At E3, the annual electronics expo which showcases, among other things, the latest and greatest video games in store for us from all the development companies, Nintendo released a pair of very interesting looking games for GameCube. One was called The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and the other is The Legend of Zelda: Tetra’s Trackers. While Four Swords is a known quantity, we were all a little curious about Tetra’s Trackers. What made us most curious was, when the first screens of both games were released, the graphical styling of both the games. Both Four Swords and Tetra’s Trackers feature GBA-like graphics, save the Wind Waker-esque cel-shaded Tetra.

That cel-shaded Tetra actually appears on your television set, while you play on your Game Boy Advance via the GameCube-GBA Link Cable. For two to four players, you guide Link against other variously colored Links, trying to collect stamps from hidden pirates in a large town. Players collect as many stamps as possible in a given time limit, utilizing exploration and navigation skills, as well as hints from Tetra. For all intents and purposes it would appear that Tetra’s Trackers really is a GBA game, but one that is only multiplayer, and one which can only be multi-played via the GameCube. Players can look up on the screen to see their progress, told to them by the cel-shaded Tetra.

Now we’re all puzzled by the approach Nintendo has taken. While many games such as Mario Party or Super Smash Brothers live by multiplayer, they all also have very playable one-player modes. It would appear, however, that Tetra’s Trackers does not. While many gamers may find themselves limited by the necessity of owning not only the game, but the GameCube console, and a GBA and Link Cable for each player, Tetra’s Trackers will almost certainly not be a full priced game. In a recent interview Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo mastermind behind Tetra’s Trackers, compared the two Zelda puzzle games to the GBA-GC connectivity game Pac-Man, which he suggested will be compiled as an add-on with the Pac-Man Collection disc and others. While it is doubtful that we will have to wait until the next true Zelda game for Tetra’s Trackers, it very well could be packaged with Four Swords, or be a stand alone game at a much-reduced price.