Some of you may be aware of The Legend of Kusakari, a bizarre upcoming game about a humble man whose one mission is to trim back all the grass on battlefields so heroes can fight without tripping over anything. It's obviously taken heavy inspiration from the Legend of Zelda series, with a similar logo and a visual style that apes earlier Zelda games, and the developers recently talked a bit on what Nintendo thinks of the inspired project.
An interview with the development team at Librage -- the studio behind the game -- was recently posted on the main site for its publisher, Nnooo, in which the team was quizzed on their upcoming game. One of the questions was how Nintendo reacted to the clear Zelda homages, and the response was rather surprising. The team demonstrated the game in a meeting at Nintendo headquarters, and they believe that Nintendo seems to be "favorable" towards the game. Here's what they had to say:
Nnooo: What was Nintendo's reaction to the game's title and imagery and the fact that it is a homage to The Legend of Zelda?
Librage: This is just our subjective impression, but they seem to be very favorable about this game. We visited Nintendo headquarters for a meeting and explained our project. They said this game was easy to understand because the title and content are consistent, and praised us.
So, at least it seems that the team has Nintendo's blessing. We'll see if the final product measures up when it launches later this week.
What do you think? Is this concept good enough to carry an entire game? Are the Zelda homages justified? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source nnooo.com]
Comments 28
I still don't like the concept. It's cool for games to take inspiration from elsewhere, but this takes too much from Zelda instead of trying to be its own unique game.
Why would you want somebody else to cut the grass for you? There are rupees and hearts in there. So much hard work of the Picori wasted.
The Legend of Kusakari: only for Pretendo.
Pretty much copying the design of a famous logo to use for your own game is a cry for attention. It's easy media attention for your game I guess, still it's not something I would be proud of and I don't support it.
The game could be fun but I'll let gameplay videos, reviews and opinions on the game decide for me.
Not surprised that Nintendo gave the okay.
The similarities between this game and Zelda are clearly in homage territory, obviously the inspiration/reference is there, but nothing about it would make anyone mistake this game for an official Zelda spin-off or for something officially related to Nintendo's iconic franchise.
Looks neat. A lot of games in the 16 bit era included grass cutting so I'm surprised this game is only coming out now. Should've happened years ago
@roy130390 don't you mean the Nontendo 4DS?
@CUBANEWYORKER I believe you're referring to the Fauxtendo 1DS
This is basically on the other side of the C&D line, AM2R being (unfortunately) the opposite case.
Then again, given how Sigeru treated Tecmo when Tecmo developed Hyrule Warriors, I believe that this game got a pass because this game was more akin to the post-Ao-numa, not pre-Ao-numa games. (Recall that Eizi Ao-numa liked A Link to the Past because he could cut grass, something the player did a lot in Wind Waker.)
I like the idea, simple.
I would also like a part in the game were you have 'Link' fighting a boss and you have to be ahead of him to cut grass so he can get hearts and collect 'rupees'
Some people may disagree... but no trailer this year made me laugh as hard. A lawn mowing simulator! That horn! It was all so ridiculous. And Zelda has been very favorable to games they inspired (like Ittle Dew, for example).
Grass cutting mini game confirmed for BotW.
I'll wait for a review.
Nah, Zelda as Zelda is enough for me.
This could be promising, I'll be curious to read reviews.
Give me some footage in the article page and I'll be able to provide an opinion. Until then...
This reminds me of a Brawl In The Family character, Eario, who in the BiTF canon is also Waluigi's dad.

The janitor of the Mushroom Kingdom who always cleans up the mess Mario leaves.
Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I'm a huge Zelda fan & I think this is a cool homage to the series.
Surprising you say? Why? Nintendo can't do anything about it, because diffrent name and all that.
That's what that Metroid 2 remake guy should have done - name it diffrently and change few sprites. Instead, it got obviously slammed by N.
Speaking of rip offs, what happened to Midora? You know, that copy pasta of Minish cap
This game looks pretty fun, honestly. I might get try it out when it releases.
@Ed_Fairway nah, the Fauxtendo 1DS isn't powerful enough to run this game at all.
you're forgetting that this is a Nontendo 4DS Eshoope exclusive game because the Nontendo 4DS has a much better video RAM processor.
@CUBANEWYORKER No, you're thinking of the original model, I'm referring to the New Fauxtendo 1DS; capable of HALF 5 gigabyte of memory and battery life of one eigth of 12 hours
It is obvious that Nintendo doesn't mind games that are created on their IP's image as a homage. What Nintendo minds is when people blatantly use the IP to remake games Nintendo has already created.
@CUBANEWYORKER @Ed_Fairway Obviously this is going to come out for the next-gen Nyetendo 5DS XL. It'll be a launch title.
@Capital70Q I'd of thought they'd release it with Paper Mario Staple Story.
I have to play this
This is probably one of the most bizarre concepts for a videogame I've ever seen. That trailer's comedy gold.
@Dark-Link73 Exactly right.
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