

Nintendo / Brace Yourself













On Wednesday, Nintendo used the 2019 Game Developers Conference as an opportunity to unveil a litany of indie games, and like last year's GDC, the big N had a nostalgia-tinged "one more thing" at the end. This time, unlike the unveil of a No More Heroes spin-off, it went a little bigger: a brand-new Legend of Zelda game, Cadence of Hyrule, made by the developers of the Crypt of the Necrodancer series.

For the uninitiated, Necrodancer puts players in top-down dungeons that must be navigated by tapping buttons to the beat of the music. Every step and attack must happen to the rhythm. CoH will slap this mechanic onto a 2D, pixel-art Zelda universe, similar to Game Boy Advance fare like The Minish Cap. It stars Link and Zelda alongside Cadence, the protagonist of the Necrodancer series.

Unsurprisingly, the reveal video included an uptempo, chiptune remix of the Zelda overworld theme, and we can only imagine what kind of full soundtrack the final game will ship with when it launches this spring on Nintendo Switch. (Fans of Necrodancer swear by its killer soundtrack, led by Danny Baranowsky of Super Meat Boy fame.) We'll attend a Nindies event in San Francisco later today, where we'll hopefully get a better look at how familiar Zelda mechanics will combine with Necrodancer's rhythm-specific twists.

Today's news means even more good Zelda news for Switch owners. We already learned in February that the 1993 Game Boy classic Link's Awakening will be remastered for Nintendo Switch by the end of this year, though that game will receive a full 3D coat of paint.

Listing image by Nintendo / Brace Yourself