Hyrule Warriors announced – Zelda based Dynasty Warriors from Tecmo Koei

Zelda and Dynasty Warriors combine in “Hyrule Warriors” But don’t update your Christmas lists just yet, the title is tentative. The first and possibly most surprising piece of news to come out of the Nintendo Direct just aired tonight was that Nintendo and Tecmo Koei are collaborating on a brand new Wii U title slated to be released in 2014.

“Hyrule Warriors” is essentially a version of Dynasty Warriors with a Zelda skin. Think games like “Gundam Musou” but with a Zelda skin. Link will slash through hundreds of enemy at any given times while strategizing attacks against other enemies. The early footage shown doesn’t look particularly impressive but does feature Link hacking and slashing his way through all kinds of recognizable Zelda enemies including a rather intimidating Dodongo.

Zelda fans don’t need to panic – this is not the next installment in the mainline Zelda franchise, but rather a spinoff of sorts developed by a third party as a collaboration with Nintendo. When we have a solid release date for Hyrule Warriors – or even a proper name as Nintendo have insisted that the title is tentative, we’ll be sure to update you. Watch this space.