First! Looks interesting, though the talk of an aged up Link seems greatly exaggerated. Looks very Twilight Princess still.

Third! All Zelda fans can only hope that this fantastic sneak peak at the concept for an upcoming game can be true!

@Damo: That would be awesome if that girl is the spirit of the master sword or something! The Zelda series never really went into great depth behind the forces of this legendary sword.

Maybe we will now find the blacksmith who forged the sword lol!

Looks like it'll be a direct sequel to Twilight Princess (in terms of plot & setting, if not gameplay).

I'm curious to see what happened to OOT & MM's Link when he grew up properly (without time travel). We saw his GRAVE in TP, and it was implied that swordmaster spirit thingy that taught you new moves was his ghost, but how about a new adventure? Maybe as an (episodic?) WiiWare game using the N64 graphics?

By the way, could someone refresh my memory and tell me if the end of TP showed Link putting the Master Sword back in its' pedestal? Though I guess there's nothing to stop him going back to grab it again.

That girl might also be Princess Zelda herself..!
she has the same colours with the Zelda logo..?

@brandonbwii

Congratulations at being first; I imagine it's your first and only achievement in life. Opportunities like yours don't come around very often; cling to it while you can! =)

Whatever this artwork portends for the new game, it looks beautiful and gets me even more excited to see what direction Nintendo is taking for the latest installment of the series on the Wii. Love the mysterious floating spirit in front of Link as well as our famous hero's dramatic sideways glance. The sharpness of the lines really defines this particular piece of artwork; much of the smooth and soft drawing of previous Zeldas is gone and has been replaced with a much more (I don't want to use the word "edgy") abrupt, angular and almost visceral look.

Can't wait to get my hands on this game late next year.

@8. LinkGalaxy: It looks more like the Great Faeries from Wind Waker.

But Link's missing sword is suspicious...

More than a couple of years down the line and all we have to show for it is a ******* piece of concept art!

What a crock of ****!

Wow, the spirit of the master sword. I wonder if this journey will pertain to the master sword "herself"? Something to do with reuniting the sword with it's spirit? A more mature Link? I was expecting something a little more "hairy".

@ Big A2: I agree with all the opinions above(yours included), I only added just one more...

Didn't I read a description of the revealed concept art as "...Link barely visible behind a broken wall..." he's hardly obscured. And weren't we supposed to see a more mature Link? That looks like the Twilight Princess character to me.

Perhaps, follow me here, this is the spirit of the master sword. But every time link seals away a demon or something evil the spirit gets stuck in the sword, so eventually it breaks. Releasing an enemy that was slain before ganondorf along with other monsters. Maybe we get to find the spirit of the four sword too.

I just want some sheik gameplay.

Oh, and Link in this poster, looks like a fusion between Link from OOT and Link from TP. He's thinner and taller.

Physical incarnation of the Master Sword!? What the!?

AWESOME!!!!!!!! Setting this as by background!

Very interesting theories. I'd also like to see Sheik in this one.

Interesting theories indeed. I have to say that the idea of Link without a sword intrigues me, gameplay-wise. The idea of a physical incarnation of the Master Sword has me interested too

I was skeptical at first, since after a quick glance it just looks like TP Link and a Great Fairy from WW. But now I'm intrigued. Physical incarnation of the Master Sword, huh? Very interesting concept right there. It'll be fun to watch what happens during Zelda's development.

@brandonbwii: Congratulations at being first; I imagine it's your first and only achievement in life. Opportunities like yours don't come around very often; cling to it while you can! =)

Burn.

Damo is right, Link is left handed so why is his shield in his left. Then again in twilight princess for the wii he was right handed...Very interesting

If this girl/fairy thing really is the incarnation of the Mastersword, then I think it's a hint, that they really are about to use the first person perspective in the new Zelda game. I explained this theory on my little blog, if you want to take a look:

http://touriantourist.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-zelda-wii-artwork.html

hmm, the anatomy on the drawing isn't great, Links face looks a bit weird. Don't you think if it was proper Nintendo concept art, they would have artists who can draw a bit better than this?

It's up on Nintendo's site i8cookie, so it's definitely official

My theories are (they're a bit crazy..)

that the character standing next to him IS the sword
or that its some midna/navi remake It kinda looks like the zora prince. Which also leads to the mature link part, maybe the zoran prince died, and needs older Link to help him with something? Its also possible that he has no sword because its the beginning of the game and you normally don't start with a sword.

I don't see how this Link looks any different than the one in Twilight Princess. In fact he looks EXACTLY the same. Not a bad thing mind you but I just don't see how this is the more adult looking Link everyone's talking about. Oh and yeah, that woman is cleary the spirit of the Master Sword, no question.

She looks like one of the sages from twilight princess. I really hope this isn't the art for the new Zelda game, this looks like it'll be a pretty traditional Zelda game, and I was hoping for something a bit.... crazier.

shes ur co - op partner! ITs now local multiplayer !!!! HIURRRAHHH! lol no im joking but still very interesting

Link looks like an older Japanese man in this picture.

The whole left-hand right hand thing has always been overblown anyway, because the different links are usually separated by a generation or more... or are really not meant to have a reality-based continuity.

Questioning the artistry behind the art is kind of silly as it is already confirmed by Nintendo and the anatomy is not "bad." It just doesn't match up to the diagrams beginning artists learn from. Nobody matches those in real life either. lol.

Looks cool. Oh and there WILL be sword fighting in this game. Shigeru hinted that it would be more advanced in this game, right? And that it would most likely use the added precision of the motion plus.

I'd guess that his hint about the empty hand (after all he pointed it our specifically) means that the other character has something to do with being the sword or something similar.

Well, Miyamoto helped with the jumping to conclusions. He said there would be more advanced sword fighting and to take note that Link has no sword in the picture (at separate times.) Furthermore, as to the age question, he mentioned that he is intended to be older than any previous link.

I did expect him to have a little more man girth, but oh well. This is concept art anyway, things change tremendously before release.

i get the feeling its that zora prince from tp

I like the feel of the art - its more similar to the style of ocarina of time. Twilight princess was not like OoT imo, but more cartoonish and anime-like.

In truth when i saw the beginning of the Metroid: Other M trailer i was Hoping that it was the new zelda, until i realised it was samus which really confused me as i thought they'd lay metroid to rest for a while (unless on ds or wiiware). So yeh something a bit more radical would've been nice, but i'm pleased with the little been shown so far, seems like it could be back to being a more thought-out and deep zelda game.

Too me it looks like the polar opposite of Midna's true form. If Midna is from the Twilight Realm, the woman standing by Link looks to be of Light. Since the Master Sword is definitely a type of holy sword, probably imbued with Light, it could be reasonable for its physical manifestation to look like that.

I wonder, presuming she is the Master Sword, if it will play like Twilight Princess, where you have two forms to choose from. I'd personally like to see it played out where Link can use the Master Sword or choose for it manifest itself into a humanoid presence, where you could play both at the same time like in the latest Prince of Persia game, opening up new gameplay mechanics for combat, puzzles, and reaching new areas.

That would be sweet.

I think that TP lacks a lot in charm compared to a lot of the rest of the Zelda series.

Would LOVE to see a wii based 'toon link.

If only to see all the fanboy tears.

CANNOT WAIT

It was stated that this new Zelda takes place in a completly new era, which removes the Twilight Princess sequel or Link from that era. I do feel strongly about that girl being the incarnation of the Master Sword but we'll see if our predicitons were flat out wrong when next year arrives.

This is a must buy, can't wait to 2010. Hope that Nintendo guys will tell us more about this game before next years E3...well thats not gonna happen.

ITS NAVI!!!! im guessing this is after MM and link finally found navi only to find that she fused with the master sword creating the figure we see standing behind link (i doubt it:p)

Nice artwork. The mature/adult thing kind of bothers me, though. What happened to Link being a child? Are we doomed to only see that in The Wind Waker styled games from now on?

This photo artwork gives us a huge to which the next game plot will be... Surely this one will be more mystically than any other. As you can see, the girl behind Link is and an incarnation of the Mater Sword. The absence of the sword in Link's right hand may give that away. She has many of the same features of the Mater Sword such as her waist can represent the guard of the sword with fins going out and the base. The gold lines on her stomach which are the lines that meet with the triforce and guard where that golden gem is. Her legs have lines all over which represent the hilt (handle) of the sword. And the gem on her chest I think either represents the triforce or the gem on the guard. Check out this photo that helped me out a bunch with this information and research...

http://media.photobucket.com/image/master%20sword%20incarnation/metroid133/11qsq52.jpg

He doesn't look much older in this picture than he does in Twilight Princess...in fact, he seems to look exactly like he did in Ocarina of Time as an adult!

I realize I'm posting this after the update, so instead of stating that its obviously the manifestation of the master sword, I'll explain why we could tell that without having outside confirmation (one semester of art history plus frequent TVTtropes editing = instant expert, kids):

• Link's back is turned, meaning the picture is specifically emphasizing what is missing, the sword
• Link's arm is extended, as if reaching. RIGHT arm, see the guess I will make at the end of the response. (yes, even though I don't play the games, I realize Link is left-handed, like many competent swordsmen. It's quite likely the sword will be flipped again, otherwise the artist messed up)
• The area reached towards, where the sword should be, is the girl's body.
• special point: I was going to detail the resemblance of the girl to the sword itself, but zelda-master (surprise surprise) did an excellent job of noticing/explaining nearly everything i was going to point out. I will say the girl also has a quite sword shaped body: silver colored and coming to a point at the top, simple and straight on the exterior but ornate on the interior. Also, the negative space around her hair (around her forehead and the air by where her hair parts at the bottom) resemble 3 triangles in a triforce formation.

my guess:
This game is a direct sequel to Twilight Princess, and Link retains AN ANIMAL FORM:
already covered - right arm = sword arm as seen in Twilight princess, but pay special attention to the bottom of his hat and his right hand and elbow. as opposed to matching their usual colors, these match his natural hair color, and are expressed in shapes reminiscent of tufts of fur (the elbow being biologically similar to the back of the front "knee" on a quadruped). for no particular reason, the hand also ends in a clearly triangular black point, which would likely be a claw. From this, I would guess that Link can still turn into a clawed, hairy animal (I'd assume wolf). How this would mesh with the increased emphasis on swordplay, I don't know, but these do seem to be clear signs of an animal transformation to me.

thoughts?

It seems to me that the new character is similar to the great fairy from WW. You know, the one with the doll. Same hair style and even has the same look of aura around her.