New details have emerged online today about Retro Studios' mysterious Legend of Zelda title 'Project X'. Although this spin-off never saw the light of day, it seems there was actually a working prototype.
In the same 'DidYouKnowGaming?' YouTube video, the gameplay within this title was discussed. According to ex-Retro Studios developer and programmer Paul Tozour, it was an "experiment gone wrong that happened to be set in the Zelda universe".
While a prototype was up and running, it was described as a simplified version of 'Whack-A-Mole' and was believed to be seriously undercooked. Players would control Sheik, fixed in one place, and would hit different types of wolves with the Wii Remote.
"There were four or five wolves, maybe six, and they would just be in their idle state waiting to pounce at you, then they'd jump one-by-one and you'd go 'Whack'. So that's literally all it was, just detecting when the player swung the Wii Remote. If so, the wolf dies, and if you don't do it correctly, you take damage." - Paul Tozour, ex Retro dev
There was also overworld traversal - separate from the game's combat, where players would be thrown into random battles, similar to JRPGs. Tozour further described it as a "hot mess" and even though the art might make it seem like the team was working on something special, there was just "no gameplay" present.
Concerns were raised about the direction of 'Project X' on multiple occasions, but leadership ignored warnings and supposedly refused to change direction. Tozour adds how he heard the prototype didn't go down well with Nintendo:
"[Nintendo] couldn't really make heads or tails of it. Their reaction was basically boils down to 'this is seriously what you're proposing? Really?...[It was] immediately rejected [that's what I was told,] but I wasn't there when it happened, and I suppose there's a possibility it never actually happened and they decided not to show it to Nintendo."
A separate anonymous source from Retro suggested the project also may have been axed due to the departure of Retro's top developers around the same time. All up, there was believed to be at least seven people working on 'Project X' at Retro Studios before it was eventually cancelled in 2008.
There are claims Nintendo is still interested in a Sheik project. You can learn more in the video below, and more about Paul Tozour's experience with 'Project X' in his previous chat with the podcast KiwiTalkz:
It turns out Retro was also working on another Zelda spin-off called Heroes of Hyrule. You can read more in our previous story.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 17
Oh my goodness well no wonder it was rejected. That concept art looked so sick, though
Does anyone remember Dragon Quest Swords? It was also a gimmicky wagglefest RPG, but the waggle-battles did have some amount of strategy and skill to them. Even still, it got tiring after a while because it was overly repetitive and simplistic.
But I guess this Sheik game really wanted to take "overly repetitive and simplistic" to the next level. No wonder it was rejected immediately.
They really should have listened to the programmer and went with something along the lines of Shadow of the Colossus. The art for the world itself already painted a bleak world and landscape, so a combat and exploration style for a world such as this would have been way more befitting.
That concept art is incredible. What the hell were they thinking? The idea for the story and setting itself is strong enough to make an interesting game even if it were closer to a traditional action RPG, why they were trying to make something so simplistic around it is beyond me. What a shame
Frankly, if you ask me, any Sheik project should be a stealth-based ninja game. Since the Sheikah are obviously based on the ninjas from Feudal Japan, it only makes sense that a Sheik game utilize elements of ninja lore, engaging in stealth, espionage, and sabotage of enemy forces.
I could be like Assassin's Creed meets Naruto. Heck, if you wanted to, you could also throw in the hand signs like you see in Naruto to use special abilities. Frankly, Nintendo needs their own spin on the stealth genre, and this could be it.
What happened between Retro and Nintendo? Seems like there was a little bad blood after Metroid Prime 3.
I desperately want a stealth game starring Sheik set in a TP-style vibe. Someone needs to make that happen!
@Axecon In what way? They have made two Donkey Kong Country games since that were well received and have been handed back Metroid Prime after BandaiNamco worked on it for years and got nowhere with the project. I think Retro themselves wanted something different after the third Prime game and didn't just want to be working on one game series all the time.
I still feel like they could take this concept and just make it better. They could make it a Ninja Gaiden-esque Zelda game but you play as a Sheikah that you can customize. I think that would be pretty bad-ass.
No wonder it was cancelled. I don't find the concept or the concept art alluring at all.
The concept art looks kinda good, but the gameplay described sounds like crap, I think it's true they didn't showcase that to Nintendo.
I wish Retro would work again on Donkey Kong instead of these zeldas or metroids.
At least it would have been less repetitive than Oragami King.
Hay-O!
Was this the game they worked on for 8 years with nothing to show for?
How do you further simplify whack a mole? It's pretty much as basic as it gets.
@Optimist80
They explained it in the video. In Whack a Mole, there's a certain level of strategy and skill in deciding which order to hit the moles, and in how fast you're able to get all of them while the game speeds up and gets more difficult.
But in this prototype, the only gameplay they had was enemies attacking you one at a time, with the only challenge being to waggle the wiimote at it when one appeared. There just isn't any skill or decision-making involved in this.
It sounds like this game was trying to capitalize on the Wii waggle craze when the art and concept had so much more potential.
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