Aonuma on Zelda getting her own game, top-down for handheld Zeldas, Majora’s Mask 3DS remake, visual style, storytelling, putting Zelda in a new era
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma weighed in on a number of new topics in yet another interview. This time, Aonuma commented on the possibility of Zelda getting her own game, why the handheld Zeldas usually see a top-down perspective, his thoughts on remaking Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the 3DS, putting Zelda in a different era, and more.
Aonuma on the possibility of Zelda receiving her own game…
This is the second time I’ve received this question during this E3! I guess if people have strong feelings about it then it’s something to consider. I’ll keep that in mind! [laughs]
Aonuma on the decision to mainly go with the top-down perspective with handheld Zeldas…
The answer is actually very simple. In home console games you are usually looking up, and looking at things from this perspective. From handhelds you usually look top down, so that’s the way that worlds are represented. But, now you mention it, maybe I’m looking at things too simply!
Aonuma on whether or not the VC has influenced his decision to make a Link to the Past sequel…
Thankfully, Link to the Past is doing very well on Virtual Console, but that did not influence my decision to make a sequel. The reasons why we did this are the ones we explained earlier.
Aonuma on the possibility of a Majora’s Mask 3DS remake…
Majora’s Mask is a very special game – it’s the real hardcore who like that one. If we were to make a remake of that one then we wouldn’t want to let them down. We’d have to put our heart and soul into it. So, you say you’ve heard rumours, but I have to say it would be quite a commitment to do that.
Aonuma on Zelda Wii U’s visual style…
The thing about Zelda is we want everything to be unique, whether it’s the graphical presentation or the gameplay. It has to be something you can’t see anywhere else. We wouldn’t want it to be ultra-realistic because you can see that elsewhere. But I can’t say that it’s going to be cartoony-realistic like you mentioned, the fantastic presentation that we’ve already done in the past. It will be something new.
Aonuma on the storytelling approach on the new Zelda 3DS and Wii U games…
This also is the unique thing we’re always looking for. What we want to do is – you know you’re going along and you think you know what’s happening, then we turn everything on its head and everything goes nuts.
In Twilight Princess you have the dark world, in Majora’s Mask you have that strange world – we’re not hitting in any particular direction. It’s whatever direction suits that particular story and what we’re trying to achieve.
Aonuma on whether or not he ever considered a sharply different theme for a Zelda world, such as setting it in a completely different era…
I don’t know if we are joking when we do this or not, but there are times when I’ll discuss with Mr. Miyamoto about putting Link and Zelda in the modern day world. What types of gameplay would there be? What changes would there be in the presentation of the story? But I honestly can’t imagine them there.
It’s not that we place them in any specific time period or in any specific culture. If you look at what happens in Zelda games there’s a mix of Japanese and what might be considered Western things. It also allows us a lot of flexibility if you don’t define a specific time period or location for the story to take place in. I don’t see us making any drastic changes, unless it really suits the story.
