The Zelda timeline is quite a touchy subject for fans of the series. Nintendo has never provided an official sequence of events, causing a significant amount of discussion and debate among franchise followers. Be rest assured though that the developers of each Zelda title put a lot of effort into the stories so that they can match up. Shigeru Miyamoto discussed that topic and more – including Yoshi’s gender – in the latest Iwata Asks.
Iwata: When you make a Zelda game, how do you think about the story?
Miyamoto: The stories in The Legend of Zelda may not match up as the series progresses. We actually expend a lot of time trying to make them match up, though. It would make things a lot easier if the players said, “Oh, that doesn’t really matter.” (laughs)
Iwata: (laughs) You would rather spend your energy making game elements rather than the story.
Miyamoto: That’s right. Sometimes people ask whether Yoshi is a boy or a girl. If I answer, “Probably a boy,” then they say, “So a boy is laying eggs?” (laughs)
Update: Swapped out the old video with new footage, which should fix the issue of it freezing at the beginning…
Of course, this is the European/UK version of Xenoblade Chronicles. But it would be fantastic if North America somehow gets this game as well…
This information comes from the latest Iwata Asks…
Iwata: I heard from Osawa-san that you put a lot of effort into the cut scene when the horse jumps over the fence at Lon Lon Ranch.
Miyamoto: Well, rather than putting in lots of effort, I’d say we were pushing the new hardware, the Nintendo 64 system, as far as it would go. I wanted to make it look a little cool without looking strange. If you can leave the ranch wherever you want, rough parts of the ranch may stand out, so we thought of forcing in a special event.
Iwata: You forced that in? (laughs)
Miyamoto: Yes. You know that guy Ingo who’s at the ranch?
Iwata: Yes. He doesn’t have a very nice personality and looks a bit like Luigi. (laughs)
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?
Have you ever heard of Twin Peaks? It was a show that aired in America in 1990 and ended after a second season in 1991. Now… why the heck am I talking about this? Well, according to Shigeru Miyamoto, it influenced the way he handled characters in Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Miyamoto: But while making it, I noticed that I didn’t want to tell a story so much as I wanted to have a lot of people appear around the main character and portray their relationships. Some years back, a television show called Twin Peaks was popular. When I saw that, the most interesting thing wasn’t the ins and outs of the story, but what kinds of characters appeared.
Iwata: Oh, (Takashi) Tezuka-san said the same thing in our session of “Iwata Asks” over The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.
Miyamoto: Oh, he did?
Iwata: Tezuka-san told the staff of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening that he wanted them to have a bunch of suspicious characters appear like in Twin Peaks.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is partially known for its expansive lands and Hyrule Field’s wide-open area. Early on in development, however, none of that existed.
Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in the latest Iwata Asks that, initially, he was thinking of only including Ganon’s Castle as the setting in the game. Miyamoto compared the idea to Super Mario 64, in which separate adventures would be made available in different rooms. Ganon’s Castle would have acted like a hub, just like Peach’s Castle in Super Mario 64.
Miyamoto: Right. So I would have “A” stay there all the time and the other data switch in and out. If you only change what you have to, the memory is more efficient and the data reads more quickly. In other words, you make good use of the characteristics of the ROM.
We put constructing the system first, and since we were going to determine the story in line with the system’s capacity, at first I thought only having Ganon’s Castle might be enough.
Iwata: Huh? At first you imagined Ganon’s Castle as the only setting?
Last night, Nintendo of America finally responded to the large amount of feedback they’ve been receiving about the lack of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower news in America. But, admittedly, it was a bit dull. They only told fans to “Look for more updates to come soon”.
That update appears to be coming sooner than originally thought. IGN’s executive Nintendo editor Rich George has revealed on his Twitter account that a more proper response will be provided on their website sometime today:
“Nintendo will have a comment on @OpRainfall ‘Missing Wii games’ movement later today. Stay tuned to @IGN and well have it for you. #myign”
George followed up that remark by saying “Have modest expectations. Don’t start thinking ‘MEGATON!'” and “I think the movement has generated so much publicity that it’s tough not to say something one way or the other.”
Honestly, I have no idea whether this means we’ll be seeing any of these games confirmed for North America. Xenoblade is the most probable candidate to be announced – again, that’s if there even if an announcement – though The Last Story and moreso Pandora’s Tower will likely be staying in Japan for now. Technically, neither title has even been announced for Europe.
Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet was released for all major platforms last year, including the DS. According to Nintendo Power, Griptonite Games is also working on a 3DS version.
The title will be comprised of top-down action-adventure gameplay. It’ll be offering numerous playable characters including Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. More details can be seen below.
– Save the universe from Thanos
– Retrieve boots that Iron Man bought Thor for this birthday
– Unique powers and abilities for each hero
– Swap to the right character for each task
– Hulk: Lift heavy objects
– Invisible Woman: Bypass sensors
– Iron Man: Hack computers (done through a touch-screen mini-game)
– Seven levels
– New stage exclusive to 3DS version
– Locations include Asgard and Asteriod M
– Fight villains including Super-Skrull and Dr. Doom
Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet will be released in the third quarter of 2011 for 3DS.
Club Nintendo has been updated with a message informing members that the Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack offer has ended. Those who registered the game prior to Saturday should be all set. CDs should begin shipping on July 5.
“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Official Soundtrack CD Offer has ended. Thanks to all who participated!”
Twitter user supererogatory has discovered a slew of domains picked up by Activision. Registered websites include goldeneyereloadedgame.com, goldeneye007gamereloaded.com, goldeneyereloaded007.com, and goldeneye007reloaded.com.
GoldenEye 007 saw a revival on Wii last year and was met with both critical and financial success. However, that doesn’t guarantee that a new entry in the franchise will necessary appear on a Nintendo platform. Activision is definitely bringing a new GoldenEye 007 to market though, as indicated in their 2011 product lineup.
