Miyamoto explains why he was determined to include Young Link in Ocarina of Time
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: Also, you were the one who really wanted to show Young Link, right?
Miyamoto: Yes. The work was really piling up, but I said I wanted to show Young Link. I think that caused the other developers a bit of a trouble. (laughs)
Iwata: Yes, it seems that it did! (laughs)
Miyamoto: But when I saw Adult Link that Koizumi-san had made, it was cool, but I said, “I don’t want to make this without Young Link!” Then we tested whether we could use both Adult and Young Link.
Iwata: Koizumi-san tinkered with the system and you were able to use Adult Link’s motions for Young Link as well.
Miyamoto: Right. Thanks to that, we could also have Young Link.
Iwata: Why were you so persistent on Young Link?
Miyamoto: Link is a boy. In the first game, The Legend of Zelda8, he was about 12 years old. In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, he was about 16, but I never wanted to make him just another cool hero. Until The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link was a playful and childish character.
Iwata: But it seems that when you were making The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Koizumi-san’s wife asked him why Nintendo didn’t have any handsome characters, so he made Link good-looking. I heard that from Koizumi-san himself. (laughs)
Miyamoto: That’s right. (laughs) But I had worked on all the games since the first one, and I thought that if we made him too cool, he wouldn’t be Link anymore.
On the other hand, I did want Link to be somewhat cool, so we decided to have both Adult and Young Link. He doesn’t just grow from the point of view of stats—as in an RPG—but actually grows up in appearance. When we did that, then all sorts of ideas bubbled up.
Iwata: More ideas sprang up than when you had just been basing the game around Adult Link.
Miyamoto: Yes. When we decided to handle Link growing up from a 9-year-old child to a more mature 16-year-old, I wanted lots of characters to fulfill various roles. For example, Kaepora Gaebora is a grandfather figure who gives Link all kinds of advice and looks out for him. And since Link is a boy, I wanted girls besides Princess Zelda to show up.
Iwata: And that’s why Saria and Malon are there.
