Shadowy Platforming Comes to Wii in A Shadow's Tale

Tom Goldman

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Aug 17, 2009
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Shadowy Platforming Comes to Wii in A Shadow's Tale


Shadows are the in thing these days, and Hudson Soft is following along with the trend with its new platformer for the Wii.

Hudson Soft announced a new platformer for the Wii this week called A Shadow's Tale. True to the name, players take on the role of a shadow, and in a twist can only run and jump along shadows projected by the environment.

The game's first trailer unfortunately doesn't show any gameplay, but it does give me a bit of an Ico feel, which must mean that A Shadow's Tale will be as good as Ico or better. I'm kidding, and only so hopeful because I can't wait a single moment longer for Team Ico's upcoming The Last Guardian, but the game looks interesting nonetheless and could be worth a look.

As the trailer shows, an imprisoned boy has his shadow severed by some kind of ancient Cylon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylon_%28Battlestar_Galactica%29] and must traverse a tower in this shadow form. According to Hudson, the boy will disappear if engulfed by either too much shadow or too much light as he attempts to collect key items. The angles and positioning of light sources, and how they change, appear to be key factors in the layout of each level. Similar to Ico the boy will have to contend with shadowy foes and solve puzzles. The following screenshot gives a better idea of how the game will look and play.



The main character's winged helper sylph called a "Spangle" is important to the puzzle solving and seeks to make A Shadow's Tale more than Super Mario Bros. in the dark. The Spangle can manipulate physical items, like levers and cranks, which should extend bridges and such to help the boy continue on his journey.

A Shadow's Tale could be just a simple platformer, but the visual style and puzzle elements are appealing to me. Along with Shadow Physics [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb5DjyoDObA], it looks like shadows are becoming a popular trend in game design.


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notyouraveragejoe

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Nov 8, 2008
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TheNamlessGuy said:
Man, I've only seen that movie and am already exited.

Good thing I can...
uh

Buy it very legally in the store
Exactly. I like the idea of you being a Shadow and only being able to move along shadows. Though it'd be evil if they did a dark level where it was all shadow and you were screwed till you could turn the light on.
 

Ranooth

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Mar 26, 2008
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Shadows really are being the in thing these days. Everyone seems to have one!
 

oppp7

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Aug 29, 2009
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Looks OK, not much of a 2D platformer fan though.
A small fairy helper? Where have I heard of that before? (Hey, listen!)
 

Quaidis

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I like this. You should bring up more hopeful new games I may have never heard of otherwise, or little known good games with little advertising, more often. It's nice having a spiffy game promotion instead of always coming across sarcastic, angry, and otherwise negative reviews.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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TheNamlessGuy said:
notyouraveragejoe said:
Exactly. I like the idea of you being a Shadow and only being able to move along shadows. Though it'd be evil if they did a dark level where it was all shadow and you were screwed till you could turn the light on.
The most intriguing thought I have is that shadows move due to where the sun is positioned.

That will be some kickass puzzle solving.
"Hmm, the sun's too high up now for me to make this jump, I'll have to come back in the afternoon when the shadows are longer."

That could prove interesting....
 

sephiroth1991

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Ranooth said:
Shadows really are being the in thing these days. Everyone seems to have one!
Ha that joke with that avatar picture, priceless

The only problem with shadows is once you get one it won' stop following you
 

tomtom94

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May 11, 2009
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This was announced...some time ago. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway.

Complete gimmick, probably only buy it if the platforming's decent.
 

Wrds

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Sep 4, 2008
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oh hey I think I saw some gameplay for this on ufrag's PAX stream.

I'm interested to see where this game goes. I certainly be trying it myself when it comes out.
 

tomtom94

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May 11, 2009
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Aura Guardian said:
tomtom94 said:
This was announced...some time ago. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway.

Complete gimmick, probably only buy it if the platforming's decent.
Gimmick? What gimmick?
You play via the perspective of a shadow? Maybe not a gimmick, but I think it'll be quite frustrating.
 

Terramax

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Yeah, the Ico feel can't be an accident. As a fan of Ico and the first few Tomb Raiders this is right up my alley!
 

EscapeGoat_v1legacy

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I have to admit, that looks pretty cool, and its a nifty idea to boot. I've always been a fan of 2-d platformers, and A Shadow's Tale has captured my attention.

And yes, it does look a bit like a Team Ico effort, which makes it even more interesting and appealing.
 

Casual Shinji

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I'm not a fan of the Wii at all, but THIS looks really frikkin' interesting.
 

Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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Intresting concept, I like the idea. Ill be watching this for sure!

Shame its for Wii ><
 

Generator

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May 8, 2009
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Dammit, they totally stole my idea!

Ah well, looks promising, so that's good anyways. I'm not a big fan of 2D platformers, but I'll be keeping an eye on this one, if not just for the interesting concept that they stole from me.
 

Pimppeter2

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tomtom94 said:
Aura Guardian said:
tomtom94 said:
This was announced...some time ago. I'm pretty sure it was, anyway.

Complete gimmick, probably only buy it if the platforming's decent.
Gimmick? What gimmick?
You play via the perspective of a shadow? Maybe not a gimmick, but I think it'll be quite frustrating.
Yeah, shame on them for being gimmicky.

Everyone knows that games must be by default played from the perspective of a mid 30s, brown haired, sarcastic soldier.

Damn them