It's been a rough period for Zelda fans so far this year. Nintendo has sidelined Link until it's done with Mario's celebrations
Despite this, there's still some movement happening on the Zelda front. Nintendo has obviously already announced Skyward Sword HD and in case you've forgotten, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is getting an expansion pass.
Now, a new rating for the game has surfaced on the Australian Classification Board, which makes sense considering the first wave of expansion pass content is arriving this June. Hyrule Warriors was first rated by the ACB back in August last year.
Apart from a new weapon and new costume for Link (which arrives on 28th May as a purchase bonus), Wave 1 will include an expanded character roster, new weapon types, new challenges in the Royal Ancient Lab and newly added challenging enemies.
The follow-up wave will be available this November and comes with new character vignettes, new stages, an expanded roster and new battle skills for existing characters.
In news related to Link's 35th anniversary, there's also a rumour about the return of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Will you be revisiting Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity when Wave 1 of the Expansion Pass arrives? Tell us down below.
[source classification.gov.au]
Comments 24
M rating? Dang Australia is strict with it's games.
Pass on the expansion.
While I liked Hyrule Warriors, I didn't love it. I did all of the story quests and pretty much none of the side quests. Musou games aren't exactly games I like to grind. The main story missions are more than enough for me.
I noticed this this morning, and I was a bit confounded by it. My first impression is that Nintendo was perhaps called out for not disclosing the content of the original submission and that they had to get the game reclassified, hence the additional consumer advice of "online interactivity and in-game purchases", which was not disclosed in the original submission. And I assume that's all it is because otherwise it likely would have been designated as a "Complete Edition" or the title would have included "+ Expansion Pass" as per the physical Sword/Shield expansion pass release. Plus, it doesn't make sense that a complete version of the game would include "in-game purchases" in the consumer advice when there is nothing to purchase.
However, if this is indicative of a complete edition, then I am glad I waited, and I will pick up such a release if it arrives.
@TheLightSpirit @VoidofLight : It would help to do a second's research before jumping the gun. We don't follow the U.S. ratings here. The Australian M classification is unrestricted and means that the content is "recommended for mature audiences" and is mostly comparable to the ESRB T and PEGI 12 ratings.
@Silly_G Yeah, I know it's technically equivalent to a T rating in America, but still it's kind of surprising they count most T rated games as M for their ratings board.
I just hope they manage to fix the performance issues eventually.
@VoidofLight : That's because you are associating equivalence between the Australian M rating and the American one. The letter M is all they have in common.
The classification categories in Australia are as follows:
=Unrestricted categories=
G - General
PG - Parental guidance recommended
M - Recommended for mature audiences
=Legally restricted categories=
MA15+ - Not suitable for under 15s; under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian
R18+ - Restricted to over 18s
@Silly_G Ah.
I wonder how Nintendo feels about it being rated M.
Rated M for Musou
"It's been a rough period for Zelda fans so far this year"
Why? Because we haven't had a Zelda game release for 4 months now, what a strange thing to say.
Not quite as strange as Australia rating this as mature and multiplatform? What else is it on?
multiplatform what the heck is this?is Hyrule Warriors:Age of Calamity coming to PC?
Need to finish the main story. Got stuck in Chapter 6 final battle and dropped off it. Loved what I played of it.
@Giancarlothomaz Switch / Switch Lite / Switch Pro?
DLC trailer does a poor job convincing me to buy it. However, I'll do it anyways, for completionist sake.
Rated M? There better be sexy times with Link
@chardir maybe
Yet another bare bones Nintendo DLC
I found Age of Calamity just boring because it's same gameplay over and over. It doesn't feel like a Zelda game, rather a Musou game with a Zelda skin, so I'm thinking of selling my physical copy of it and will pass on the expansion passea.
Love how you guys can find this out and yet still not give us Australian prices when telling everyone where to buy their games. Just doesn't make much sense.
@carlos82 our rating system is explained up above in another comment. Honestly it's a very simple system, makes alot more sense than the US one.
@Meikahidenori it's on odd description for something unrestricted though, I'm from the UK so we just have an age rating.
It's more the multiplatform bit that gets me as it's only on one platform
"online interactivity"... Wait, what?
@carlos82 not really. M Is for mature audiences as it could contain stuff not entirely appropriate for children. It used to mirror how we rate tv shows and movies. It doesn't mean kids can't play them mind, just means parents should be aware the game does contain certain themes they might not understand.
Guess as someone who's grown up with this system my whole life it is more simplistic and easier to understand than giving every single game a rating like 4+ or 15+ or T for teen. Sometimes those don't cover what we do with our G, PG or M rating equivalent, heck a few are way more restrictive. Actually, we do have another rating that most don't see because they don't have younger children, but it's on every single show aimed at toddlers and kinder kids. P- Preschool, indicating that it's mostly educational or content designed for very young kids.
Mostly though games rarely get a M+15 or a R+18 rating, though I am aware one of the text adventure Vampire Masquerade games is R+18 and boy it definitely deserves it for how graphic some of the descriptions you read are, but that's a very specific niche case. Most games that get the R+18 rating choose to get tweeked and reclassified. It's rare something gets banned outright now since that classification was granted. (Think of it as the equivalent of the AO rating, something many places refuse to sell or stock on shelves becausethey don't want to be complianed at by the few people out there who still think games are only for children. ) There's actually a surprising amount of M +15 & R+18 games on the switch only sold in digital form.
Just to update (and as I had suspected) the physical edition of the game now includes the updated consumer advice on the packaging (now with "online interactivity and in-game purchases" disclosed).
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