Aonuma: “I don’t think there’s much point in me making something other than Zelda”

Earlier today, Nintendo of Europe put up an interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. The full Q&A has now been published on the company’s website.

One interesting comment came about when Aonuma was asked about his future. That prompted him to say, “I don’t think there’s much point in me making something other than Zelda”.

Aonuma’s full response:

“As I get closer to the retirement age, people ask me if I’m ever going to make anything other than a Zelda game. And so sometimes I think maybe I should. But Zelda games really have everything in them that I would want to make in a game. The way the main character grows and develops. The puzzles and the minigames. I don’t think there’s much point in me making something other than Zelda, if I did it would only end up being something just like it. It’s a problem. So I think I’ll just keep making Zelda games!”

Below are a few other interesting excerpts from the interview:

NoE: What is your favourite song from The Legend of Zelda series?

EA: There’s this song from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the music in the battle in the desert against the sand worm, Molgera. I love that song. It has a kind of Japanese feel to it, with the Taiko drums.

NoE: Which character do you play as in Super Smash Bros.?

EA: Twilight Princess Link, because he’s just so cool!

NoE: In any The Legend of Zelda game, what is your favourite secret? That you can tell us, of course…

EA: In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, there’s a puzzle that you have to solve by closing your Nintendo DS and then opening it again. I love that puzzle.

NoE: Tingle had his own game. What other characters from The Legend of Zelda would be interesting to see in their own games?

EA: Maybe Beedle. We could make a game where you try to become a millionaire. (laughs)

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NoE: Did anything funny, or unexpected, happen during the development of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?

EA: In Breath of the Wild we are using a proper physics engine, and this was a brand new experience for me. The way the puzzles and things worked felt so differently from older Zelda games. Well, I mean, it’s like in the real world, so if I thought about it I should have just been able to solve them normally, but my brain was so used to the old Zelda games I would say how weird it was, and ask why it was like that. And then everyone would laugh at me, saying that’s what would happen in the real world. Making Breath of the Wild really made me realise how my brain was stuck back in the old Zelda mode.

NoE: What do you think makes up the spirit, or the essence, of The Legend of Zelda?

EA: The most important thing for me about The Legend of Zelda is that all the games are a journey of growth for Link. He grows as he progresses through the game. And at the same time, the player, the person who is actually playing the game, grows with him. I think that really is the essence of the series.