Tri Force Heroes devs on reusing A Link Between Worlds’ engine, cut Emperor’s New Clothes costume talk, more
Game Informer has put up a new interview with Zelda: Tri Force Heroes director Hiromasa Shikata and Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma. During the discussion, the two developers commented on things like using the same engine as A Link Between Worlds, the cut Emperor’s New Clothes costume, and more.
Continue on below for excerpts from the interview. You can read the full thing here.
On whether Zelda: Tri Force Heroes used assets from A Link Between Worlds to streamline development like Majora’s Mask…
Aonuma: More so than saying it’s the art assets or the game world, it’s more about the game system, so with Majora’s Mask we really looked at what we had developed with Ocarina of Time and they wanted to go back and use that same system, doing something with masks, and sort of streamline that development time, and again reuse some of the things we had already created.
Shikata: When we finished up A Link Between Worlds, we looked at the game engine and Mr. Aonuma had talked with the team about wanting to create a multiplayer Zelda game and really wanted to take a look at whether or not that system was something they could use to accomplish that goal. So more than art assets or visiting the same worlds, it’s more about does a game’s engine and system we have work with this next idea and do they match up? And in this case they did.
On the character in front of the castle that wants to be a hero who has pink hair, brown sleeves, and looks a little like a previous Link…
Shikata: We really hadn’t thought about it being a throwback character, or a link to that previous character – I said link, sorry – but if you look at the way his hair is parted, his ears and sideburns, he has sort of the conditions by which one can be judged a hero for the Legend of Zelda. The hair is always parted the same way, the same pointed ears, etc. If you look, his design is just a little off from that, so they did have that in mind to make him not quite a hero. As far as the pink hair goes, I guess that was just random chance that he happened to have pink hair in the same way the character you referenced does in Link to the Past.
On whether Aonuma was involved in the decision to give Princess Style a voice in the game’s North American trailer…
Aonuma: No touch [laughs]. Nintendo Japan had nothing to do with the American marketing plan. We had no influence or involvement on that trailer at all. I do remember having a discussion though, about the Japanese trailer, which has the King Tuft speaking. I asked, “Why can’t the king speak in the American trailer?” and the people we were speaking with said, “No, no. We really think the princess is best for this,” so I said, “Well, if you insist, go ahead.”
On the cut costume based on the Emperor’s New Clothes…
Shikata: I’m sure you’re familiar with the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes, where the Emperor is told he has the most wonderful fashion ever, but he is actually naked. We wanted to implement some sort of outfit that would play off of that story, but we couldn’t come up with any abilities that that outfit would add, so they really weren’t able to bring that idea to fruition. We were really were disappointed that we weren’t able to implement it and bring it into the game.
