Tingle was considered for Hyrule Warriors, possibility of other Nintendo Warriors games, Aonuma on Zelda Wii U and remakes
Technobubble published an interview with Zelda director/producer Eiji Aonuma and Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi before the launch of Hyrule Warriors last year. While it’s a few months old, the discussion contains several noteworthy comments and we wanted to share those with you.
We hear, for example, that Tingle was considered for Hyrule Warriors as a playable character, but Aonuma advised the team against including him. Aonuma commented on the possibility of other Nintendo franchises seeing crossovers with the Zelda series, noted how he’s interested in applying what Hyrule Warriors did with bosses that move across the map for Zelda Wii U, and touched on Zelda remakes. On Hayashi’s side, he spoke about the possibility of Hyrule Warriors 2 and a few other topics.
Head past the break for several excerpts from the interview.
On the possibility of other Nintendo franchises getting the Warriors treatment…
Aonuma: We believe the Hyrule Warriors collaboration works out well because the Zelda intellectual property also happens to be a very good fit with Dynasty Warriors. As far as other Nintendo IPs, some may work out and others may not so that’s something we’re still not completely certain about. If Koei Tecmo wants to propose another game idea using other Nintendo franchises, we may consider it but I can’t speak for other franchises because I’m usually involved with the Zelda games.
On how it was decided which characters to include in Hyrule Warriors…
Hayashi: The No. 1 thing we considered was which characters Zelda fans love and want to play as. We also had staff members play several Zelda games and see what characters really made an impression on them.
On the possibility of Tingle being included…
Hayashi: Actually, Tingle was a character we kind of considered and sort of went back and forth on. We really wanted to include him but Mr. Aonuma suggested that it might be good to include some other character.
On what Aonuma has taken away from Hyrule Warriors that he may like to apply to Zelda Wii U…
Aonuma: One aspect of Hyrule Warriors that really left a big impression on me was how the big bosses can actually move across the map while you’re fighting them. For example, you can have a boss start by heading toward your stronghold and you’ll attack and then follow them. That’s something you don’t usually see in a Zelda game because bosses are usually in enclosed spaces so that kind of gameplay feels fresh to me. It also works really well in an expansive world, which is what we’re planning to do for the next Zelda game. It’s going to be a really open world so that’s the kind of gameplay we’d really like to incorporate.
On whether online co-op can be added in the future…
Hayashi: From our side, we considered what kind of co-op play would really suit the Wii U. What’s really unique to the Wii U is the controller so we decided to include two-player local co-op where one player uses the TV and the other uses the Wii U tablet. We just think that kind of co-op play where you have two people there in front of each other is really fun.
On whether there will be a Hyrule Warriors 2…
Hayashi: It’s kind of hard to say because the game is quite new and hasn’t even released in the United States yet (as of this interview). We do have all kinds of updates planned for the game so we think that players will be enjoying it over a long period of time.
On Zelda remakes…
Aonuma: Obviously, as time goes by and hardware functionality changes and improves, we have an interest in how they might open up new possibilities for games. The No. 1 thing for us is listening to Zelda fans and responding to their ideas so we can make sure they have a great experience. We’re quite aware, for example, that people have strong opinions about Majora’s Mask so that’s something we pay close attention to.
