Cover Art Chronicles: 3D Ocarina

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is gearing up to help the 3DS’ currently pitiful software situation when it drops in mid-June worldwide. Since it’s nearing release, retailers have uploaded the cover released by Nintendo in their territories. Actually, we had an American cover for a while, since the release date was announced. We just had to wait for the other territories. What a strange turn of events!

But now we have them all, and the purpose of this post is to share this information with you.

The first one here is the European cover. The most interesting aspect isn’t the beautiful Yusuke Nakano artwork being presented on it, but that so many gamers actually knew this would be the cover before Nintendo of Europe unveiled it. (The former only happened because we already saw the artwork in question on the official Japanese website.) Some of them also wanted to give Nintendo of America the finger for not using it on the American cover. It looks nice, but it also resembles a quick cut and paste job that makes it look tacky. But that’s OK when it gets the job done. It was revealed yesterday that Japan is getting the same cover.

Some of us have known for a while that America was getting a completely different cover, and it’s a very nice one at that. The reason why it stands out is because it’s incredibly reminiscent of the Legend of Zelda covers from the late 80s and early 90s; and that seems to be NoA’s intention with this design. There’s currently no way to know whether the cover will have a shimmering or 3D effect, but it’s not like it needs one.

Since its release date is nearing, the marketing machine has begun for this portable remake of the fan favorite title. Or is it a remake? It’s really not looking like one. It was revealed in a curiously clandestine manner a few weeks ago that Nintendo isn’t handling the development of this one internally. That honor is being given to Grezzo Games. Upon carefully observing the screen shots via comparison photos and videos, this is looking like more of a remastering than a remake. None of the areas look too different aside from having a graphical overhaul, while compensating (perhaps overcompensating) for the lack of color that the Nintendo 64 hardware had trouble displaying.

This project probably means a lot to Grezzo, specifically its CEO Koichi Ishii. He once directed and assisted in designing a venerable, much-beloved Zelda-alike, so for his company to somewhat handle an actual game in the franchise is special.

There’s no confirmation, but I’d be willing to bet that Star Fox 64 3D is also being handled by an outside company. That makes you wonder what Nintendo’s doing internally. Hopefully we’ll see some of them at E3, otherwise the 3DS could have a hellish road ahead.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D releases for 3DS on June 16th, June 17th, and June 19th for Japan, Europe, and America, respectively.