Video: Nintendo celebrates Zelda 25th Anniversary with orchestra, Zelda HD demo on Wii U

Written by Matt Swider on June 21, 2011

E3 2011 News: Check out the video of The Legend of Zelda Orchestra, which played at the Nintendo E3 2011 Press Conference, accompanying a trailer montage.

Zelda Orchestra E3 2011 video is below

The Nintendo E3 2011 Press Conference opened with a live orchestra playing music from The Legend of Zelda's last two and a half decades, a predictable, but much deserved dedication given last year's 25th Anniversary treatment for Super Mario Bros. The music and the accompanying video montage of Link's adventures were followed by a number of exciting Zelda game-related announcements.

With series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was on hand, Nintendo put to rest the rumors about The Legend Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword missing its 2011 release date and slipping to the next Nintendo console. It's still on track for this holiday and remains a Wii-exclusive game. Not only that, the game will also be joined by a special edition gold controller, complete with a Triforce symbol on the front. This is perfect considering the game will require a Wii Motion Plus attachment, which this new, limited edition Wii remote will have built in.

Miyamoto was also happy to announce that Link on-the-go is finally possible on the 3DS with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening available via the 3DS Virtual Console and this past Sunday's release of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. While Links Awakening is just a port of the "DX" version from the Game Boy Color days, the new Ocarina of Time is a fully-realized 3D game and it features the reworked dungeons and puzzles that were part of the Master Quest mode from the GameCube re-release.

A third Zelda re-release is on its way to 3DS owners this September in the form of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. Best of all, this Nintendo DSi downloadable game will be free and support 4-player co-operative play online. Like the Excitebike promotion, expect Zelda: Four Swords to be available for a limited time.

The orchestra wasn't done yet, as it helped the Nintendo legend by playing many of the jingles and tunes from the series like opening up a treasure chest. In case you missed their performance, the orchestra will be touring worldwide in the Fall to play these scores in to-be-announced major cities all over the globe. The show is also being released as a CD, twinned with a soundtrack of the Ocarina of Time 3DS.

Shigeru Miyamoto's exit from the stage wasn't the end of the surplus of Zelda surprises, however. Although Miyamoto didn't introduce this demo, The Zelda HD Experience on Wii U was shown right after the new Nintendo system was announced. Having gotten to experience the real-time demo first-hand using the Wii U controller, I was able to change a number of settings as Link prepared for battle with a giant spider. Although there was no control over the gameplay of Zelda HD on Wii U, I could toggle the day and night settings and cycle through the various camera angles, proving it wasn't a pre-rendered video on the HDTV at the Nintendo booth. The Wii U's 6.2-inch touchscreen, meanwhile, displayed a mini-map and the touchscreen controls. Interestingly, this demo allowed us to send the HDTV's game display to the Wii U controller's screen on the fly, just in case we needed to use the HDTV for something else. It's going to be fascinating to see what developers come up with given the new functions of the Wii U controller.