I never played it either.
I've always assumed it's a full actual game but I guess I could be wrong.
Never had the chance to play it in the past as I've never had anyone to play it with.
But now I have my girlfriend who I'll play it with and I can always play it solo now too.

It's not as large of a game as the Gamecube one is. It is fairly small, but the new challenges and other added content should be enough of a game.

I'm SOOO EXCITED for the release of this game!

Am I the only one going to play local multiplayer mode.

I really want to play this on my DSi more than on my 3DS, but I have this weird obsession with getting accurate data on my 3DS Activity Log. Every time I try to play a DS game on my DSi, I think, "This is all time that could be added to my Activity log! The data is going to be inaccurate now!" and then I switch over to my 3DS, even though they look worse on it.

"The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition will be released for DSiWare on the DSi and 3DS's shops on the 28th of September, for free, in both North America and Europe/UK. However, there is a catch. The title will be removed from the shops on the 20th of February, and will be unavailable to download. In Four Swords, Link gets split into four different Links (Red, Blue, Purple and the classic Green) by the Four Sword, and these four Links must find and slay Vaati to save Princess Zelda. The game will have not only four player multiplayer, but also a new single player mode this time around.

In single player mode, besides your Link, there will be a second (supposedly) computer-controlled Link to help you on your quest. Each Link can be controlled individually, if you so wish. This version of Four Swords has 2 new areas with 3 levels each: Hero's Trial and Realm of Memories. Hero's Trial is composed of elements from all the other stages, and beating it unlocks Link's famous Hurricane Spin. Realm of Memories is a throwback to days of old, and is composed of famous locations from previous Zelda titles. Conquering Realm of Memories nets you the Master Sword. In addition to the new Realm of Memories and Hero's Trial, there are four other areas to venture through. Assuming the stages share their names with the original Four Swords, the stages are: Chambers of Insight (Tutorial), Sea of Trees, Talus Cave, Death Mountain, and Vaati’s Palace. At the end of these themed areas, the Link with the highest rupees becomes the overall winner, so you can play completely cooperatively, or more competitively if you want. The game's art style is similar to Minish Cap's."

The new areas seems interesting. Especially the new Realm of Memories. Since I don't see any videos of the game in action here, I'll just take the liberty to embed some.

I've always wanted to play the Gameboy version of Four Swords, but there was never anyone to play it with. Glad there's a single-player mode this time around.

the three new maps look really cool, one from the original zelda, then links awakening, and the last map of link to the past. those new maps look really good to me.

can't wait for this to come out... only one more week. btw, they are also adding the ability to play this game by yourself which stopped me from playing it years ago since originally it was for 2+ players. so very happy about that

Can you play with 3 players? or is it just 2 or 4?

Yeah, you can play with 3 players. The level designs will be tailored to 3 players as well. What I'm wondering is you can only play with 2 Links in 1 player mode.

The game changes based on the number of players, i.e. number of Links it takes to move a block, etc. I played with one other person and it worked just fine (on the GBA version at least)

So how long of a game is this? Is it anywhere near the length of say... Link to the past?
Did they ever mention if this version will have online multiplayer?

Not very. The original only took a couple of hours. But with the new content it may take longer.

As for online, I doubt it considering it's free and it's a DSiware game

The gameplay looks awesome. I can't wait for Wednesday.

So is this the four swords game with randomly generated dungeons?

I don't think the dungeons are randomly generated as much as the game cycles between a couple for each level. I think there are two versions of any given level for each instance of the number of characters. For example, level 1 will have 2 different dungeons for 2 players, 2 different dungeons for 3 players, and 2 different dungeons for 4 players.

The original Four Swords had randomly generated dungeons, too. The way it works is that each dungeon consists of several sections, and each world also has several possible "level blocks" that can go into these sections.

So, let's assume there are 20 sections, labeled A-T, in a dungeon that looks like this:

XXX
XXX
XXX

Every time you enter it, the game will automatically choose some level blocks to go into each of those X's
So you can get a dungeon that looks like this:
AFE
KSB
NGD

or one that looks like this:
AMG
OPD
QBS

The second one will obviously feel pretty familiar, but it will also have some new unknown stuff. Even after you see all the individual blocks, you never know which blocks you'll end up with n that dungeon this time.

OMG, I am the EXACT same way with my activity log. I never play DS games on anything other than 3DS and I don't like leaving games running un-attended for long periods of time or else the data will be wrong. I thought I was the only one who was weird about this. Glad to know I'm not

just think about it as of 4 dungeons with the generic themes ( woods , lava , ice, forgot last...) + generic boss fights
It got all those zelda item puzzles we all like, oh and the long term fun comes from the randomly created dungeons and the rupee hunt competition.
There are different items included like bow , minish cap( actually first mention of minish cap in any zelda game), bombs, scepter etc.
Oh and you can wear only ONE item at any given time , so for specific quests you have to coop with allies or even change items!!!

Really i dont think it will be fun playing alone. It's meant to be multiplayer , the fun evolves around interaction with each other.
(interaction with self sounds creepy ...)

Just a tip hold out with the game until you can grab 1-3 friends and then blaze through it ! As a multiplayer game its really fun then.
Especially if you throw your allies into the abyss

cheers

It's really worth to hold out on that game until you find gamers to play it with.
I would even consider waiting 5 years for this game until you eventually find a multiplayer compagnon.
(game cant run away from your 3Ds, only if it starts to grow feet ...)
Really its just awesome in multiplayer. If you search singeplayer zelda blizz you are better of with ANY other eShop zelda title.
I just think with the singleplayer you just spoil for yourself the coop fun of the four swords !!!
It's even ok with a stranger in train if you got 15 minutes time or such. For each dungeon about 15 minutes should be enough time to complete it with the boss battle ...
Each finished dungeon is saved and you return to the select overworld map afterwards ...
Dont panic