Prerelease:The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

This page details prerelease information and/or media for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. Notes: Because the screenshots have not been uploaded to the wiki yet, an HTML version of the screenshots section of this page (as of 22/09/2015 23:16 PST) can be seen here. (Password is "TCRF".) RPGamer doesn't like hotlinking, so images sourced from there don't display and must be navigated to directly.

To do: Don't just sit there, help! The talk page has a list of info to add.

The game that would become The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess initially started its life as a cel-shaded sequel to The Wind Waker. Its development was first announced on Aug. 7th, 2003 [1], but it wasn't until Feb. 25th, 2004 that Eiji Aonuma revealed its working title, The Wind Waker 2, at the 2004 Game Developers Conference. [2] Aonuma later took notice of the sluggish sales of The Wind Waker in North America where the market was much bigger compared to Japan and asked Nintendo of America why. Aonuma was told that the art style was a probable cause which made him worried that a game in a similar style would see low sales and resulted in the change to the more realistic art style.

With the plan to port the game to the upcoming Wii in 2006, the game got delayed from its projected 2005 release. In the end, Twilight Princess didn't see release until Nov. 19th, 2006, over 3 years after its first mention.

Development Timeline

• 2003
  • Aug. 7th - Nintendo announces in a conference that another cel-shaded Zelda title is in development for the GameCube with an anticipated 2004 release. [3]
• 2004
  • Feb. 25th - The Wind Waker 2 is announced at GDC 2004. [4]
  • May 12th - A realistic trailer featuring Link riding Epona is unveiled at E3 2004. Aonuma confides that the game will no longer be a cel-shaded sequel to The Wind Waker. [5]
  • May 13th - Aonuma confirms the game is scheduled for release in 2005. [6]
  • Nov. 23rd - Three new screenshots from the E3 2004 build are released to press. [7]
• 2005
  • May 17th - At E3 2005, the game is given huge focus in a round table and a playable demo. Nintendo also hands out Nintendo DS game cards containing the E3 2005 trailer. [8]
  • August 16th - A delay is announced from the estimated holiday 2005 release to "sometime after March 2006". Seven new screenshots released to press. [9]
• 2006
  • Feb. 21st - Reggie claims a release in fall of 2006 and that the GameCube version isn't canceled despite rumors. [10]
  • May 9th - At E3 2006, Nintendo announces that the game will be available for GameCube and Wii at the Wii launch in November 19th. The show also features a playable Wii demo. [11]
  • Sep. 14th - Nintendo revises their stance, stating the GameCube version will be available on December 11. [12]
  • Sep. 16th - A Wii preview event is held also featuring an updated E3 2006 build.
  • Oct. 10th - North American Wii version is built. [1]
  • Oct. 24th - Japanese Wii version is built. [1]
  • Nov. 6th - North American GameCube version is built. [1]
  • Nov. 11th - Japanese GameCube version is built. [1]
  • Nov. 19th - Twilight Princess is released on the Wii in North America.
  • Dec. 2nd - Twilight Princess is released on the Wii and GameCube in Japan.
  • Dec. 11th - Twilight Princess is released on the GameCube in North America.

2003

The Murky Beginning

Speaking of which, how long did the game take to develop?
Aonuma:　If you start counting from The Wind Waker's release date, it would come to about 4 years. After we finished The Wind Waker, one of the things we were thinking about was making a sequel in the same cel-shaded style. It was about a year before we made the move towards more realistic graphics. So, in actuality, development took just under 3 years. [13]

2004 - 2006

2004 The first appearance of the game.

2005 GDC 2005 to E3 2005.

2006 E3 2006 to Wii launch.