Nintendo’s trick to cut down on work for Adult/Young Link, N64DD difficulties
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: Partway through development, one and a half years before release, you had to do modeling and motions not just for Adult Link but for Young Link, too. Koizumi-san, how did you solve that?
Koizuma: We solved it with a simple trick. We realized that by applying a scale of a certain value to Adult Link’s model, we could double-up use of all the same things.
Iwata: You realized that you could use the motions of Adult Link for Young Link, too.
Koizuma: Yes. We could solve it technologically, so I said, “We can make Young Link,” and gave it my approval.
Iwata: But moving from Adult Link to Young Link, you couldn’t just use everything without any changes, right?
Koizuma: No. I had to rework Young Link somewhat, so I had to make 1.5 times the animation.
Iwata: In the end, how many basic motions did you make for Link?
Koizuma: About 500 patterns. Add to that the programming combinations, and there were even more. One reason we were able to put so many patterns in was the Nintendo 64 system’s ROM cartridges.
Iwata: You were originally developing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64DD.
Koizuma: Yes. Miyamoto-san said he had some ideas, like leaving behind all of Link’s footprints.
Iwata: Yeah. (laughs)
Koizuma: At first, we were making it for the Nintendo 64DD. But reading data from the magnetic disks was…
Iwata: ROM cartridges don’t have moving mechanical parts, so you can retrieve motion data in an instant wherever it is, but with a magnetic disk, it takes time to move certain mechanical parts, so depending on where the data is, it takes time to retrieve it, so you couldn’t make Link move. If there weren’t many movements and you could fit them in the memory, you could read them to memory from the magnetic disk beforehand, but there were 500 patterns.
Osawa: Right. Koizumi-san said, “I can’t move my Link on the Nintendo 64DD.”
Koizuma: Yeah. But in the end we decided to release it on a ROM cartridge rather than for the Nintendo 64DD. I think some people were disappointed, but some were happy—none more than myself! (laughs)
Iwata: Because you would be able to move “your Link” however you wanted. (laughs)
Koizuma: Yeah. (laughs)
