Confirmed: Skyward Sword has been in development for five years, fewer detours compared to Twilight Princess
Quotes from Shigeru Miyamoto in the past have confused fans as to how long The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has been in development. In early 2008, Shigeru Miyamoto exapleind that “the Zelda team is forming again to work on new games”, before clarifying a few months later that a new project was already underway.
In any case, the first edition of Iwata Asks for Skyward Sword confirms that it has definitely been in the works for about five years. The discussion below also hints at some of the troubles the team faced – MotionPlus incorporation specifically.
Aonuma: I’m Aonuma, the producer. There have been all kinds of twists and turns since development began almost five years ago. Until completion of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I talked with Director Fujibayashi about how we could take the project in a good direction, backed up the staff, and consulted with Miyamoto-san.
Iwata: You say that there were twists and turns, but I heard there were few detours this time compared to the last game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Aonuma: Well…
Iwata: You can’t say there weren’t any? (laughs)
Aonuma: Yes. (laughs) I can’t say there weren’t any at all. I thought I would talk about that today.
Iwata: My impression is that you were able to articulately pack in a lot of elements the team had worked on in the game, that it has turned out to have an incredibly high concentration of ideas compared to other Legend of Zelda games.
Aonuma: That’s true. We took a detour along the way, but compared to previous Zelda games, we were able to pack in so many kinds of play that it practically bears no comparison.
Aonuma: After we finished The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, we began work on the new game in the series. After awhile Fujibayashi-san had finished making The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and he showed us a planning document saying he wanted to make it. We had him be director and discussed something that would use Wii MotionPlus, which was developed right around that time, so players could freely operate the game. For about half a year after that, I have to say the mood was very nasty! (laughs)
Iwata: I heard. (laughs)
Fujibayashi: We tried a bunch of things for Wii MotionPlus, but it was really quirky.
