This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, and Nintendo announced that they would be celebrating the fan-favorite's birthday in a really big way during this year's E3. Not only did they show off Skyward Sword footage and release The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for the 3DS, but they also made mention that they were planning on releasing The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords as free DSiWare game at a later date.
This announcement both excited and confused fans, because there have been a few different versions of Four Swords released. However, Joystiq managed to score an official statement from Nintendo confirming that the free DSiWare Four Swords will be the same game that came packaged with A Link to the Past for the Game Boy Advance. This version of Four Swords was added as a cool multiplayer-enabled bonus for anyone who purchased the GBA remake of Link To The Past. The game originally launched back in 2002, so it's nice to see that an entirely new generation will finally be able to experience it.
The fact that Four Swords is releasing as a downloadable title seems to bode well for the possibility of seeing more GBA games coming to the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console, and that is a really cool possibility. This is something that fans of Nintendo's long since forgotten handheld have been wanting for quite some time, and if Four Swords works well for the company, then it's easy to imagine them doing it again.
What will be even more interesting to see is if Nintendo just ports over Four Swords in its entirety, or if they make the effort to enhance the graphics and add some extras to the game. Regardless of what the final product looks like, it will be free, so it's pretty pointless to complain about any of the content.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords is currently scheduled to be available for download on the DSi, DSi XL, and 3DS in September.
Are you excited to download your free Zelda game? What would you like upgraded in the game's re-release?
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Source: Joystiq