We’re at a pretty exciting time in video games right now, where the history of games can be exciting to look back and take leaps and bounds.
I’m not talking about remakes and remakes here either – I’m just talking about those silly winks and nods that just add texture to the medium’s culture. Like when you hear Wilhelm Scream or Tarzan Yell on TV or in a movie; nudge your ribs with a knowing smile. For a long time there was a general perception that gaming was too young for this kind of stuff, but now that we’ve had enough history, it’s becoming more common.
However, Nintendo is a company that does this more often than most. Founded 133 years ago and dating back long before Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to get into digital gaming, Nintendo has a history of making real-world toys and playing cards. So Nintendo occasionally looks back at that history for a point or two – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a delightful new story.
The goal of Kingdom Tears is to build on the system of its predecessor, one of the best games ever made. Breath of the Wild already had great systems that interrelated and interacted in weird and wonderful ways, so the team behind its sequel seems determined to layer more and more on top of it. Now you can create more powerful weapons, vehicles, or other tools by physically mixing objects together, combining things and crafting in a more tactile way than just going through menus.
In the new video demo showing off the highly anticipated sequel’s gameplay, one thing in particular caught my attention: the name of one of these new mechanics.
The ethereal grip that Link can use to grab items in the world and mix them together is called the Ultrahand.
The name will be familiar to those who know Nintendo’s history. No, it’s not some esoteric NES peripheral, or some weird chunk of plastic you clip your Wii remote into…it harks back to those dark ages before video games.
Ultra Hand toys were designed by Gunpei Yokoi in the 1960’s. He made the first toy prototypes for personal entertainment in his spare time. Yamauchi discovered it and saw its potential as a mass-market toy—and thus launched Yokoi’s career. It’s fair to say that Ultra Hand is thus an extremely important part of gaming history, with Yokoi providing us with the D-Pad, Game & Watch and Game Boy, and being instrumental in getting Shigeru Miyamoto’s Donkey Kong green-lit , and made games like Metroid and Little Icarus.
It also makes perfect sense to name the feature Tears of the Kingdom for Ultra Hand. In the game, Link uses the Ultrahand’s ability to grab larger things from a distance and twist them into place for combinations. The Ultra Hand lets you stretch out and grab things from a distance, and it even comes with a ball and stand – the idea is that you have to use the toy perfectly to pick up colored balls and place them on the corresponding colored stand.
Ultra Hand has appeared in Nintendo games before, but it’s mostly only in visual form as far as I can remember. It appears in WarioWare and Animal Crossing, and even as a background decoration in Mario Kart and Splatoon 3. But aside from its appearance as decoration in Animal Crossing, I think it’s the first time in Nintendo’s history that this iconic title has the nomenclature attached to something contemporary.
This is a tribute to the late Yokoi, who tragically lost his life in a car accident in the late nineties. The groundbreaking work that launched his Nintendo career is immortalized in one of the most important games Nintendo has ever made. It’s a wonderful little tribute to Nintendo’s history–and to one of its most important employees.
Thanks to Before Mario for the pictures of the Ultrahand box art – you should check out this awesome blog!