Hyrule Interviews

The Themes and Design Pillars of Zelda over time - The Nameless Quality Occasionally I post some social media threads on game design. Some of them are worth saving here. – Max How the goals goals and approaches in the #Zelda series change over time is a favorite Read more...

Oh, I actually have a (couple years old) write-up that kinda touches on all this:
namelessquality.com/693-2/

(Obviously at this point we can all look at Breath of the Wild and say that it's more in line with, say, Zelda 1 than any of the games that came after. Arguably it's MORE traditional. But Aonuma was referring to the Ocarina of Time formula when he says "traditional" here.)

Compared to that, SS was a pretty modest step away from the Ocarina formula, and by the time of this interview Breath of the Wild development would have begun.

When they made Breath of the Wild, they talk frequently in interviews about how they tried to totally shift their mindset away from pre-designed puzzles and paths and towards emergent, system-driven puzzle mechanics, the freedom to do things in different ways, and of course the open world.

But if we look at the previous 3D zelda games before that, there were different world structures every time. It's not super out-there for them to have done a big experiment with SS's world.

If we consider the design paradigms they established with Ocarina of Time to be "traditional Zelda" (which is what Aonuma means here I think), then Skyward Sword was extremely traditional in many ways.

It was NOT traditional in it's world design--

PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer (later, Director) of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Aonuma: At the beginning [of Twilight Princess], Link is this cowboy living in Toaru Village—not in Hyrule. Hyrule does exist, but it’s a long way away. They raise cows in Toaru to sell [to Hyrule]. The two places have a friendly relationship with one another. There are several other villages, and every year the kingdom of Hyrule gathers them all together for a kind of festival where all the villages can communicate with each other. Each year, the chief of the village is supposed to attend the festival, but this year, the chief orders this young man to go instead. On the way to the festival, Link is going to encounter some kind of accident, which … leads him to the main adventure.

Aonuma's description of the prologue story for Twilight Princess in 2005, over a year before release.

Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/19841fe961fd...

PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Producer of Skyward Sword and A Link Between Worlds. QUOTE: Aonuma: When we created Skyward Sword, by checking the internet and seeing comments people made about it, it came to mind that maybe the users have started to get bored with Zelda, the traditional Zelda. So we’d like to try and change that up. We thought then that it would be more important to implement a kind of hand-holding system, where users would always know what they were supposed to do. But maybe it’s different—perhaps it’s also fun to just get lost in the game and try to figure out what to do by themselves… I’m really happy that I’ve managed to release [A Link Between Worlds] with new features and a uniqueness to it.

Aonuma on players getting bored of traditional Zelda, 2013.

Source: MacDonald, IGN

#Zelda
#ALinkBetweenWorldsQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/2fe41fe961fd...

PEOPLE: - Dan Houser. Co-founder of Rockstar Games. Prodiucer or Writer for six Grand Theft Auto titles. QUOTE: Anyone who makes 3-D games who says that they’ve not borrowed something from [Super Mario 64] or [Ocarina of Time] is lying.

Dan Houser on game makers borrowing from Nintendo, 2012.

Source: The New York Times

#Zelda
#HouserQuote

www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/a...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 60. Director of Mario Bros. (1983). Creator of Zelda. QUOTE: Miyamoto: We spoke to our colleagues in America and wanted help finding a name for the second character [in Mario Bros.] They said that if you want Italian brothers and the first brother is called Mario, you should call the other brother Luigi. We noticed that ruiji, which means "similar" in the Japanese language, was very close to Luigi, so it became a joke in Japan that Mario is similar to Luigi. 

Miyamoto on how Luigi got his name, 2013.

Source: Time For Kids (Time Magazine)

#MarioBrosQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/2fe41fe961fd...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 60. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD. QUOTE: Q: Nintendo’s main headquarters are in Japan, where you work. What are some ways Japanese culture has influenced popular Nintendo games? Miyamoto: I don’t think of myself as being very Japanese. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always liked America and American culture. I’m a big fan of bluegrass music. What’s also interesting is that Nintendo’s headquarters is located in Kyoto. People typically focus on Japan’s capital city of Tokyo but the people of Kyoto don’t focus much on Tokyo. The people of Kyoto love their city and are somewhat more individualistic. That is probably why the games we created have a more universal appeal. 

Miyamoto on how Japanese culture influenced Nintendo games, 2013.

Source: Time For Kids (Time Magazine)

#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/2fe41fe961fd...

My impression is that, since this is in the context of characters that "fulfill a role" in Link's life, the girls his age are seen as particularly noteworthy here.

(but overall I think this was just Miyamoto blanking on one of the four women in Ocarina Link's life)

bsky.app/profile/hyru...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Miyamoto: When we decided to handle Link growing up [in Ocarina of Time] … I wanted lots of characters to fulfill various roles. For example, Kaepora Gaebora is a grandfather figure who gives Link all kinds of advice and looks out for him. And since Link is a boy, I wanted girls besides Princess Zelda to show up. Iwata: And that's why Saria and Malon are there. Miyamoto: Right. Also, Link's archenemy is Ganon, so I thought they should meet once when he's a child. Iwata: So there's that scene … where Link has a nightmare. Miyamoto: Yes. That connects to the courtyard scene. … When Adult Link meets him again, and Ganon says he's that boy from years before, it really hits you.

This is from another interview entirely, but may be helpful context for the "three women" comment:

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Miyamoto: The theme of Ocarina of Time is very simple: it's about a child becoming an adult. There are people who watch over that protagonist. There are many encounters and partings, and the three women. … But if you just scatter that theme and story around a landscape, it won't make the game interesting. So, what is it that makes it interesting as a game? The foundation lies in the puzzles that have appeared in The Legend of Zelda franchise since the first game. It's taking that traditional series material and skillfully transposing it to 3D that really makes the game The Legend of Zelda. When we took series elements and used 3D composition, things just got more and more interesting.

Miyamoto on the theme of Ocarina of Time, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/d4112e274538...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo. - Gunpei Yokoi. Producer of Miyamoto’s games from 1981 to 1983. Creator of the D-Pad and the Game Boy. QUOTE: Q: Was your boss Gunpei Yokoi-san [early in your career]? Miyamoto: Not exactly. Q: No? Miyamoto: No. Although I did learn a lot by watching him work, in terms of who my boss was, that would directly be the then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi-san. Iwata: Yokoi-san was only above Miyamoto-san for a very short time. During that time, the relationship between Yokoi-san and Miyamoto-san was an important one, but it isn't quite right of what you always hear about Miyamoto-san's only true mentor being Yokoi-san.

Miyamoto & Iwata on whether Yokoi was Miyamoto's boss, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#MiyamotoQuote, #IwataQuote, #YokoiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/8f65dbbe83ce...

PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 55. Producer of the Zelda series. QUOTE: Aonuma: [In past Zelda games] we would place numerous landmarks so that players could follow them, and so on. We did things like that to ensure players wouldn’t get lost. But thinking critically, making a game in which players never get lost is like the development team saying that it’s actually just linear. When making a Zelda with that structure, and then examining it from a distance, it starts to feel like “Is this really interesting?”

Aonuma on games where players never get lost, 2018.

Source: Zelda Encyclopedia

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/e6aaedfa0594...

PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Producer of Spirit Tracks. - Satoru Iwata, age 49. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Aonuma: We had to think about what to use as a mode of transportation, in place of a boat, and at that point, I remembered a certain picture book. Iwata: A picture book? Aonuma: ...Which I brought with me today... Iwata: This book? 'The Tracks Go On'? Aonuma: My son loved this book. When he was four or five, this was the book he'd bring me every night before bed. ‘Read it, Daddy, read it.’ ... It's a very simple [story], but the pioneering spirit, the kids building the railroad... Something about it seemed as though it would fit with The Legend of Zelda. But I didn't tell the staff about this book.

Aonuma on the inspiration for the train in Spirit Tracks, 2009.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#SpiritTracksQuote
#AonumaQuote, #IwataQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/d6e65557dce3...

PEOPLE: - Satoru Iwata, age 49. President of Nintendo from 2002-2015. - Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Director of Twilight Princess, Producer of Phantom Hourglass. QUOTE: Iwata: Aonuma-san, you're involved with both [Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass]. Are there any differences in how you work on the two? Aonuma: When I work on the Wii edition, I'm right on-site, and I often do my job from a director's perspective. On the Nintendo DS version, I do proper producer's work. ...That said, when I worked on the previous game, Phantom Hourglass, I was simultaneously making Twilight Princess, so I couldn't keep a very close eye on things right from the beginning. Then, when Twilight Princess was finished and I went to the Nintendo DS version's office, the development was already pretty far along.

Aonuma on the difference between his leadership on console vs handheld Zelda, 2009.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#PhantomHourglassQuote, #TwilightPrincessQuote, #SkywardSwordQuote, #SpiritTracksQuote
#IwataQuote, #AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/d6e65557dce3...

Dale DeSharone - an unspoken legend After HG101 contributor Audun Sorlie wrote a memorial for composer Ryu Umemoto , I felt compelled to dig out the notes from my interviews ...

This is the one and only interview I know of with Dale DeSharone, who sadly passed away in 2008:

blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2012/09/dale...

PEOPLE: - Dale DeSharone, age 49. Producer of Link: Faces of Evil and Zelda: Wand of Gamelon for the Phillips CD-i. QUOTE: Q: Was the development team [of the CD-i Zelda titles] big fans of the prior two Zelda games? DeSharone: People really liked the games. But, I think we had more of a lyrical storytelling desire or inclination. I think we were probably more focused on story, and that may have also had something to do with the CD-i platform itself.

DeSharone on the “lyrical” vision for the CD-i titles, 2006.

Source: Hardcore Gaming 101

#Zelda
#ZeldaTheWandofGamelonQuote, #LinkTheFacesofEvilQuote
#DeSharoneQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/c370aba2caf0...

PEOPLE: Satoru Iwata. Program Director for EarthBound. President of Nintendo from 2002-2015 Shigesato Itoi. Producer, Director, and Writer for EarthBound, editor of the A Link to the Past (1992) manga QUOTE: Iwata: When development for EarthBound was in shambles, I was called in to save the sinking ship. At the time, I was both the president of HAL Laboratory and one of it’s programmers. … I said to them “I’ll play around with what we have,” and I went back with the project in its current state. About a month later, I showed Shigesato Itoi and his team a revised version, with the scrolling map and everything. Were they surprised! In fact, they were all freaking out so much I was honestly confused. I was like “Guys, I barely did anything.” That’s how bogged down the project was.

Iwata on being called in to save EarthBound.

Source: Ask Iwata

#EarthBoundQuote
#IwataQuote, #ItoiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/0f7756f19ab8...

PEOPLE: - Takumi Wada, age 34. Illustrator for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Wada: When I drew the official box art and E3 illustration, I wanted to give the sense that Link was confronting the world. My first sketch portrayed Link looking out over Hyrule with his back to the viewer. I then experimented with several other compositions that more prominently featured Link, but eventually settled on the direction of my initial idea. I felt that the world itself, not just the characters, had a leading role in [Breath of the Wild]. I also wanted to convey that this was the beginning of a new Zelda, so I drew the sky at daybreak.

Wada on his thinking when illustrating the Breath of the Wild key art, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#WadaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/13c41fe961fd...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD. QUOTE: Miyamoto: The reason Mario is a plump shape is because gaming devices at that time could only read collisions between square boxes, not because I wanted to make him cute. His design turned out like that because I adjusted for the capabilities of the gaming device of the day. For example, resolution was low, so I made his face big.

Miyamoto on why Mario is a plump shape, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#DonkeyKongQuote, #SuperMarioBrosQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/39d6164a4154...

PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Miyamoto: The essence of flight-simulation games is to enjoy the controls of airplanes. … PC flight simulators have been around for a long time, and some arcade games were also offering that type of simulations. The difficulty level is high with these simulators when we see them as video games but that difficulty is one of the greatest charms for them. Iwata: It's simulating the actual control of the machine. In the same way that flying a plane in real life is difficult, the controls for these games were difficult too. Miyamoto: That's right. It's the polar opposite of the "controls" for the action games I usually make.

Miyamoto & Iwata on flight simulators, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#MiyamotoQuote, #IwataQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/d4112e274538...

Apologies for the delay! An alt-text readable version of the Staomi Asakawa highlight has been published at Hyrule Interviews:
www.hyruleinterviews.com/Zelda-Dev-Hi...

Producer | Notion This role is applied to anyone who has taken on the role of “Producer” (or equivalent) on a Zelda game or spinoff. Zelda games usually credit only one person with this role per game.

That is an extremely good question, and unfortunately we only have wishy-washy answers! "It depends".

I actually have an article here where I try to describe the Producer role:
www.notion.so/hyruleinterv...

Kensuke Tanabe - Video Game Credits - MobyGames Kensuke Tanabe has 156 credits on 142 games

If you want to see a nearly full list of games he worked on, check out his mobygames profile

(Though it's missing Donkey Kong Country! I submitted a correction like 8 months ago but that place takes time)

www.mobygames.com/person/52472...

That's all I got right now! His brief contributions to Zelda were nevertheless hugely impactful, and his almost 40-year career at Nintendo even moreso. I hope he really gets to enjoy whatever he does next!