Monday, August 24, 2020: New Hyrule

I wasn't even planning on playing today, but then all these things snowballed and here I am writing this post! The hook was Lyman's letter. At first, I was kind of annoyed with his "oh yeah, muscles" talk, but then I saw the present he got me, and... yeah. Good joke, Lyman. :P

Well, I mean... I guess I'm wearing this thing today. On an unrelated note, it's a bit strange seeing K.K. Slider on a Monday. I'm so used to the classic K.K. performances on Saturday nights, and New Horizons keeps pushing his weekly gig day around!

Clay was there to continue making fun of me. And his attempt at humor.

Sylvana was following up on being part of the community with Merengue coming over.

A while ago, I read an article on Nintendo Life showcasing an awesome Zelda-themed town someone made, so I decided to visit it (after jamming out to some K.K. tunes with my roommate :P). It's called New Hyrule, and I'm getting flashbacks to a similar Zelda town I visited in New Leaf - just like with Aika Village last week! Check out this incredible wall they were able to do behind the Triforce. This Link costume came with the dream - anything to not wear that hideous muscles suit!

Here is one of the first rooms I visited, with a pattern of Ganon from the original 1986 The Legend of Zelda on the NES. It was set up like the archery mini-game from Majora's Mask (both N64 games anyway), which was super neat!

More Zelda 1 sprites basically with Death Mountain and the ending cutscene of that game were found up top. I love knowing the references even more now than I did in 2013 playing the town in Termina... though I knew them pretty well then, too. :P I love all the sprite-work around the island (the patterns), like from A Link to the Past or something.

Side note: I saw Coco in town, and yes Coco, we have met before! Yes, I know she's a bit of a creepy bunny (and is she actually a bunny? I was reading an article on the topic earlier today too!) - but she also has plenty of nostalgia for me back to Animal Crossing: City Folk, (AND New Leaf!) where she was in Liontown in both games!

Anyways, back to the Zelda aspects... I did speak with some of the human residents as I checked out their homes. Impa said "it's dangerous to go alone", referencing the original Zelda. I can't remember all of them now, but here's Skull Kid, referencing Majora's Mask. I love how he's depicted in Animal Crossing literally as a kid with a skull hat. Genius.

I found this secret alcove with the ocarina! How perfect - there's even a scarecrow next to it so I can play the Scarecrow's Song - or learn the Song of Double Time from him. :)

"King Link's" house seemed to represent the Temple of Time, and summarized Link's main adventure going through the game Ocarina of Time with the different medallions. The left picture was clearly for the Fire Temple. The jail bars represent the Gorons being locked in cages Link had to free, I get it! I love the use of pots... it's just too bad we can't break them. And on the right, we have the Forest Temple, where Link rescues Saria. I remember meeting Saria in the aforementioned New Leaf town. I just noticed those mushroom lamps I will surely get this autumn!

Darkness seemed to be a running style choice throughout the homes of this island. I noticed each one would pretty much pick a theme and stick to it throughout the whole home. Here's the back room of the Temple of Time, which seems to represent the Temple of Light, where those cutscenes throughout Ocarina of Time take place.

Perhaps the coolest bit was stumbling into the Lost Woods! Remember how in yesterday's post I was mentioning A Link to the Past with the fruit orchard? Well this part of the island actually did make me lose sight of my character! And when you tilt the camera up, you can see there's actually a maze, with various items blocking your path! It took me a bit to find my way out of there, but it was such a clever idea.

Before leaving, when I checked the bulletin board, I realized there was way more to this island than just exploring - there's a whole puzzle in it as well! To find the main builder's house, you have to find various items hidden around the island, just like a Zelda dungeon! I didn't want to spend too much time looking now, and didn't take any pictures, but I'll definitely consider returning to this island for a livestream or something to try and solve the puzzle! For now, I took my Piece of Heart and headed on out. :P

This blog was full of references... Oh man, am I getting back into obsessing over this game a little! I got a memory on Snapchat of me hitting the money rock playing Animal Crossing: Wild World on my DS on this day last year, and here I am, doing the same exact thing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons!

Also, just enjoying the soundtrack, and really starting to truly appreciate the live instrumentation for the Animal Crossing series, perhaps kickstarted in Mario Kart 8. With Animal Crossing's new delve on the Switch, it made total sense for a full HD Animal Crossing to feature live instruments too! Maybe in some DLC holiday track, we'll get a solo violin! :)