- The Best Games Stranded on 3DS and Wii U, and How Nintendo Can Bring Them Back for Switch IGN
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf completionists race against time to help each other finish their towns before Nintendo turns off 3DS and Wii U servers in 3 days Gamesradar
- Nintendo 3DS fans say goodbye to the beloved handheld Polygon
- Pretendo saves the day after Wii U and 3DS server shut down — here’s how to keep your Nintendo games online Laptop Mag
- Just before Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U servers, fans rallied together and gathered 23000 data dumps to preserve DLC that was nearly lost forever Gamesradar
Tag Archives: Wii
Just before Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U servers, fans rallied together and gathered 23000 data dumps to preserve DLC that was nearly lost forever – Gamesradar
- Just before Nintendo shut down the 3DS and Wii U servers, fans rallied together and gathered 23000 data dumps to preserve DLC that was nearly lost forever Gamesradar
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf completionists race against time to help each other finish their towns before Nintendo turns off 3DS and Wii U servers in 3 days Yahoo! Voices
- Pretendo saves the day after Wii U and 3DS server shut down — here’s how to keep your Nintendo games online Laptop Mag
- The bootleg Nintendo Network replacement no longer requires jailbreaking Engadget
- Nintendo Shuts Down Online Services for Wii U and 3DS, but Fan Project Pretendo Is Keeping Them Alive IGN
ENLBufferPwn: Critical vulnerability disclosed in 3DS, Wii U, and Switch games
Nintendo hacker PabloMK7 has released ENLBufferPwn, an exploit including proof of concept code, which demonstrates a critical vulnerability in multiple Nintendo first party games. Demo videos of the exploit show that it is possible to take full control of a target’s console, simply by having them join a multiplayer game.
Impacted games include Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 1, 2, 3, Nintendo Switch Sports, and other Nintendo first party titles. The hacker explains that the vulnerability can be used as part of an exploit chain to run custom code on the consoles. However Nintendo have patched the vulnerability in most games already, following disclosure through their bounty program late last year.
What is ENLBufferPwn for Nintendo Switch, Wii U, and 3DS?
ENLBufferPwn is a vulnerability in the common network code of several first party Nintendo games since the Nintendo 3DS that allows an attacker to execute code remotely in the victim’s console by just having an online game with them (remote code execution). It was dicovered by multiple people independently during 2021 and reported to Nintendo during 2021 and 2022. Since the initial report, Nintendo has patched the vulnerability in many vulnerable games. The information in this repository has been safely disclosed after getting permission from Nintendo.
The vulnerability has scored a 9.8/10 (Critical) in the CVSS 3.1 calculator.
Here is a list of games that are known to have had the vulnerability at some point (all the Switch and 3DS games listed have received updates that patch the vulnerability, so they are no longer affected):
-
- Mario Kart 7 (fixed in v1.2)
- Mario Kart 8 (still not fixed)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (fixed in v2.1.0)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (fixed in v2.0.6)
- ARMS (fixed in v5.4.1)
- Splatoon (still not fixed)
- Splatoon 2 (fixed in v5.5.1)
- Splatoon 3 (fixed in late 2022, exact version unknown)
- Super Mario Maker 2 (fixed in v3.0.2)
- Nintendo Switch Sports (fixed in late 2022, exact version unknown)
- Probably more…
PabloMK7 adds:
Combined with other OS vulnerabilities, full remote console takeover can be achieved. This has been demonstrated in the case of Mario Kart 7, where a payload is sent to launch SafeB9SInstaller. However, it is theoretically possible to do other malicious activities, such as stealing account/credit card information or taking unauthorized audio/video recordings using the console built-in mic/cameras.
The hacker provided proof of concept videos to showcase the vulnerability, in Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8
Technical Details of ENLBufferPwn
From the exploit’s readme:
The ENLBufferPwn vulnerability exploits a buffer overflow in the C++ class NetworkBuffer present in the network library enl (Net in Mario Kart 7) used by many first party Nintendo games. This class contains two methods Add and Set which fill a network buffer with data coming from other players. However, none of those methods check that the input data actually fits in the network buffer. Since the input data is controllable, a buffer overflow can be triggered on a remote console by just having an online game session with the attacker. If done properly, the victim user may not even notice a vulnerability was triggered in their console. The consequences of this buffer overflow vary on the game, from simple inoffensive modifications to the game’s memory (like repeatedly opening and closing the home menu on the 3DS) to more severe actions like taking full control of the console
The exploit can be used to disrupt other players in online games, such as remotely pressing the home button on their controller mid-game
Can I hack my Nintendo Switch with ENLBufferPwn?
Setting the 3DS and Wii U aside for a minute, I do not think this exploit can easily be leveraged to hack the Nintendo Switch:
- First of all, it would require to be chained with other vulnerabilities to get privilege escalation, and to my knowledge there are no publicly known kernel exploits in the latest firmware (some were allegedly patched recently, though)
- But ore importantly, the fact that this requires to join online games probably means Nintendo has multiple ways to prevent this, patching the games being the obvious, but not the only one. In other words, by the time the exploit was publicly disclosed, it was already dead. Unlike your typical “offline” exploit were people who stayed on a lower firmware could hope for a Jailbreak, online access (to Nintendo’s servers) usually means having the latest firmware and the latest patch for your specific game installed, meaning a patched vulnerability.
In other words, although the vulnerability is critical, and could impact other games, I do not see personally how this could be used for a “beneficial” exploit on the Nintendo Switch. The best (and only) way to hack your Switch as 2022 comes to an end, remains modchips for newer revisions of the hardware.
As far as the 3DS and the Wii U are concerned, those can be hacked fairly easily, so the benefits of the hack are limited in that context, from an end user perspective.
Nonetheless, it’s a pretty remarkable achievement to come up with an exploit that can target multiple console generations at once!
Download ENLBufferPwn
You can download the ENLBufferPwn code for Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart 8 on the project’s github here.
source: PabloMK7
ENLBufferPwn exploit found in Switch, 3DS, and Wii U games
A severe vulnerability known as ENLBufferPwn has been found in various Switch, 3DS, and Wii U games. PabloMK7, Rambo6Glaz, Fishguy6564 were credited for the discovery. The vulnerability, first uncovered in 2021, was already reported to Nintendo.
The exploit is especially significant since a victim’s device can be easily taken over. This can be done merely by having an online game session with an attacker. Given the 9.8/10 (Critical) score it received in the CVSS 3.1 calculator, that goes to show how serious it is.
When paired with other OS exploits, the attacker could achieve full takeover of the system. They could also steal sensitive information or take audio / video recordings.
Remember the version 1.2 update for Mario Kart 7 that just recently came out? Many were surprised that the game received a new patch after so many years. As it turns out, Nintendo was looking to fix the ENLBufferPwn exploit.
As you can see, Nintendo has started to address the situation. Outside of Mario Kart 7, the exploit was fixed in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version 2.1.0, Animal Crossing: New Horizons version 2.0.6, ARMS version 5.4.1, Splatoon 2 version 5.5.1, and Super Mario Maker 2 version 3.0.2. It was also apparently taken care of in Splatoon 3 and Nintendo Switch Sports a little while back. However, Wii U titles that are impacted – such as Mario Kart 8 and the original Splatoon – have not been patched and it’s unclear if any updates are in the works. It’s also thought that there could be other games out there still impacted by the exploit.
For those that want to get into even more of the details behind the ENLBufferPwn exploit, you can visit the vulnerability report page here. We’d also suggest checking out the Twitter thread here.
Related
Without Pokémon, 2022 Would Have Been A Sad Year For Switch
Pokémon saved the Switch in 2022, which was also the year that the console officially started to feel old.
As we approach the Switch’s sixth anniversary, it feels like Nintendo’s innovative hybrid gaming device has finally peaked and is now on the decline. Missing features and poor online experiences that were once easier to forgive have started to feel more frustrating. Even the latest visually impressive first-party games like Kirby And The Forgotten Land and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 struggled to mask the hardware’s aging limitations.
Don’t get me wrong. The Switch’s release calendar was still lowkey stacked month in and month out. The OLED version continues to bring out a level of vibrancy in games big and small that helps make up for some of the technical drawbacks. And despite never receiving a price drop since it launched, the Switch remains an extremely competitive gaming option when stacked up against pricier alternatives like the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Steam Deck.
Still, a meaningful hardware refresh has never felt more overdue. 2022 was the year of the missing Switch Pro, and the year it felt like Nintendo’s existing handheld hybrid went from punching above its weight to under-delivering on the promise of its core conceit.
Great games, chugging hardware
Nintendo made up for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom being delayed this year through sheer quantity of new releases. On the first-party side Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers: Battle League, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes anchored the first half of the year, while Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, and Bayonetta 3 delivered heavy-hitters in the second half.
Gaps were stuffed with many of the year’s biggest indie games: Sifu, Citizen Sleeper, Nobody Saves the World, Return to Monkey Island, OlliOlli World, Shredder’s Revenge, Tunic, and Neon White. Square Enix’s 2022 JRPG bonanza was well represented, including Switch exclusives Live a Live and Triangle Strategy. Plus big ports like No Man’s Sky, Personal 5 Royal, and Nier Automata brought over some of the best games of the last console generation.
It’s safe to say, however, that it might have still felt like one of the quieter years on Switch if not for Pokémon Arceus: Legends and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. In addition to selling tons, both games also perfectly represented the platform’s growing pains this year: they iterated on the series’ tried and true collectathon formula in creative and refreshing ways while also looking like ass and running badly.
On the Arceus side, the game’s open world often looked empty and flat. On the Scarlet and Violet side, framerate drops, constant pop-in of objects, and rogue glitches held back an otherwise ambitious new blueprint for the future of the mainline Pokémon games. It’s hard to know how much these shortcomings are due to the Switch’s old chipsets, a lack of development time, a particular set of design trade-offs, or some combination of those and other factors.
A modern spec sheet probably wouldn’t hurt though. Even Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a sprawling RPG with big open environments that look much better than what you’ll find in Pokémon, brushed up against the limits of the Switch. The frame rate was far from stable in the later half of the game, and the sweeping vistas themselves lose all sorts of detail and definition the second you move away from them. This didn’t stop Monolith’s game from feeling and looking great when in motion, but it does mean that almost every screenshot I have from my time with it is full of jagged edges and washed out textures. Bayonetta 3 was even worse.
Switch Online is still a drag
Another game that gets at the increasing duality of the Switch is Splatoon 3. A gorgeous and colorful sequel with even more content and features, it nevertheless is held back by Nintendo’s online infrastructure. It’s 2022. Splatoon 3 is one of the best competitive shooters out there. And you will almost certainly spend at least part of any gaming session mired in disconnects or other connectivity woes.
It’s especially notable considering some of the biggest shooters around like Fortnite and Apex Legends are also on Switch, and those games also don’t require players to download a separate app to use voice chat. These problems were easier to ignore when Nintendo’s online service was free, but as the company continues to double-down on its monthly subscription service, subpar online performance continues to be a sore spot.
Last year, Nintendo launched the Switch Online + Expansion Pack, a $50 version of the service that raised the price in exchange for access to Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games, as well as various bits of Switch DLC. It felt like a terrible deal at the time, and nothing over the past 12 months has done much to change that.
That’s not to say that Nintendo hasn’t been diligently filling out the Netflix-style retro library. Notable additions included Earthbound, Shining Force II, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
In total, Switch Online received five more NES games, six more SNES games, 17 more Genesis games, and 11 more N64 games this year. Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games remain MIA, however, as do notable third-party SNES titles like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI.
As rival services like PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass expand and evolve to include some of the biggest new releases and cloud gaming, it’s hard not to look at Switch Online and feel like it comes up short, despite being significantly cheaper. Switch Online did experiment with week-long free trials for games like Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe this year, as well as add a new Switch Online missions and rewards feature, but four years into the service’s life it still feels like it’s struggling to justify itself.
Netflix is never coming
If Switch Online still seems like an underwhelming value proposition, the base console user experience remains absolutely barebones. The Switch firmware received six updates in 2022, and the only notable feature added was “Groups” which allows players to organize their game libraries into folders. It’s nice to have and was long overdue, which mostly serves to underline just how little the rest of the console experience has changed since launch.
Despite the popularity of the Switch, Nintendo has never prioritized social features—-and that didn’t change in 2022. There’s no way to search for friends, send them messages, or gift them games. There’s no social feed to speak of when it comes to wondering what they are playing, buying, or sharing. Again, this has been the status quo, but as each new year passes, the fact that the Switch hasn’t improved on any of it becomes more glaring.
The apps never came this year, either. For years the joke was that you could get Netflix on every modern Nintendo device but the Switch. The streaming wars are in full swing, with services like Game Pass including complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV and Disney+, neither of which exist on Switch. Hulu remains the lone exception, joined last year by Funimaiton and this year by Crunchyroll.
The Switch has been outpaced by app integration in other areas as well. Spotify has been a mainstay on PlayStation and Xbox for years, while social hub Discord was finally added to both this past year. Neither are on Nintendo’s platform, which is especially surprising considering how many communication shortcomings would be solved by the arrival of Discord. The Switch didn’t get achievements or home screen themes in 2022, either.
So…Switch Pro when?
When the Switch released in 2017, holding games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in your hands and taking them on the go was a powerful revelation. In 2022, thanks to the bar already raised by Nintendo half a decade ago, it’s somewhat less novel.
At the low-end, an explosion in cloud gaming peripherals and third-party handhelds means you can stream Assassin’s Creed Valhalla alongside Dead Cells to a bunch of competitors’ portables. The experience isn’t great but it’s often good enough.
At the high-end, Valve’s Steam Deck went from a trickle of pre-orders to on-demand availability, and let people take Steam hits from The Witcher 3 to Vampire Survivors to the bathroom and beyond. It’s clunky, the battery life isn’t great, and it’s a much less streamlined user experience than the Switch. Valve is also selling the device at a big loss. And yet while it’s only sold less than 2 percent as many units as the Switch so far, it’s shown the massive leap handheld gaming is capable of since the latter first shipped.
While Kotaku has mentioned a mythical Switch Pro in every State of the Switch review since 2018, this is the year it went from “when is it coming?” to “where the hell is it?” Many fans expected Nintendo to reveal upgraded hardware at E3 2021. Instead, it revealed the Switch OLED: a fancy screen atop the same basic guts for $50 more. This led to a lot of questions about repeated Bloomberg reports that Nintendo was gearing up to release a 4K successor to the Switch, but Nintendo’s past history alone says we’re due for a new Switch.
The Nintendo DS launched in 2004. The DS Lite followed in 2006. The DSi in 2008. And the DSi XL in 2009. The first and last iterations of the device showed a long range in terms of improvement. The 3DS launched in 2011. A 3DS XL arrived the following year. A 2DS was added to the lineup the year after that. And a New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL launched the year after that, both of which notably played a handful of games the earlier versions of the system couldn’t run. The Switch is already two years older than the PS4 was when the PS4 Pro came out, and older than the Wii U was when the Switch launched.
The global pandemic, which created shortages for semiconductors that affected everything from cars to smartphones, no doubt threw any traditional timeline for a Switch Pro out the window. At the same time, that hasn’t stopped the Switch from continuing to age in the interim. From Joy-Con drift to finicky Wi-Fi reception, the console has succeeded despite notable design flaws and shortcomings thanks to its brilliant form factor and exclusives.
The form factor is becoming less and less of a differentiator though, and despite the development wizardry at Nintendo, old hardware is starting to catch up with it. We’ll see if 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom can replicate the magic of Breath of the Wild on a six year old machine. By the time it comes out in May, the gap between them will be even bigger than the one between GameCube’s Twilight Princess and the Wii’s Skyward Sword.
After 10 Years I Finally Got A Wii U, Here’s What I Thought
used properly, Nintendo was really onto something with this tech
The fact that so many console exclusives now find themselves on the Switch is a credit to the quality of the games. What if Breath of the Wild had only come out on Wii U? Would it still be a fantastic game? Heck yeah! Would it have had the impact that it did? No way. Sure, there were a couple of missteps – Twilight Princess remains a boring Zelda game, HD or not (don’t @ me, please) – and most third-party studios did only the bare minimum to support the GamePad, but the overall hit rate on first-party titles really was something.
And this isn’t even to mention the Wii-ked (sorry) Virtual Console! I have had an absolute field day going through the eShop and snatching up every title that I have been wanting to play for years but never got the chance to grab a physical copy. Yes, this was made all the more pressing by the knowledge that the Wii U eShop will be closing in the next few months and my time is therefore limited, but boy what a rush!
Of course, I can’t talk about Wii U games without at least touching on Nintendo Land. This is a weird one. It’s not quite Wii Sports, nor is it quite Wii Party, but it is a fantastic display of what the GamePad could be used for and had me and my willing friends in stitches with its uber-simple minigames.
Mario Chase remains a highlight and a prime candidate for party nights going forward, and while there are some games which feel like they are repeating the process a little too closely, there is enough variation to show that, used properly, Nintendo was really onto something with this tech. I’m still not quite sure what I was supposed to be doing with those coins and subsequent prizes, but I had a good time doing it all the same.
The Experience
True, the GamePad is great when it works well, but when it doesn’t it is at best redundant, and at worst a weighty distraction. I played through a strange selection of games over the past month, some used the GamePad effectively (Rayman Legends, Twilight Princess) but others — many others — found no use for it. Quite why I was playing Assassins Creed III (a game series I generally cannot get behind) is beyond me, but seeing the GamePad subjected to being the home of a dull map with no care or detail paid to it made one thing very clear – this was a good bit of kit desperate for a purpose.
a piece of gaming history that is so brilliantly weird, I doubt we will ever see something as inventive again
That is perhaps the thing that I came back to more times than anything else in my last few weeks with the Wii U. I played up on my TV, at my desk, even in bed, but at no point did I feel like I knew what the console was trying to do. Is it a fun handheld? Yeah, kinda. Is it a fun home console? Yeah, kinda. But why be average at both when you could be really good at one?
Long before the Microsft was boasting of Xbox One that ‘this console will play your games, it will stream your TV, it will massage your feet and it will do your taxes!’ the Wii U was kind of doing just that. It was much to my surprise to find a video camera, TV remote, streaming options, and a (defunct but cool-sounding) social media platform all built into a console which I had foolishly assumed was all about the games. I’d be intrigued to spy on a parallel universe in which the global pandemic happened five years earlier and mankind turned to the Wii U’s video chat to keep the economy running. Many of these features are not functional anymore ten years down the line, and the lack of direction seems like a bit of a mess (is this for games, for TV, for social media?) but the ambition is there. This is a brilliant mess indeed.
After a month of playing the console that I rejected for so many years, I don’t think it is fair to call the Wii U a failure (unless you are talking financially, in which case it is difficult to disagree). Yes, at the time it may have been a marketing disaster with some pretty big gaps between major game releases, and my heart goes out to all of the fans who stood diligently by it. However, now we can see it for what it truly is, a piece of gaming history that is so brilliantly, confusingly weird, I doubt we will ever see something as experimental and inventive again from one of the ‘big three’ console manufacturers.
If you play as I did, then you get a chance to be selective with a console for which there are, admittedly, a fair few lows. You get to play the best first-party games without needing to wait for months for the next, the entire virtual console library is right there with GBA, DS, and Wii games to boot, and the marketing campaign is so far in the past now that I think I can safely say that this is a console in and of itself and not just a Wii accessory.
Both I and the Wii U are 10 years older now and we are both all the cooler for it.
Microsoft Loses Up To $200 On Every Xbox Console It Sells
Video game consoles are very expensive pieces of computer hardware crammed into relatively small boxes and packaged with pricey controllers. So it’s not surprising to hear that Microsoft isn’t making money selling Xbox consoles. In fact, these days it loses up to $200 for every console sold.
Previously, Xbox boss and Microsoft head of gaming Phil Spencer had explained that the company may still raise prices on “some things,” though not during this holiday season. While many guessed he was talking about Game Pass or Xbox Live, it’s also possible Microsoft could raise the price of its budget console, the next-gen Xbox Series S. This seems even more possible now that Spencer’s confirmed the company loses money on every console sold.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Spencer talked about how video games and the Xbox brand in specific are doing during the ongoing economic downturn. Rising prices and record inflation are putting a pinch on many, as dollars don’t go as far as they used to. During the interview, Spencer confirmed that Microsoft loses around $100 every time it sells the $500 Xbox Series X. And it loses even more, up to $200, whenever it sells the smaller, $300 Xbox Series S.
Spencer told CNBC that the expectation Microsoft has is that customers will buy the subsidized consoles and then buy accessories and games, helping to offset the losses. While Spencer didn’t say anything about raising the prices on either next-gen Xbox, he did tell CNBC that he doesn’t think Microsoft will be able to keep game prices constant forever. We’ve already seen the rise of the $70 game since the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Microsoft has yet to release a $70 game, but it seems that future releases like Redfall or Starfield might make the leap.
Of course, selling consoles for a loss isn’t a new practice. Microsoft itself told the court during the Epic v. Apple case that it had never turned a profit selling any of its Xbox consoles. Sony reportedly also sold the PS3 at a $240 loss. The one real exception to all this is Nintendo, as the company behind the Switch and Wii tends to make money on its consoles. Even if Nintendo’s profit is only $6 per Wii, that’s a lot better than losing hundreds of dollars per unit sold. Meanwhile, Sony has raised the price of the PS5 in some parts of the world.
The Scariest Things That Happened In Gaming In 2022
On an average day, my friends might ask me how my job is going. I’ll smile, tell them “It’s going great,” and then launch into a story about one of the most fucked up things they’ve ever heard of. And now I get to give the recap to you.
Spooky season is upon us, but the chronically online gamers at Kotaku know that terrifying shit is happening in our space all the time. It’s not just the games that are occasionally horrifying—it’s also how the industry grinds humans into dust, how giant corporations are increasingly looking to put the screws to the average consumer, and how abuse of power comes as no surprise.
Some of the spookiest gaming news stories this year are sad. Some of them are funny. Others will make you want to pull your hair out over the general state of the world. But hey, me too! Let’s be scared and [some other unidentifiable emotion] together!
Random: Wii U Owner’s Son Stuffs A Bunch Of Switch Carts Into The Disc Drive
If you’re even remotely present on the veritable hellscape that is Twitter, then you’ll have no doubt seen a meme in which gamers take photos of their Switch console docked with a game disc from another platform resting on top; a metaphor of the user’s desire to see a port of said game arrive on Switch.
Very droll, we’re sure you’ll agree, but ultimately a harmless way of inviting a few likes and retweets. But what if you tried it the other way around? Popping a Switch cart into the disc drive of a Wii U certainly sounds like a recipe for disaster, and unfortunately that’s exactly what one owner in North America had to deal with after their son got his hands on both systems.
In a post on Twitter, user Jose A Cruz shared photos of a gutted Wii U console in order to remove a bunch of Switch carts from the disc drive. Looking at the photos, it looks as though there are four carts in total, and while it’s not possible to see all of them, we can see that three of the four are Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Mario Party Superstars, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
How this exactly came to be is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the owner’s son mistakenly thought the Switch carts would work on the Wii U? Maybe it was an act of rebellion? Regardless, we’re just picturing the look on the poor owner’s face when they realised where their missing Switch carts were – imagine!
Thankfully, it looks like everything ended on a positive note; in a follow-up tweet, the Wii U disc drive appears to be working fine and the Switch carts have been safely removed with no sign of damage. Happy days!
Let this serve as a cautionary tale, however; if you have children – particularly young ones – then be sure to keep your valuables well out of reach. Switch carts might taste pretty disgusting, but that doesn’t mean they won’t end up in other hard-to-reach places!
Have you lost a Switch cart only to find it in the most perculiar of places? Share your own stories in the comments below!
Retro’s Mysterious Zelda Spin-Off ‘Project X’ Apparently Had A Playable Prototype
New details have emerged online today about Retro Studios’ mysterious Legend of Zelda title ‘Project X‘. Although this spin-off never saw the light of day, it seems there was actually a working prototype.
In the same ‘DidYouKnowGaming?’ YouTube video, the gameplay within this title was discussed. According to ex-Retro Studios developer and programmer Paul Tozour, it was an “experiment gone wrong that happened to be set in the Zelda universe”.
While a prototype was up and running, it was described as a simplified version of ‘Whack-A-Mole’ and was believed to be seriously undercooked. Players would control Sheik, fixed in one place, and would hit different types of wolves with the Wii Remote.
“There were four or five wolves, maybe six, and they would just be in their idle state waiting to pounce at you, then they’d jump one-by-one and you’d go ‘Whack’. So that’s literally all it was, just detecting when the player swung the Wii Remote. If so, the wolf dies, and if you don’t do it correctly, you take damage.” – Paul Tozour, ex Retro dev
There was also overworld traversal – separate from the game’s combat, where players would be thrown into random battles, similar to JRPGs. Tozour further described it as a “hot mess” and even though the art might make it seem like the team was working on something special, there was just “no gameplay” present.
Concerns were raised about the direction of ‘Project X’ on multiple occasions, but leadership ignored warnings and supposedly refused to change direction. Tozour adds how he heard the prototype didn’t go down well with Nintendo:
“[Nintendo] couldn’t really make heads or tails of it. Their reaction was basically boils down to ‘this is seriously what you’re proposing? Really?…[It was] immediately rejected [that’s what I was told,] but I wasn’t there when it happened, and I suppose there’s a possibility it never actually happened and they decided not to show it to Nintendo.”
A separate anonymous source from Retro suggested the project also may have been axed due to the departure of Retro’s top developers around the same time. All up, there was believed to be at least seven people working on ‘Project X’ at Retro Studios before it was eventually cancelled in 2008.
There are claims Nintendo is still interested in a Sheik project. You can learn more in the video below, and more about Paul Tozour’s experience with ‘Project X’ in his previous chat with the podcast KiwiTalkz:
It turns out Retro was also working on another Zelda spin-off called Heroes of Hyrule. You can read more in our previous story.