Aonuma on decision to remake Wind Waker, going back to buttons on 3DS, Mario 3D Land inspiration, Zelda Wii U, difficulty with multiplayer
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 2 Comments
Wired’s interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma is up now for viewing, and it contains a lot of interesting nuggets about Nintendo’s classic series.
Aonuma commented on all three current Zelda projects: Wind Waker HD, A Link Between Worlds, and Zelda Wii U. Topics include the decision to remake Wind Waker (there was pushback internally!), the change to full button control on the 3DS with A Link Between Worlds and how Aonuma gained inspiration from Super Mario 3D Land, the difficulty in implementing multiplayer, and more.
Sakurai on essence of Smash Bros., Wii U/3DS customization, fighting genre, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
A few more comments from Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai have popped up through a GameSpot interview, and you can find them below.
Sakurai’s latest remarks are more general – talk about the overall Smash Bros. series, the fighting genre, and more. We do get a couple of nuggets about the Wii U/3DS games though, like customization and their speed.
Aonuma: Twilight Princess was the Zelda project most impacted by fan opinion
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Podcast Stories, Wii | 1 Comment
Nintendo usually does its own thing when it comes to creating games – especially with Zelda. No one asked for a cel-shaded Zelda after Ocarina of Time, but that’s exactly what was delivered.
However, there are some instances in which Nintendo has taken fans’ opinions into consideration. For Zelda, Twilight Princess was the project most impacted and influenced by fan opinion.
Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma told Zelda Universe:
Hmm… I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly as a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.
I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well.
Miyamoto talks Wind Waker HD’s balance, Triforce Hunt, Tingle Bottles
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Don’t expect new content in Zelda: Wind Waker HD. For this project, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma says the main goal was to “balance” the experience.
“My main goal in making Wind Waker HD was to stay true to the original and really balance the game. When we released the GameCube version we weren’t able to fully do that and make the adjustments I felt were necessary to optimize the experience. So there will be no new content, but overall gameplay should be improved.”
Aonuma on revisiting A Link to the Past, Zelda overworlds, expanding Zelda single-player, new IP, more
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Eurogamer published a new interview with Eiji Aonuma today, who spoke about a number of different Zelda topics. Aonuma commented on returning to the world of A Link to the Past, making Zelda overworlds, expanding the Zelda single-player experience (which doesn’t necessarily mean multiplayer), new IP for Nintendo, and more.
For Aonuma’s responses, read on below.
Image: the ultimate Super Smash Bros. character comparison
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, GameCube, General Nintendo, Images, Wii U | 0 comments
Someone has created an image comparing every character from the Smash Bros. games based on the currently-known roster of the Wii U/3DS titles. Look for it below:
Wind Waker’s removed dungeons were used in other Zeldas, why dungeons won’t be added to Wind Waker HD
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
Zelda: Wind Waker HD can’t use any dungeons that were missing in the original version. That’s because they were used in future Zeldas – likely Twilight Princess and/or Skyward Sword.
Aonuma talked about Wind Waker’s cut dungeons and the decision to avoid adding new ones in the HD re-release in an interview with Eurogamer:
“Quite honestly, those dungeons we removed we used in other games, so we can’t use them in this version!”
“I’ve received many questions about additional content beyond what was in the GameCube version of the game, but our desire is to stay true of the story that was in the original. If we add dungeons then that will affect other parts of the GameCube version, which we really want to stay true to. If it felt like there were maybe too few dungeons then I feel that what was wrong with the GameCube version was the pacing. It was thrown off because it took longer to get to certain dungeons. There was a waiting period, and then when you arrived there the experience maybe didn’t feel as big, as you’d waited so long to get there. We’re tuning the game to alleviate all that. The pacing should feel appropriate to the overall experience this time… We need to tighten those [gaps] and make the overall experience and story feel tighter.”
Unfortunately, Aonuma couldn’t reveal which dungeons were cut in Wind Waker and used in other Zeldas.
Harvest Moon creator and Toybox president talks about love for Zelda
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Did you know that Toybox president Yasuhiro Wada is a big Zelda fan? How about the fact that Zelda was a big influence on Harvest Moon? If Wada was given the chance, he’d probably prefer to work on Zelda more than any other Nintendo franchise. However, he said: “I think I’d rather just enjoy that as a player.”
Wada’s favorite Zelda games are A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker. Wind Waker tops them all.
“The first half of Wind Waker is like 200% right. It’s like better than 100%, but the second half is more like 50% right.”
Wada’s one beef with The Wind Waker? The notorious Triforce hunt.
You can probably count on Wada picking up Zelda: Wind Waker HD later this year.
“I heard the balance was tweaked for the better, so I’m hoping it will be closer to 300%.”
Zelda: Wind Waker HD/GameCube comparison
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Thanks to miriam for the tip.