Zelda: A Link Between Worlds devs on Link’s wall-merging ability

Famitsu recently caught up with a few members of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds team to gain insight into the project’s development. Director Hiromasa Shikata, lead programmer Shiro Mouri, and lead designer Koji Takahashi spoke about a number of topics, including Link’s wall-merging ability.

Here’s a roundup of what was shared, courtesy of Siliconera’s translations:

Shikata on how Link’s ability to become a painting and part of a wall came to be…

“The thought of having link become a drawing on a flat surface seemed interesting to me; an idea that came out of nowhere. However, I thought that simply having him be part of a flat surface would’ve made it no different than a side-scrolling game, so we thought it would be better to have him turn along the corners of the walls, after further consulting with the [other members of staff].”

Shikata on how ideas for the game’s puzzles came to him after slipping through the barred windows in A Link Between Worlds, which was actually reminiscent of an experience he felt while playing Super Mario 64…

“Back when I first played Super Mario 64, I was jumping around the bridge by the castle, and was really surprised when I fell down into the moat. If it were a 2D Mario game with a side-view, you wouldn’t be able to fall down as deep.”

“Just like the sense of amusement the 3D feeling gave me from jumping off the bridge, this time I felt something similar when I was able to slide through the barred window.”

Mouri on the wall ability…

“This may be a spoiler to those who’ve yet to play the game, so I’ll just say that certain items you can find inside walls and becoming a drawing on the wall to dodge enemy attacks, are ideas that came afterwards.”

Takahashi on whether it was difficult to come up with the unique designs for Link when he becomes a drawing on the wall…

“We got several designers and tried out different things. The first drawing we did actually had a very avant-garde look to it, and it was strongly opposed by our staff.”