Nintendo explains Epona’s history, name, more – horse idea popped up during Super Mario 64 development
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: So Young Link was going to show up. Riding Epona is also a distinct characteristic of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. How did the idea for a horse come up?
Osawa: It just arose all of a sudden.
Koizuma: No, I don’t think it was sudden. Actually, we’d been talking about a horse even during the development for Super Mario 64.
Osawa: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Koizuma: But it didn’t happen for Super Mario 64. I was certain we would do it for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so I got ready. By the way, Epona was a girl.
Aonuma: Why is she named Epona? Weren’t we calling her Ao at first?
Iwata: Ao from Aonuma?
Aonuma: No, no. (laughs) Ao is the natural name for a horse.
Iwata: Huh? (laughs)
Koizuma: I was the one who named her Epona.
Osawa: Right! (laughs) Koizumi-san named her first. He said, “We’re going to call this horse Epona.” I didn’t even have time to think of a name! (laughs)
Koizuma: Epona is the goddess of horses and fertility in Celtic mythology, so I used that. When you name something, it increases your affection for it, so I worked hard to make her a good horse.
Osawa: I had Miyamoto-san explain Epona, but at first he only talked about the camera work. He said that when the horse jumped, he wanted to see it from below. And that was all he said! (laughs)
Aonuma: Yeah, that’s right.
Osawa: He said we should have it jump over a valley and show it from the bottom of that valley, against the light, so the light would break through.
Aonuma: It’s unusual for Miyamoto-san to make requests regarding such aspects of presentation.
Osawa: Yes. That was the only time he’s ever said, “I want to see visuals like this, so make it happen.”
Aonuma: Maybe he’s interested in horses.
Koizuma: That’s probably from Western movies. Miyamoto-san really likes country music.
Osawa: He reflects his personal interests in his work.
Kawagoe: Do you mean the scene in which Epona jumps across a broken bridge? There’s also that scene when it escapes the ranch.
Aonuma: Yeah.
Kawagoe: There isn’t just one exit from the ranch.
Aonuma: So we had to make a cut scene for each exit.
Kawagoe: That’s right… (laughs)
Osawa: But when she jumped over a barrier, she jumped on her own.
Iwata: The horse had autojump, too.
Iwawaki: Right.
Osawa: The reason the horse jumps automatically is Miyamoto-san said that a Zelda game doesn’t need any difficult actions.
Koizuma: Nonetheless, the Carrot System went in.
Osawa: Right. Miyamoto-san did that. (laughs)
Koizuma: Miyamoto-san said that just riding around on a horse wouldn’t be very fun game-wise. He wanted to put in some sort of action, so he added carrots. When you crack the whip, a carrot icon disappears, and Epona goes faster, but if you use up all the carrots, you lose the ability to crack the whip for a while and can’t jump over barriers.
Iwata: Game operation was a little difficult there.
Koizuma: Yes. But isn’t there a contradiction between cracking the whip at just the right timing and not requiring any difficult game operation? (laughs)
Iwata: Yeah. (laughs)
Koizuma: But Miyamoto-san was the one who put that in. (laughs)
Osawa: Once you achieve the goal of being able to ride a horse, you might want to try out something further.
Koizuma: That’s why he started saying that if Link was going to ride a horse, he wanted to include mounted archery and one-on-one battle. (laughs) We were able to include the mounted archery, but not the one-on-one battle.
Iwata: But later you included it in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Aonuma: Yeah. Iwata: Miyamoto-san is the kind of guy to stick with an idea once he’s thought of it. (laughs)
