Zelda: Breath of the Wild dev on recording the game’s sound effects

Nintendo posted a new blog today about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the game’s Japanese website. Mitsuhiro Hikino explains how the various sounds were created like Link’s footsteps and the noise that’s made when equipment clanks.

Hikino worked with SoundRacer in a studio that specializes in sound effects. In all, more than 10,000 sounds were recorded.

Above is a look at how they went about making the sound for stepping on ice. Recording was far from easy, as the ice board breaks and thaws when stepped on. When it came to recording footsteps, different types of sands were mixed together. Grass was also used and its smell permeated throughout the whole studio. We also learn that a woman was used to record Link’s footsteps.

The team detailed the recording of each sound for every bit of Link’s movements and equipment, like sounding them separately, changing volume, and mixing each individual sound.

Hikino provided a couple of examples of Link’s footsteps in grass and snow fields that you can listen to here. People may not really realize it while playing, but if they focus on listening to just the sounds, Hikino thinks they should be able to recognize the characteristics of each terrain type. The sound may also be different between using TV speaker and headphones. Hikino hopes players can enjoy getting immersed in the world with their own preferred way of hearing.