During Satoru Iwata's keyboard at the 2009 Game Developer's Conference today, Nintendo has announced a new title for the Nintendo DS: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The game will feature Link on a railroad-building adventure, where he has the ability to create and control enemies to fend off other enemies. It is reportedly an extension of Phantom Hourglass's boat system.

You can view the rest of the happenings during Iwata's keynote here. Pictures of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks are available here.

New Zelda looks better than my description probably makes it sound. Looks like a fairly traditional Zelda portable game, with puzzle dungeons and Phantom Hourglass-style touch mechanics. The train basically works like the boat in PH, running along the overworld (presumably on a rail defined by players). Enemy control mechanics look pretty nice -- link distracted a big Zora with a controlled shadow guard, then snuck around to hit it from behind.

Akira_EX