Early footage of Nintendo's Wii U release of "The Legend of Zelda" has wowed fans of the series across the world. However, it seems fans are going to have to wait a while longer before they can go off adventuring with Link.

The early footage shows Link riding off in the wilderness on a horse and then soaring into the air to fire a magical bow. This early footage was enough to hook fans of the series and even entice other gamers into wanting to taste the adventures in Hyrule.

Nintendo of America on Friday, however, revealed that the game is no longer on target for release this year after stating in December that the game would be available this year. Nintendo reversed its course saying the next installment in the Zelda series needs more development time.

"I must apologize to you all that were expecting the game by year's end, but we are no longer making a 2015 release our number one priority," said the project's leader, Eiji Aonuma, in a video posted to Nintendo's social networks.

"Instead, our priority is to make it the most complete and ultimate 'Zelda' game. I hope to use the added time to make 'The Legend of Zelda' for Wii U into a game that will reward you for your patience, so thank you for your continued support."

Aonuma also boasted about the upcoming features of the game saying that it will come with a "freedom of exploration that hasn't existed in any Zelda game to date," and he added that the development team is continuing to bring new ideas to the franchise.

"It now feels like we have the potential to create something that exceeds even my own expectations," Aonuma says. "As I have watched our development progress, I have come to think that rather than work with meeting a spastic schedule as our main objective and releasing a game that reflects only what we can create within that scheduled time, I feel strongly that our focus should be to bring all these ideas to life in a way that will make 'The Legend of Zelda' on Wii U the best game it can possibly be."

Aonuma has hinted that the new Zelda game would be different from many of the past titles, hinting at last year's E3 that the game would feature a much more open design compared to past titles with players able to explore the universe outside of a linear path.

"As soon as those boundaries are removed it means you can enter any area from any direction," Aonuma says. "So the puzzle-solving in this game begins the moment the player starts to think about where they want to go, how they will get there and what they will do when they arrive. This is a clean break from the conventions of past games in the 'Zelda' series, where you had to follow a set path and play the scenario in a right order."