By Nathan Grayson on November 16th, 2012 at 11:00 am.
If the world was a good and just place (that just so happened to be molded in my image, but I don’t see how that tarnishes the goodness and justness of it), everyone would’ve hopped aboard Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s artistic bandwagon lion man boat thing instead of bee-lining straight for the uncanny valley of eternal brownness. It’s just so rich with gorgeous, timeless whimsy. And sure, maybe platformer A Hat In Time‘s style has maybe fallen a bit too close to the tree, but its central time-traveling conceit and extreme hatness give it plenty to, um, hang its hat on.
The final game will take the form of a collection-centric platforming adventure ala Nintendo 64 classics like Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Somewhat worrisomely, developer Mecha The Slag also mentions Donkey Kong 64, and everyone knows that game was completely terrible. Well, except for that one part.
There is, however, a twist: an umbrella. Oh, and also time travel.
“Run around in five vastly different worlds, while the evil Moustache Girl is loose causing havoc! Even if you can’t beat the bad guys right now, don’t worry, you’ve got time on your hands. Change the course of the game’s story and before you know it, the enemies are crumbling in fear.”
The umbrella, meanwhile, can apparently take the form of a weapon, a hookshot, and a propeller – among other things. And the hat is just a hat.
So A Hat in Time sounds like a heaping helping of the past mixed with a dash of brand new. Admittedly, though, the collectathon platformer’s a pretty delicate art, and there’s a reason it fell out of fashion: people made a whole bunch of incredibly tedious ones. Here’s hoping, then, that Hat in Time manages to avoid that pitfall. And also maybe clean up its animations a bit.
Currently, Mecha’s aiming for a summer 2013 release, but a demo will be ready in December or January. Oh, and it’s doing that whole Steam Greenlight thing, if you’re feeling so inclined.
Most importantly, though, this:
16/11/2012 at 11:05 Bhazor says:
I’m gonna take you to a juice bar
I’m gonna take you to a juice bar
Juice bar!
Juice bar!
Juice bar!
16/11/2012 at 23:34 The Random One says:
Juice Bar?
16/11/2012 at 23:42 jrodman says:
I’ve got! … no on second hand I can’t do it.
16/11/2012 at 11:05 MuscleHorse says:
For a split second I thought Nintendo were Doing The Right Thing and releasing their classics on the PC. Oh for Wind Waker on my hard drive.
This, on the other hand, seems worth a punt – or at least a vote on Greenlight.
16/11/2012 at 11:21 Bhazor says:
Funnily enough I was talking about why console makers don’t sell official emulators. Still no idea why they don’t.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?6674-So-console-emulation-then
16/11/2012 at 19:04 Gargenville says:
Because that means there’s less reason for you to buy their hardware and get sucked into their ecosystem of course. This is also why Sega do sell a good chunk of their emulated Megadrive back library on Steam and the console networks.
16/11/2012 at 23:14 Geen says:
Nintendo… I would give you all my money for making PC ports.
16/11/2012 at 11:06 Kaira- says:
I have the strangest urge to play MGS and Wind Waker again.
16/11/2012 at 23:12 Geen says:
I ALWAYS have that urge, except it’s MGS3 (aka the good one).
16/11/2012 at 11:08 Feferuco says:
I don’t see video games bee lining in the uncanny valley of eternal brownness.
16/11/2012 at 11:31 Spengbab says:
You should adjust your monitor’s color settings then
16/11/2012 at 11:23 jha4ceb says:
He said *what* about DK64?!
16/11/2012 at 13:10 Squirrelfanatic says:
What’s wrong with DK64? I loved that game and played it for ages. Also, the multiplayer mode was great fun.
16/11/2012 at 19:04 Suits says:
Doesn’t hold even hold a candle to Banjo Kazooie or Conker though
16/11/2012 at 11:31 Duoae says:
“Run around in five vastly different worlds, while the evil Moustache Girl is loose causing havoc! Even if you can’t beat the bad guys right now, don’t worry, you’ve got time on your hands. Change the course of the game’s story and before you know it, the enemies are crumbling in fear.”
So…. Wind Waker combined with Majora’s Mask then?
Pretty ripped off from this description.
[edit]I should point out that I’m not using the term “ripped off” in a negative sense. Just pointing out that the description is quite similar to “we liked these two zelda games best and made a game based on that like ourselves”. :)
16/11/2012 at 11:44 DogPawHat says:
I can’t help but think that this rip off too many art assets from WW to be released without Nintendo brining the pain legally speaking to this.
17/11/2012 at 00:00 Suits says:
And using Nintendo licensed music in that video :p
16/11/2012 at 11:59 Greggh says:
For those of you screaming rip-off at the top of your lungs:
To you everything’s a ripoff nowadays if it feels/looks similar to something – voxel based game: RIPOFF of minecraft. Cell shaded game: RIPOFF of WW…
The dev clearly is a guy who likes platformers – and watermellons – so it’s just the way he sees his game, as a mix of all those great classics (and don’t you DARE badmouth DK64 again Nathan) with a hint of his own personality.
TL;DR – Bugger away naysayers :P
16/11/2012 at 12:35 Spengbab says:
Sir, you are being buggered*
*=Comment ripped from extremely biased RPS staffmember
16/11/2012 at 23:02 TheAngryMongoose says:
We’re not saying it looks like Wind Waker because it’s cell-shaded. We saying it looks like Wind Waker because it looks a lot like Window Waker, because it looks a lot like Wind Waker. As pointed below, if the sound effects are similar (but I’m not sure they’re directly lifted). The pattern on the water is ingrained into my memory. The shade of the head and style of the eyes is near identical to any child in WW. I’m also getting a Mario Sunshine vibe, but that’s only because there are umbrellas…
16/11/2012 at 12:42 elfbarf says:
I was interested until ‘Mecha the Slag.’
Haven’t been too fond of him since the MaxofS2D drama.
edit: Also, DK64 was great. Not as great as Banjo or Mario but it was a solid 3D platformer.
16/11/2012 at 12:43 DickSocrates says:
Argh, what’s the music in the first video? I recognise it but can’t place it.
16/11/2012 at 13:57 DarkeSword says:
“Square Timber” from Super Mario Galaxy 2.
16/11/2012 at 13:19 Tei says:
The talk about emulation picked my interest and downloaded dolphin 3 and tried this game. It looks god, probably better than has even look in a real wii, except a few UI elements that are obviusly bitmaps.
I make me happy, but I dont do warez, so I would prefer if nintendo release a arcade shop in the PC, but I imagine dont do it, because (insert opinion here).
16/11/2012 at 16:26 Chizu says:
A new 3d platformer on PC?
Yes please. its about time really.
2d’s great and all, but few get 3d right.
Also Banjo-Kazooie is one of the greatest games ever :(
16/11/2012 at 16:40 Urthman says:
No Wind Waker fan would really be surprised, but it’s still pretty amazing how much better the Wind Waker art style has aged than Twilight Princess. Wind Waker running at 1920×1080 (yes, there’s even a hack to run in it in widescreen) looks like a Disney cartoon. It’s wonderful.
A Hat in Time looks pretty, but I wish it were more Super Mario and less Zelda. I feel like there’s already a lot of PC RPG’s with good stuff from Zelda, but no one has yet made a PC 3D platformer where the movement and control feels as fluid and zippy as Super Mario 64. Looking at the first video, the movement here looks really clunky. It looks like she moves too fast to control precisely and turns like a tank.
16/11/2012 at 18:07 Dizzard says:
Really love this art style. It’s a shame it hasn’t been used more since Wind Waker.
Wind Waker has aged extremely well, more so than most games from it’s time I would say.
I’ll be keeping my eye on this one.
16/11/2012 at 18:28 Brun says:
Those screenshots feel like they were pulled directly out of Wind Waker. The similarity – or rather, the degree to which the artists nailed that art style – is uncanny.
16/11/2012 at 19:10 Suits says:
first greenlight im kind of excited about
16/11/2012 at 20:51 BrotherCabbage says:
Has anyone else noticed yet that the sound effects in the first video are totally lifted directly from Wind Waker? The doors sound the same, and the voice clips sound like Medli’s from the Earth Temple.
16/11/2012 at 22:12 LTK says:
I friggin’ love the way the little kid runs and holds his hat. And this music!
16/11/2012 at 23:20 Delicious Narwhal says:
Well I’ve basically been wanting another Wind Waker ever since Wind Waker. So… awesome, I guess?
17/11/2012 at 00:01 Suits says:
except it’s nothing like wind waker apart from the art style.. so tough luck?
17/11/2012 at 00:45 rockman29 says:
MGS3 ftw.
Wind Waker ftw also.
17/11/2012 at 09:43 Jamesworkshop says:
Codec call:Hat? Hat?! HAAAAAT!!!!
17/11/2012 at 20:15 misterT0AST says:
Don’t touch Donkey Kong 64. It was the APOTHEOSIS of 3d platformers.
It was in the guinness world records for the number of collectibles, and it was just colossal.
I’ve never played a platformer so grandious, so huge, with such a consistent high quality of graphics, sound, level design.