Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2D prototype shown at GDC 2017 looks a lot like a NES game
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was designed in 2D first. How about that?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may be the most modern-looking Zelda yet, but it has a lot in common with the very early entries.
We know this for sure because Nintendo discussed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's development at a GDC 2017 presentation today, showing off how the game was prototyped in a form very similar to the NES classics.
Even though it displays in 2D, a tweet from Nintendo confirmed this prototype had a stack of whizz bang modern features from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. the simpler presentation just made it easier to iterate on the game's design.
GDC 2017 is closed to the public but thankfully there are usually no restrictions on attendees sharing what they see and hear, so we can all gawk at this amazing version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The video above was shared by a channel called Outcast, and the feature image comes from a tweet by Kit Ellis. The full presentation will be released via GDC's Vault video series sometime in the next 12 months, but for now you can hear a little bit of what was discussed via the live English translation in the video.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild releases on Friday for Wii U and Switch, alongside Nintendo's new hardware itself. Early Breath of the Wild reviews have been extremely positive.
I just had a look on Amazon and it looks like both the Wii U and Switch versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are sold out, although the limited edition is still available. Looks like a good launch for the Switch, then.