Zelda Borrows Rope Snake?

Too bad Spirit Tracks is going to be terrible!

They need to stop screwing around and just bring Capcom back in to do some real portable Zeldas.

Capcom made great Zelda games, but c’mon, you know the best one is Link’s Awakening, hands down.

Also, that rope snake has definitely excited me for Spirit Tracks. I hope it carries the same personality as the M3 one.

It’s not gonna be terrible Supakit, there are no bad Nintendo made Zelda games.

I don’t understand why people say that, just because he rides a train, really?

Either way, I also thought of the Rope Snake when I saw that in the trailer, haha.

I just wish people would hold off their judgment of a game until they actually play it. I know that’s asking too much of the internet, but please try.

As for rope snake, I’m sticking with “maybe” until we can learn the origin of that new item. Still really leaning toward a coincidence, though.

Super awesome catch there. I wonder if the game will be worth it or not…

…no bad Zelda games? I refer you to the CD-i ones, sir! =D

PH is a very different portable Zelda, but it’s just as good as the Gameboy/Capcom ones. So I’m looking forward to ST… and I totally caught the Rope Snake reference when I saw the video this morning. =) I don’t know; is Aonuma a Mother fan at all?? I’m leaning towards coincidence.

Well the game is coming out in December, so I think the rope snake came to wish Link a good New Year.

It’s obliously a rip off from mother 3 XD

Hell, everything is the same! …Except we can use the rope snake at it’s fullest

Can’t wait to see what they kept from Mother through, looks like they decided to make the whole Oylode castle, hell, I wouldn’t even be impressed If I saw Zelda talking to some inhabitants here XD

It doesn’t look like a direct swipe, but time will tell I guess.

Zelda’s had references to other Nintendo series before, like all those Mario characters in Link’s Awakening, and that infamous Pikachu-like mask in the first 64 game. (can’t spell the real title for my life) I guess it’s now MOTHER’s turn for cameos. 🙂

??? don’t you mean the kitsune mask? Somebody commented on this post with that exact word in his nickname…

I’m positive that this is a homage:
a red snake that’s used as a rope or grappling hook? definitely not a coincidence.

I dunno if I want it to be like in Mother 3, remember the Wind Boomerang? The disembodied spirit that talked to you for about the first ten minutes and then never spoke again for the rest of the game? Actually, I thought that was just a plain old whip in the video, only that still showed me that it’s a snake, pretty cool.

@Ginrei EarthBound X said that there are no bad Nintendo made Zelda games…Nintendo did not make the CD-i Zelda games.

I thought about submitting this to Mato…but I should have known so many of us would spot it instantly. I definitely think it’s an homage…too much of a coincidence to not be.

I was just about to say the same thing.

I think it’s a bit too big of a coincedence to be one.

I agree with that, Phantom Hourglass is not one of my favorite Zelda games, it was missing some thing most Zelda games had, it had no heart pieces, and no side quests. But it was still a good game. Hopefully ST will add some extra stuff in.

I just beat it, and I’m playing though Minish Cap again, I love MC.

“There are no bad Nintendo made Zelda games”… Twilight Princess, anyone?

Regarding the rope snake, I hope that Spirit Tracks includes some tiny suggestion that they are both one and the same snake, or that they’re at least related. As ??? stated it has been done before.

Yeah, TP is a bad game…you must not play any good games, if you think that’s a bad game, haha.

The Zelda one looks quite…evil. It may be a homage, but it’s not the Ropey I know and love.

i said to my self “rope snake?” and my mom said what?

It’s a whip I think; probably just a coincidence.
But this game is gonna be awesome!

Well, everyone has their personal preferences when it comes to Zeldas; they have their favorite and least favorite Zeldas. Keep in mind though they’re all really masterpieces except for the disgraceful CD-i Zeldas and Zelda II(maybe). I have a few problems with OoT than most people do for a couple of reasons but I still recognize that its a masterpiece and that it paved the way for future 3D Zeldas.

I have no problem with him not liking TP, but to call it a bad game is a huge reach.

I thought Rope Snake immediately when seeing that scene in the video. I also thought back when in Mother 3 Rope Snake said he’ll become famous or something. What better way to become famous than hopping to one of Nintendo’s most popular series while becoming more menacing?

I honestly think the snake whip will be just another item in the game, no speech or anything, most likely. But its nice to think of it as a homage, so I lean towards “Maybe”

As a hardcore Zelda fan(Much more than a Earthbound fan), I’m getting this game. Judging by what I’ve seen, it looks to be much better than Phantom Hourglass.

That is definitely not a coincidence, because i have two reasons:

1. The Grappling Hook is suddenly not being used, but is replaced with a red snake, that grabs onto things with its jaw and does the exactly the same thing a Grappling Hook does (the trailer shows it attacks too)
2. The Mother3 Fan Translation is still technically recent, as it’s only been a year now.

Could this possibly be Nintendo’s way of giving recognition towards the Mother3 Fan Translation?

Coincidence- Same chance as Mother3 being officially released 0-10%
Simply a Mother3 reference- Most likely -70-100%
Mother3 Fan Translation Support- Questionable

Recognition or not, there is no doubt, THAT has to be the Rope Snake.

Sounds way too fishy if it WERE simply a coincidence, I’ll eat my non-existent hat if it is!

The Rope Snake DID say he was going to make it big in the world someday after all.

That’s exactly what I thought when I saw that in the trailer today–and really, I just saw it TODAY! The angle and such looks exactly like the Mother 3 rope snake action. It’s pretty cool to think this stuff happens, and yes, I have to agree that Link’s Awakening is the best portable Zelda game.

God I hope the item is called Snake Rope, then we’ll see that it’s him.

Crap, up until now I wanted nothing to do with spirit tracks, but now I may get it.

It seems like it’s most likely a homage to Mother 3.

Oh my God!!! No way. No way! NO WAY!!! That’s fucking awesome!!! There is no way in HELL that is unintentional! 😀

I’m 100% sure it’s a homage to Mother 3.

I added this to the Whip page on Zeldapedia after I saw the latest trailer. Awesome item made even better, right? I always wanted to use Rope Snake for combat as well as awesome grappling. He needed more screen time in Mother 3, he’s one of my favorite characters! I’m sure this is an homage.

@Chimera: Same here. I also want to hold off on judgement until the game is out.

I saw this too. I think it definitely is an homage to Mother 3, unless there’s some Japanese inside joke about rope snakes. On an unrelated note, I really didn’t like phantom hourglass at all and have absolutely no interest in this game. Link’s Awakening is the only Zelda I’ve ever enjoyed handheldified. Is Capcom still developing the handheld zelda games or is Nintendo developing them? It’s never been the same…

Yuck, Wind Waker-esque Zelda.

Nintendo: Hey guys, we’re doing something different with Zelda with Wind Waker!
Gamers: BOOOOOOOO.
Nintendo: OK, then for Twilight Princess, we’ll go back to the old formula.
Gamers: BOOOOOOOO.

Personally, I think Spirit Tracks looks interesting. I love when they try new things with a franchise. Unfortunately, in Sonic’s case, it never works out to well…

Go Rope Snake!

“…no bad Zelda games? I refer you to the CD-i ones, sir! =D”

He said no bad NINTENDO made Zelda games, Nintendo had nothing to do with the CD-I abominations. I think that was Phillips.

To be fair, Twilight Princess isn’t exactly the old formula.

Also, it seems we get in an argument over Wind Waker versus Twilight Princess every time Zelda gets mentioned here. :/

If that is the rope snake, look at his face! It looks as though he became an alcoholic, had shark’s teeth implanted, and then was trapped in an easily unlock-able treasure box for several months!

Well, it is Nintendo and it isn’t totally unheard of for Nintendo to reference their other games once in a while. I went with maybe because you never know they could just put it there to let us know that they don’t hate us and they care and yadda, yadda, yadda….

Though looking at it more, it kind of looks like rope snakes evil twin…

Perhaps rope snake wasn’t pleased that Mother 3 wouldn’t have an official translation so he inserted himself in there so he can come to America, even if it wasn’t a Mother game!

In an older video, Link was just using a regular whip.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-zelda-spirit/50281
Watch around 1:12
Maybe they noticed the similarity in how both the rope snake and the whip are used, and decided to change it…

This is most definitely NOT a coincidence. Mother is fairly popular in Japan, more than enough to win itself a reference in a larger key franchise. Remember, Zelda has borrowed elements from other series as well, and vice versa – remember the Magic Book of the first game? It was originally the Bible of Devil World, and the original design of the Rupees looked just like the Ingots of Clu Clu Land. Just the same, the Recorder of the first game later became the Magic Whistle of Super Mario Bros. 3. So Rope Snake in Spirit Tracks? Most certainly yes. It’s a Japanese game, first and foremost – the official translation may change its name, but it’s undoutedly still a reference. The Japanese also know of Mother’s cult following in the U.S. – they might have also changed it to tease us. “Oh, you see what we did there? Good for you. You know, we have plenty of other fabulous products Bargraphlagfara”

Alright alright, Nintendo didn’t make the CD-i ones… you people are splitting hairs here…

Mato! Question! Are the words for rope/whip and snake similar in Japanese? As in, the name Rope Snake is meant to be a pun? Because if so, I’m definitely going to say this is a coincidence.

Snake is “hebi”
Rope is “himo”
Whip is “muchi”

I don’t think there’s any word play going on, but then again I’m just a simple caveman.

I remember that Earthbound had a lot of Mario references

remember when Ninten talking to a kid who said “have you played Mario Bros 2? I haven’t beaten it yet”

and using the “dont care” option, you could name Ness and friends with Mario names

so why wouldn’t Zelda make reference to Mother?

I hope they make even more references 😀

I don’t think people think Spirit Tracks will be bad just because of the train, but because it seems to me that a lot of people disliked Phantom Hourglass. I’m hoping riding around in a train will be less boring than riding the boat. Also, higher difficulty bosses. Not a single one of the PH bosses ever killed me.

@spun G

Thanks for the trailer, I knew it USED to simply be a rope, there’s no doubt about rope snake now is there? Why else would a brown-orange rope, be change to a “red rope snake” i had minor doubts before but after seeing that it USED to be a rope….. that takes the cake. (prays that rope snake talks)

@Swyldp

Wait, you can die in PH? REALLY??? Didn’t even know there was a death sequence, you learn something new everyday i guess.

Hmm, how did the Rope Snake lose weight i wonder?

I thought Phantom Hourglass was too short personally.
Also, riding in a boat is SO DAMN BORING!!
As for the rope snake..
That’s FOR SURE a MOTHER 3 reference.
His face looks kinda evil though.
I didn’t really think about buying Spirit Tracks,
but after seeing this, I might have to try it out.

i think its a pretty good cameo

interestingly enough, the snake enemies is zelda are called ropes…hrm

I didn’t think it was a Mother 3 reference when viewing the trailer, given the grappling hook used in past Zelda games which functioned the same way. Then I saw that this new item actually looks like a snake – I’m now convinced that it is.

Ugh, I agree with Q. :/ Every time, people…

I’ll have to own the game before I can make clear judgement on this.

My opinion is that it is intentional. It can’t be possible for them to NOT know about it, if not from Mother 3, what about Brawl? Rope Snake was there as well, and that’s even bigger than Mother 3 was. It would take an astonishing level of obliviousless for everyone involved from start to finish to let that slip past.

uhhh It was just a whip, then they changed it to a snake. Yeah that’s not a cameo at alll… nor is it from mother 3! it’s tooootally original./sarcasm OK THIS IS SUCH A REFERENCE. It was a whip, then they made it into a snake, and it’s useful crossing ledge hole things, BUUUT the animation for it grabbing the ledge and swinging, is almost the exact same so that’s totally a reference. :3

I dunno. There’s a snake enemy named “Rope” in the Zelda games. Maybe Link tames one?

Reference?Rip-off?Or a sign?

It’s a trick, Reggie just wants to taunt us again

Reggie has nothing to do with the development of Zelda games.

thats what he wants us to think. 0_0
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, REGIE CONTROLS ZELDA!!!!!!!
Oh and I have great theories involving giygas and fetuses.
*gets draged off into a padded room*

Is that just the same thing you are WATCHING?! Man, I cant believe this! Link is using a Rope Snake!

I voted for the Nope, its just complete coincidence.

THERE IS NO(some)DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT THAT IS INDEED THE ROPE SNAKE….some 100 years later after Mother 3

personally, i think it is a reference to rope snake, and the background in which this scene takes place in is pretty darn similar…

Maybe its an old theif tool uesd by a master theif Link finds it and uses it for himself to be Duster and
Indiana Jones at the same time!!

Very Very cool…

It’s probably not a coincidence, but you never know…it looks Indiana Jones-style but with the rope snake. Maybe he did move on to bigger things after all.

On a slightly different note, I wonder if Itoi knows? If it’s a reference to Mother 3 someone’s probably told him, or even if it’s a coincidence.

may be its rope snake’s bother.

They’re calling it the “Snake Whip” but I bet you anything the final will be called “Snake Rope” as a reference to the end of the game. Also, this isn’t the first time Mother 3 has made a Zelda appearance. Don’t forget the Pork Army symbols in Wind Waker!

What, you missed them?

So did I, until last week. OTL

I’ve played the actual game,and that wasn’t hacked.

I think it stole the rope snake but i want game because spirit tracks is made in japan

They should just go back to the way things were done before.

When I saw the trailer I said “The RopeSnake!”

Well, Miyamoto, the original creator of Zelda did work on MOTHER (Earth Bound Zero), soooooooo…

possibly considering earthbound was the only rpg miyamato has beaten he said that in an interview!

it’s not a rope snake. it’s a rope rope.

I just think it’s a coincidence.

Wouldn’t be the first time. (Does a bad cough and says “Ocarina” under thier breath)

Wikibound: “The Whip in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is a red, snake-like item which functions very similarly to the Rope Snake. Eiji Aonuma confirmed that the Rope Snake was the inspiration for said item.”
Yeah! 😀

Oops! Above comment is me!

I really hope this is homage. I have yet to play the games but I feel like the Zelda and Pokemon series wouldn’t have been as great if it wasn’t for the totally awesome ideas represented. Has the creator of the earthbound series made any other games??? A response would be great.