- #TWILIGHT PRINCESS HD TEXTURE PACK COMPARISON WITH WII U 480P#
- #TWILIGHT PRINCESS HD TEXTURE PACK COMPARISON WITH WII U 1080P#
It's all progress on Wii U then, except for one small sticking point. Otherwise Nintendo's original location designs return as-is, and we've yet to spot other terrain tweaks in spots like Kakariko Village. For example, scenery is retouched in places like Ordon Village, and new trees are added to fill out its barren hillsides. However on balance it's surprising how well the game holds up, and certain efforts are made to embellish the world - if only as a small gesture. Alas, geometry is left as-is from ten years ago, meaning we get the same rudimentary character designs and terrain dimensions, at times looking a little primitive for a 2016 release. Even the bloom effect is intensified for some cut-scenes, just like the Zelda: Wind Waker HD project on Wii U. No stone is left unturned in the overhauling of textures, and even character hair is remapped with a brand new asset - while shadow resolution is boosted too. Visually it's a much sharper, richer looking game. This dithering is common to games of this era using heavy alpha effects - and thankfully it's a thing of the past on Wii U. All captures below are taken via the Wii U's HDMI port, where the 16-bit colour on GameCube and Wii versions still cause a visible 'pinstripe' artifact across the output.
#TWILIGHT PRINCESS HD TEXTURE PACK COMPARISON WITH WII U 1080P#
It's all output at a native 1080p too, but the benefits of finally running the game at a 24-bit colour depth can't be overstated. Twilight Princess HD defaults to the non-mirrored layout intended for the game, while a harder Hero mode offers the Wii's inverted look. With motion controls added, its status as a Wii launch title overshadowed the other version, and sadly, fewer people enjoyed the game in its original GameCube orientation. Adding a new widescreen mode (and an entirely inverted world layout) distinguished it to a certain extent, but otherwise these two were very much on par.
#TWILIGHT PRINCESS HD TEXTURE PACK COMPARISON WITH WII U 480P#
Even as the technological midpoint of the three, Wii's extras are fairly meagre in hindsight - the same texture assets, effects and geometry as GameCube, all presented at the same 480p standard. Of course, visual differences between GameCube and Wii are notoriously few, and both 2006 releases match up very closely indeed when planted next to this Wii U remaster. We've drawn comparisons with the Wii version already, but bringing the GameCube version into the fold lets us see the full extent of the upgrade across three generations of Nintendo consoles. As a visual upgrade it's a satisfying one - and marks Zelda's 30th anniversary with some style.
Developer Tantalus hits all the right notes in its Zelda: Twilight Princess HD remaster on Wii U: a full-blooded 1080p production with overhauled textures, boosted shadow quality, and tweaked bloom lighting.