Ganondorf and other details revealed during the Hyrule Warriors Nintendo Direct

In a move that many saw coming, Nintendo revealed at the end of their Nintendo Direct that Ganondorf will be playable in September's Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U.

Aside from the "surprise" ending, the presentation focused mainly on gameplay, from how to complete stages to how characters improve their stats and acquire new weapons and items.

Of note is the Adventure Mode which seems to mimic the original Legend of Zelda in the way you move about the grid (map) and even the graphics seeing as how they are polished 8-bit. You start off on a tile of the grid that resembles the original game map, select it to enter a mission in a Hyrule Warriors stage and complete it to unlock all of the grid tiles next to the one you are standing on. You will be able to unlock characters and even weapons that can only be used in this mode.

They listed off an impressive cast of playable characters (Link, Zelda, Sheik, Impa, Darunia, Princess Ruto, Agatha, Midna, Zant, Fi, Ghirahim, and of course Ganondorf). On top of the familiar characters, they also spoke about the new ones like Lana, but there are still more that have yet to be shown.

Mentioned as well were several of the weapons that you will come across along your journey in Hyrule. Some of my favorites are the Moon from Majora's Mask which you will be able to pull towards the ground at an intense speed using the hookshot (which sounds very satisfying) to harm your enemies and the chain chomp (an alternate form of the ball and chain) from Link's Awakening (and the Mario series).

There will also be some familiar stages such as Lake Hylia (Ocarina of Time), Hryule Field (Twilight Princess), and Skyloft (Skyward Sword) among others that were not announced.

One problem that I found with the game is how it handles alternative costumes. It looks like Nintendo has resorted to retailer specific costume dlc which in my opinion, is no fun for the people who actually buy the game. Essentially, every retailer will have their own specific pre-order bonus costume set (so you can make Link look like his Ocarina of Time incarnation for example). This means unless you have a lot of disposable income and have no problem owning various copies of the game, you will be stuck with only one costume set until they inevitably release them all at a later time for some (unannounced) fee. Why can't we just go back to the days when all of these costumes were just unlockable throughout the game?

Either way, the game looks like it will be a lot of fun and will serve to hold Zelda fans over until the eagerly awaited release of the new Legend of Zelda game revealed at E3. To watch the entire Nintendo Direct, click below.