Characters, One Player, All Achievements – Ataxus

You may have heard of Ataxius, Ataxas, Ataxus, Ataxxus, Ataxa and so on (three of those sound like the same name but trust us, they’re different). These World of Warcraft characters managed to hit the top 5 rankings in the MMO at some point. Lest you think they’re just the same guild, they’re actually controlled by the exact same person. Using multiboxing, this single person managed to control all five at once and got all 1954 achievements with each one. If it weren’t obvious already, this is a task that took years of work.

From the trailer it really does look like we’re getting the best of all Zelda worlds. Great graphics, fun animation styles, simple and challenging combat, plus the addition of a new wall walking ability. And the very bold of heart can venture to battle Shadow Link.

All in all, A Link Between Worlds, which releases November 22nd on Nintendo 3DS looks as though it will be a must buy for anyone with a 3DS. Even if you’re not a fan of the Zelda series, from the looks of things I can’t see this game not taking advantage of all of the capabilities the Nintendo 3DS has to offer.

It will still retain the classic top-down view but make use of stereoscopic 3D. It will be available some time this year, although a more specific release date is to be announced.

The 2D top-down title first released in November 1991 and introduced many of the mainstays for the Zelda franchise. This includes weapons like the Hammer and Hookshot, an alternate or “Dark” world to Hyrule that affects the primary world and much more. The original A Link to the Past is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time.

Ocarina of Time 3D

Nintendo gave in to something fans had been demanding for a long time last year when they finally released a remake of the N64 classic Zelda title, Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. Talks of a new Zelda game have been circulating for a long time now, and several ideas have been thrown around- a completely new title, a Majora’s Mask remake, or maybe a A Link to the Past remake (not exactly for the 3DS, though). And now it looks like fans aren’t the only ones confused between these choices.

During an interview with IGN, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto said the team is still deciding between a Majora’s Mask remake or something to do with A Link to the Past (either a sequel or a remake).

“We haven’t quite decided yet, whether we’re going to do A Link to the Past, because there’s also the possibility of doing a remake of Majora’s Mask,” Miyamoto said. “his is something we’ve certainly been talking about and doing a little bit of experimenting with, to figure out which way we’re going to go.”

He said he cannot announce anything right now and that Zelda fans around the world are going to have to wait a little more. “We have so many goals right now,” he said. “We’re always looking at expanding our audience and giving people the opportunity to get their hands on 3DS and see what kind of fun gaming experiences they can have.

“And now, we’re also tasked with pushing the Wii U. So we have lots of good opportunities in terms of thinking about which Zelda game is going to be best for which purpose.”

Well, we would certainly like to see all three of those, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with the sequel to ALttP. All three are equally tempting, though. Which one do you want to see? Tell us in your comments below.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary games designer from Nintendo wants to revive The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past again for the Wii U.

“I think I’d be even more interested in creating something new maybe based on, or starting from, A Link To The Past,” he said to Develop.

“I think it’s important to bring some really new software.”

He also said that it was going to be tough and it depends on how many directors are available at Nintendo.

“To be very honest and open, it really depends on the directors that have time at the moment as well,” he said.

“Some directors, I can give them the title and I know they will do something great with it. Other directors I’m not so 100 per cent confident [in], so they’re the ones I’d rather take a more remake approach to the title. It really depends on that as well,” he revealed.

He wasn’t that sure about F-Zero either.

“I think at the time it was a really big surprise, a new thing, a product that made sense. I don’t see with current hardware how you could create a similar surprise,” he said.

“But maybe with future hardware, with Wii U coming up, maybe we could create something that does make sense, either as a smaller game, or a fully fledged title.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

We’ve all been clamoring for a A Link to the Past remake for so long now, and Nintendo have not heard our pleas. But it looks like they might be considering something after all. When asked by GamesRadar if the 2D classic will ever get a revamp, Aonuma said that he and Miyamoto were considering revamping 2D Zelda games in glorious 3D.

“Even Mr. Miyamoto himself has been talking recently about going back to the 2D Zelda games,” he said. “n particular the ones that were designed with multiple levels to the world like A Link to the Past, and taking those 2D graphics and recreating them in 3D so that you could get a sense for the depth of those worlds.

“That’s something that might be interesting to do, so I would say there might be a possibility of something like that in the future.”

It’d sure be a  bummer if we never got to play Link to the Past in 3D. Let’s hope they do go through with this.

Stay tuned for more updates.