The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild had one crazy development cycle, as outlined during the 2017 Game Developers Conference. The open world game that we all know and love went through quite a transformation from its original concept to the finished product, and many of the game’s mechanics involving physics, enemy interaction and world exploration were conceptualized using a classic 8-bit engine.
While several screenshots and videos of this 8-bit inspired engine were shared during GDC 2017, fans were eager for more, so the folks at Micropig Gaming decided to answer the call with Breath of the NES. Breath of the NES aims to recreate what was shared by the Breath of the Wild development team, including the ability to seamlessly interact with your surroundings in a nostalgic 8-bit setting.
For those eager to try out the demo themselves, it’s available to download now. I’ve personally spent some time playing the game and was able to harvest apples to heal, set my wooden sword on fire (which, in turn, burned down wooded areas and grass), and equip a Korok leaf to blow fruit from trees. Overall, it’s a cool little experiment that’s definitely worth any Zelda fan’s time. We recommend that you act fast if you wish to try it out yourself, as Nintendo has never been too fond of fan creations that infringe on its IPs.
Written by Jason Ganos
Nintendo super fan since birth, Jason is the creator of Amiibo News and editor-in-chief at Nintendo Wire. One of his life goals is to provide the latest Nintendo news to fellow gamers with his natural know-how.
