Aonuma on concerns with remaking Wind Waker and balance, Miyamoto asked Aonuma to recreate Link to the Past, exploring different story directions for Zelda Wii U
Polygon has published a new interview with Eiji Aonuma which focuses mostly on the upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. Still, a couple of questions regarding A Link Between Worlds and Zelda Wii U were also asked. You can find the full Q&A roundup below.
Aonuma on concerns with remastering Zelda: Wind Waker…
“That’s something I’m very concerned about, I’m always thinking about. With Wind Waker HD the first thing we did was release a still during a Nintendo Direct presentation and there were quite a few fans who said, ‘That’s not my Wind Waker.’ They said it looked different from the Wind Waker they’ve experienced.”
On maintaining the right balance with the remake…
“It is certainly a bit of a balancing act. I too was one of those Star Wars fans who saw the HD Star Wars and was a little bit disappointed because it wasn’t my Star Wars. I understand those feelings and I understand the possibility of it happening. So it’s something we’re aware of.”
Aonuma on how the subtleties introduced are the biggest changes…
“I didn’t want to change what made the original so much fun. Whenever there were areas that players were getting stuck I wanted to smooth those out, if the pacing wasn’t optimized, if it felt like the rhythm of the game was being effected by whatever task the player was having to do those would be tuned, we tightened those areas up. Basically, the overall image of the game, including the story and the flow hasn’t been affected, wont be impacted, but we certainly made adjustments so the rhythm doesn’t drag.”
Aonuma on working to smooth out the experience, reacting to some of the things that players of the original didn’t like, but knowing that he was treading on thin ice…
“Certainly I understand even those areas of the game that weren’t optimized could be associated with very fond memories for people who played the game originally, but I wanted to make those adjustments to really optimize the experience for all players, including new players. Hopefully there will be a lot of new players who will pick up the game for the first time and I wanted to make sure that this was optimized for them.”
On how Wind Waker HD came to be…
“When we were thinking about the new Zelda for Wii U, which is something we’re actually working on, we needed to experiment with a variety of graphic styles and it was part of that process we took some existing Zelda games and made them HD just to see what would happen. In doing so we realized that the Wind Waker graphic style, the art style, really represented well on the Wii U given the graphic capabilities of the new system. It really brought that world to life. On top of the graphic representation of this world, we were able to tighten those areas I was mentioning before, I really felt like it could breathe new life into this already existing space, this already existing experience.”
On how Wind Waker HD helped the team learn some things they hope to apply to the new Zelda game…
“Not that the sequel will look exactly like Wind Waker, but there are certainly things we can learn in developing for the Wii U.”
Aonuma on how Miyamoto asked him to recreate A Link to the Past, but Aonuma decided to make something new…
“As a creator, I want to make something new, remakes really aren’t something that get me excited.”
On how even though Wind Waker is a remake, all of the changes create something that felt entirely new to Aonuma, which is why he moved forward with the game.
“We discovered that there was a new fun experience to be had there so there was never any discussion of making a sequel rather than a remake for Wind Waker. As I mentioned before, as a creator I always want to create something new. The decision to make Wind Waker HD actually came as a result of our intent to create something new for the Wii U.”
On Zelda Wii U…
“Honestly it’s not finalized yet, where in the Zelda universe this story will land. We’re exploring different directions that we can take this story at this point, so there’s unfortunately nothing I can share from that perspective.”
