First, could I ask you to briefly introduce yourselves?
Aonuma:
Hello, I’m Eiji Aonuma, the producer of The Legend of Zelda series. For this game, we asked Grezzo (1), the experienced game development studio that has worked for many years on remakes of games in The Legend of Zelda series, to create an entirely new The Legend of Zelda game. We collaborated to complete this project. As the producer, I’ve played the game from the player’s perspective and continuously provided feedback.
Sano:
Hi, I’m Tomomi Sano. I was the director for this title from Nintendo’s side. My role was to manage and co-ordinate the production for this project, suggest adjustments, and then check the outcome to ensure the gameplay created by Grezzo is aligned with The Legend of Zelda series.
Terada:
Hello, I’m Satoshi Terada from Grezzo. I originally started out as a designer, mainly doing terrain design and level design (2), but this is the first time I directed a project. I first got involved with The Legend of Zelda series on the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (3). In the previous project, the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (4), I was in charge of the development of the art style, 3D backgrounds, and lighting. This was the first time Grezzo worked on a brand new game in The Legend of Zelda series.
Thank you. By the way, Sano-san is the first female director of The Legend of Zelda series. What other titles have you worked on in the past?
Sano:
Prior to this project, my main role was to support the director. As for the remakes that Grezzo worked on, I was involved in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (5) and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. I was also involved in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (6), as well as some of the titles in the Mario & Luigi series (7) released prior to Mario & Luigi: Brothership, which will be released in November this year.
Aonuma:
I almost always ask her to be engaged in The Legend of Zelda remakes that Grezzo works on.
I see, so Sano-san is an essential part of The Legend of Zelda games developed with Grezzo. So, Aonuma-san, could you please tell us what kind of game this is?
Aonuma:
Of course. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a brand new top-down The Legend of Zelda game that revolves around Princess Zelda as the main protagonist. Mysterious rifts appear in the kingdom of Hyrule. People, objects, and even the king of Hyrule and Link are swallowed up by the rifts.
The story centres on Princess Zelda who sets out on an adventure with the ethereal creature Tri, creating imitations of various objects to save the people of Hyrule. Zelda can wave a wand, known as the Tri Rod, to create copies of objects such as tables that she can use as platforms to go up to higher places, or copies of monsters to fight for her. We named these imitated creations “echoes” and packed in all sorts of new ways to play using them.
Thank you. You used the phrase “a brand new top-down The Legend of Zelda game”. What led to the development of a new game this time?
Aonuma:
Actually, I’ve always wanted to establish a 2D top-down The Legend of Zelda series that’s separate from the 3D entries like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game style and how it feels are completely different when the world is viewed in 3D from behind the character to when the world is viewed from a top-down perspective. We wanted to cherish that kind of diversity in The Legend of Zelda series.
Amid all this, we felt that the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Nintendo Switch, which we developed with Grezzo, had become our new approach in terms of graphics and gameplay feel, as a top-down The Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo Switch generation.
Grezzo had established an excellent way of reviving the top-down The Legend of Zelda experience for a modern era, so I thought we could develop something completely new that had never been done before.
Most of The Legend of Zelda games that Grezzo had worked on until this game were remakes. Since you were creating a new game this time, did that significantly change how you worked with Nintendo?
Aonuma:
Yes, there naturally was quite a lot that changed. To mention a major change, at the start of development, we asked Grezzo employees to pitch internally their ideas for this new The Legend of Zelda game. More specifically, we asked Grezzo, “If you were to make the next new game, what kind of game would you like it to be?”. We had the opportunity to hear ideas from members of Grezzo, which they came up with freely and proposed.
Terada:
It was a big event for Grezzo. After all the remakes we had been working on, this was the first time we were challenged with a new game project from the conceptual stage. There was even a time when every single one of Grezzo’s employees was thinking about ideas. (Laughs)
Thanks to this, we came up with so many ideas that it took us three days just to go over and review them. Since it was a Legend of Zelda project, everyone worked hard on proposals and presented them in front of Aonuma-san with pounding hearts. (Laughs)
Aonuma:
I’ve worked with Grezzo for a long time, though… (Laughs) But when we were working on remakes, we didn’t really get the chance to hear everyone’s ideas. This time, we asked everyone, not only the project planners for the game, but also the designers and programmers, to come up with lots of ideas.
Sano:
Dozens of people participated, and even though they didn’t brainstorm together or anything like that, surprisingly a number of similar ideas were proposed. But that’s not a bad thing at all. I think everyone had a common idea of something they wanted to do in a game, and it just perfectly suited the world of The Legend of Zelda.
Terada:
So, we went through the ideas that came out of the pitch and picked out a variety that looked good. From there, we decided to move forward with a focus on copy-and-paste gameplay (8) and gameplay that combines top-down view and side view.
Aonuma:
These were the two basic elements, and from there, I asked them to think of ways to add some freedom. Having worked on games in The Legend of Zelda series over the years, we started to feel that fans may not continue playing this franchise unless they can think independently and try various things freely on their own, rather than following a set path.
Even when it comes to solving puzzles – in a game in The Legend of Zelda series, having the excitement of solving puzzles in your own unique way makes the game “Legend of Zelda-like”. Hence, we need to increase the degree of freedom to achieve that. With this in mind, I asked Grezzo to use those two elements as a foundation for the gameplay and add freedom on top of it.
[This article originally appeared on Nintendo UK]
