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3 months ago
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The Legend of Zelda’s impact on interactive design and storytelling, and the larger video game industry is incalculable. But we decided to try anyway.
We reached out to developers from across the industry and beyond to find out what Zelda means to them, how it has influenced them creatively, and what their favorite entry in the canon is.
Nintendo’s Perspective
In 2023, we sat down with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi. We asked them why they think the franchise has remained popular and acclaimed for so long. Here’s what they had to say:
Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Nintendo, director (Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom)
Speaking from the development perspective, I think some of it has to do with the fact that we have a unique and diverse set of people in our teams in that they have all kinds of hobbies; it’s not only just people who play games. And they have these hobbies that they enjoy, and they take that fun that they experience in their real lives and try to drop the essence of those elements into the games that they create. Having that environment where they feel like they can freely develop and use their creativity to drop these into the games they’re working on, I think, plays a critical role in allowing for very diverse and unique games to be created.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Eiji Aonuma
Nintendo, director (Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess), producer (Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom)
When it comes to Nintendo’s development, I think we have a bit of tenacity with the ideas that we come up with. So as you may be aware, Mr. Fujibayashi was the director of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and in this game, he had the desire to give Link the ability to seamlessly descend from the sky and then, after landing, kind of proceed from there. That was something that, given the time, he was unable to do, but I think that this idea is something that probably stuck with him and stayed in his head. When it came time to make games of a different kind and the type or the shape of the game might change those, those opportunities arise when you can find a way, maybe from a different angle of implementing that idea that you’ve kept with you all this time.
This is something I think Mr. Miyamoto has said in the past, but when you have an idea and try to make it work, and it doesn’t work out, you don’t give up on that idea. Instead, just wait for the right opportunity to arrive. Those ideas – and I think this is true of our developers – stick around in their heads; they keep them with them as they continue in their work. When those things pile up, and the right opportunity presents itself, we find the opportunity to implement those ideas.
