Nintendo announces new Zelda title at GDC

Gone are the boats and ponies of yesteryear – Link has officially upgraded to riding on trains (like MIA, no?) for his latest DS adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Announced today (March 25, 2009) at the Game Developer’s Conference by Nintendo bigwig Satoru Iwata (at the tail end of his keynote speech, for full dramatic effect), the game is slated to hit the Nintendo DS later this year. Screens show the charming art style from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, and the gameplay, according to MTV Multiplayer, looks like it’ll offer up the same exploration/dungeon crawling action that we all know and love from the series.

I’m sure some Zelda loyalists will pooh-pooh the notion of Link getting around on a tiny, adorable locomotive, but I’m all for it. After all, I’m one of those crazies who actually didn’t mind the sailing in Wind Waker, and I’m definitely in favor of moving things forward a bit with the series. Don’t get me wrong – I have three Zeldas in my top ten games of all time – I’d just like to see a little more innovation from the highly capable masters at the big N.

Read [MTV Multiplayer] Read [Gamasutra]