[SDCC 2015] “The Legend of Zelda: TriForce Heroes” Hands-On

Say what you want about Nintendo constantly rehashing their franchises, but make no mistake about it — they aren’t afraid to take risks, even when it comes to their biggest properties. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes is another example…

Say what you want about Nintendo constantly rehashing their franchises, but make no mistake about it — they aren’t afraid to take risks, even when it comes to their biggest properties. The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes is another example of Nintendo’s willingness to change things up, and it’s definitely something engaging so far.

We got a chance to try out one of three different dungeons in Nintendo’s Comic-Con event at the Marriott, and The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes was one of the main attractions.

Triforce Heroes is a 3-player cooperative title very much like the 4-player Four Swords games, but unlike Four Swords, there really is no fun to be had with the trolling other cooperative Nintendo games seem to have. The key to success in the game is teamwork, and we figured that out early on.

After being told by one of the Nintendo reps that the Volcano stage was by far the hardest, we went with that one, and we got to a Game Over screen. That’s pretty damn surprising considering our team of three consisted of myself — someone who’s been playing Zelda since the age of 6, a finalist in the Nintendo World Championships, and an 8-year old kid. Okay, yeah, he’s a kid, but we know our Zelda.

When playing the demo, the first thing you’re tasked with is choosing your costume, and there’s quite a few choices. You have your classic Link, you can choose to crossdress and dress like Zelda, and there’s even some samurai and ninja garb to mix things up. I went with the samurai look because samurai are awesome, and then I had to choose a weapon. My weapon was the Boomerang, which Link can use as a weapon as a way to collect items, or as a way to bring other Links back to him. The other weapons of choice included in the demo were the Magic Jar that debuted on Minish Cap that allows Link to suck things up and spit them out, as well as Link’s trusty bow.

There’s also this new totem mechanic were all the Links can stack up on each other in order to get to otherwise unreachable areas and to solve puzzles that normally require good height.

The Volcano was your typical lava-filled dungeon. The first section required us to get from one side of the map to the other, with the middle of the map decked with sinking platforms. The best way to get through here is to pick one Link up and throw him across, have another Link suck up another Link with the Jar, and have the last Link be picked up with the boomerang.

The next section was a miniboss that required us to throw bombs at a minicart going through the tracks. That was probably the most straightforward of all the puzzles.

The last challenge was a block challenge that required us to move a block from one side of the map to the other with the fear of lava geysers killing us.

And finally, we all used up our lives trying to kill a boss that constantly focuses on a different Link to kill. It’s easy after the first couple hits, but then it raises its tail and forces players to have a totem of two people in order to land a hit.

We knew exactly how to beat the boss, but the execution wasn’t there. This is definitely going to be the breaking point for this game. The Four Swords games were cooperative but they were still easily playable with one player. I don’t think you can do such a thing with this game, and should the appeal be there?  We don’t know if this Zelda is part of the official canon for the timeline either.

This is a game to keep your eye on, and we’ll help you do that when it comes out before the end of the year.