New Zelda

During the Game Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, Nintendo was given a prime slot to showcase all-new footage of The Legend of Zelda on Wii U, with Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto discussing gameplay features and re-affirming that the title will arrive in 2015, with the new Star Fox due before the adventure title.

The demonstration began with the legendary game designers talking over the size of the world, highlighting that there'll be a number of high vantage points in order to look across the landscape. After spotting a landmark — using the GamePad's motion controls — and setting a waypoint beacon with a flashing light, we were shown that the Sailcloth — from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword — will make a return.

The GamePad usage was shown in a variety of ways. It is used to display a map, showing waypoints, and it demonstrated the impressive size of the environment — it was made clear that we were only privy to seeing part of the whole world. We were then shown a horse ride with Epona, in which it was essentially on auto-pilot, with the GamePad used for moving the camera and looking around. Miyamoto-san highlighted how many small details can be seen, and then it was demonstrated that the player can use their sword and bow, freely and easily, while on Epona; gyroscope aiming seems to be an option. There is also a slow motion dismount that allows the player to take out enemies with the bow.

Towards the end of the presentation Aonuma-san reaffirmed that the game is due in 2015, while Miyamoto-san stated that Star Fox for Wii U is progressing for a release before The Legend of Zelda, also next year.

Check out the video below and let us know what you think!