Topic: Zelda Oracles Hitting the 3DS eShop in Japan Next Week

[King Bowser Koopa]

UPDATE: Also Coming to North America. 

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/33388

UPDATE: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages have been cofirmed for North America by Eiji Aonuma, longtime series developer.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages will be released on the Japanese Nintendo 3DS eShop next

For an initial sale price of 500 yen each, the games will be discounted until March 20 at 11:59 p.m., at which point they revert to price of 600 yen each.

The games were the first in the series to be developed by Capcom, who later honed their top-down Zelda crafting skills into the creation of The Minish Cap and the Four Swords spinoff series. Each game featured a separate adventure that could then be connected to the other via the Game Boy Link Cable to expand the quest and unlockfurther story details. 

There have been no specifics of exactly how the link connection will work in the digital version revealed, but it has been confirmed to be possible.

Let's remain positive that Nintendo branches from other regions and localize these two games before long.

[pureval]

I have been waiting for these games to come out. Hopefully they make the US sometime before the next handheld comes out.

[ejamer]

Couldn't you also connect the games using (unwieldy) codes if you didn't have a link cable available? Can't quite recall anymore...


I'd be interested in these 3DS VC releases. Here's hoping they arrive in North America eventually, although it would be surprising if they don't. Zelda games are typically good sellers right? Surely Nintendo and Capcom aren't opposed to re-releasing a game for some easy money.

[UncleBob]

I wonder if the passwords from the cartridge versions will carry over to the VC Version...

[Ceric]

...
Surely Nintendo and Capcom aren't opposed to re-releasing a game for some easy money.

History Seems to prove otherwise.

[ejamer]

...
Surely Nintendo and Capcom aren't opposed to re-releasing a game for some easy money.

History Seems to prove otherwise.

With Nintendo you might have a case related to a few very specific titles, but with Capcom I'm not so sure. Which games that don't have obvious licensing/copyright issues and do have obvious sales potential were held back by either company?

[TJ Spyke]

...
Surely Nintendo and Capcom aren't opposed to re-releasing a game for some easy money.

History Seems to prove otherwise.

With Nintendo you might have a case related to a few very specific titles, but with Capcom I'm not so sure. Which games that don't have obvious licensing/copyright issues and do have obvious sales potential were held back by either company?

The Game Boy Mega Man games. The RUMOR is that they lost the source code for those games, but it's just a rumor.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I've never played the Oracle games and would very much like to. I hope they announce this for Europe soon as well.

[TrueNerd]

I haven't touched these games since they first came out, but if memory serves, Ages is the better of the two. Neither of them touch Minish Cap though. Still, I'll be glad to play these again.

Fun fact: There was originally supposed to be THREE Oracle games until one of them got shitcanned.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Minish Cap was so good.

[Ras]

Don't know, they pretty much stand together quality wise.  Season has some great tunes.  I've played them so often, I don't really need them.  Yeah, right.  My 3DS is a portable Zelda machine.

[pokepal148]

Don't know, they pretty much stand together quality wise.  Season has some great tunes.  I've played them so often, I don't really need them.  Yeah, right.  My 3DS is a portable Zelda machine.

you can play like half the series on that system

[Mop it up]

It's nice that the 3DS VC is getting some more GBC games.

[pokepal148]

It's nice that the 3DS VC is getting some more GBC games.

except half of them will be zelda games in the us
thanks reggie i hate you

[Pixelated Pixies]

Majora's Mask is a distinct possibility of course. With the announcement of DKCR Wii games appear to be on the table too. If Nintendo were to follow Sony's lead the new Wind Waker release would include cross play. What if the 3DS could be home to every Zelda game ever released?!
 
That's right! Even the CDi games!

[TrueNerd]

The GameCube can play all Zeldas that released pre-2007 with the GameBoy Player.

[Pixelated Pixies]

The GameCube can play all Zeldas that released pre-2007 with the GameBoy Player.

It can play the CDi Zelda games?  :
 
 

[NWR_insanolord]

The GameCube can play all Zeldas that released pre-2007 with the GameBoy Player.

The only Zelda's the GameCube can't play are Link's Awakening, the Oracle games, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Skyward Sword.

The only Zelda's the 3DS won't be able to play after these releases are Link to the Past, Majora, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword.

So that's 6 to 5, although I'd wager LTTP and Majora will almost certainly hit the 3DS in some form.

The GameCube can play all Zeldas that released pre-2007 with the GameBoy Player.

It can play the CDi Zelda games?  : :
 
 

Those games don't exist, just like the first two Mario Kart arcade games.

[EasyCure]

ughhhhhh! Nintendo keeps giving me reasons to plunge and buy a 3DS.. I loved OoS when I played it (2006 maybe?!) and always mean to check out OoA..

STOP TRYING TO TAKE MY MONEY NINTENDO!

[NWR_insanolord]

ughhhhhh! Nintendo keeps giving me reasons to plunge and buy a 3DS.. I loved OoS when I played it (2006 maybe?!) and always mean to check out OoA..

STOP TRYING TO TAKE MY MONEY NINTENDO!

Let me just say that if I could only have one game system for the next 2 or 3 years, it would definitely be the 3DS. There is just so much there.

[EasyCure]

That's the problem, I don't game that much. All my handhelds turn to paperweights after about 5, maybe ten games tops.

[Ian Sane]

Link's Awakening is possibly my favourite game ever, so the Oracle games were nice in that it was like a bit more Link's Awakening for me.  The GBA did this a couple of times.  Minish Cap was a bit more A Link to the Past and Metroid: Zero Mission was a bit more Super Metroid.  There is some real value in a game that gives you a "they don't make like this anymore" feeling.

Now my general negative attitude towards the NSMB series would make my previous statement sound hypocritical.  There are a few key differences here though.  First of all the examples I gave also used the same style of graphics as the old games.  NSMB's presentation is modern so a big part of the nostalgic appeal is lost.  Another difference is the frequency of such games.  I can't play NSMB U and say "they don't make them like this anymore" because now they DO make them like that.  They've made three other games like that in the last few years including two of them in the same year.

I got another taste of Link's Awakening's style, eight years after that game's release, and now over ten years later there has been nothing since.  That's how the nostalgic design works.  You give them another go years later and then don't come back for a while to build back up the nostalgia.  The experience is effectively fresh again.  Minish Cap is 8 years old so now would be a good time to tickle the nostalgia bone and drop a new retro-Zelda, likely as a downloadable title since they would never go with sprites otherwise.  And then, after that, they should wait again.

[Leo13]

I don't know anything about the link cable, but when they first came out my best friend got Ages and I got Season. We played through our own game got the code you get when you conquer it and then we borrowed each other's games to play the other and get the extra content.


Having played both I'd have to say Ages was certainly harder and I enjoyed Seasons more (but just because I wasn't frustrated as often)


Great games I NEVER re-play Zelda games, but I just might this time.

[EasyCure]

I wanted to play Ages over Seasons because I heard it had tougher puzzles than Seasons, which had tougher enemies. I still haven't beat it.. I'm at the boss, I just can't beat it lol

[King Bowser Koopa]

I thought it was the opposite - Seasons was more puzzle-oriented and Ages was more about battle. It's been so long since I played them that the two bleed together in my memory, I look forward to giving them another go.

I do remember that the Link Cable was required for a side quest involving collectible rings, of which there was a large list and some could only be obtained in each game. There was also one for booting the game in a GBA, since these two games came out at the end of the GBC's life. As far as story connectivity was involved, however, it used a series of passwords that could be entered into the opposite title.