hyruleinterviews

[hyruleinterviews]

Ball on what media personally interested or influenced him, 2024.

Source: Social Media

https://www.notion.so/41b89b2d5e7045ac9933cb4392e56542

PEOPLE:

Wes Ball, age 43. Director of the upcoming The Legend of Zelda film.

QUOTE: Q: What media interests you presently, on a personal level?

Ball: Gosh that's a tough one actually, there are so many. I grew up watching Willow, Neverending Story, Terminator, Alien. Lord of the Rings were a big deal for me in high school. The Matrix rocked me. Anything by Miyazaki. Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke and Castle in the Sky especially. James Cameron's Avatar inspired me to make my short film RUIN which got me started.

The list could go on and on honestly.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on why he stops projects, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/8f65dbbe83ce4562a94c9abc575ba8ea

PEOPLE:

Shigesato Itoi, age 62. Creator of Mother (Earthbound).

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario, General Manager of Nintendo EAD.

Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE: Itoi: Have you ever had an experience where one of the younger members of your team ended up working on a project that you thought you stopped, and it turned into something really interesting?

Miyamoto: Oh, that's happened to me a few times. Because when I stop a project it's because it's risky, not because it definitely won't work.

Itoi: Oh, I get it.

Miyamoto: Right. It might work, but it's risky. …

Iwata: When you're making something with computers and you invest in something with low odds, you end up spending a lot of energy on it when the odds are that you'll probably have to throw it all away. So it's up to Miyamoto-san to use his eye and his experience to stop projects like that.

[hyruleinterviews]

Dohta on how the Octo Balloons got them thinking, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

https://www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d4fe7ac790ccdf2ad3eac

PEOPLE:

Takuhiro Dohta. Technical Director for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

QUOTE: Dohta: The Octo Baloons were special materials, even in Breath of the Wild. They can make an object float when attached to it. We implemented this functionality not to be used as a solution, but as a way to make the multiplicative gameplay even more plentiful.

Because of this, it wasn't a major element, but we actually felt that the ability to stick one object to another had a lot of potential. …

So we began proper prototyping to stick objects together freely. … We thought that this could be a gameplay point for this expanded world [in Tears of the Kingdom].

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyagi on how Miyamoto took Twilight Princess over the line to feel like a Zelda game, 2006.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/d28f338fac344b08b2b1fc736e836059

PEOPLE:

Atsushi Miyagi. Twilight Princess Field Design Lead.

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 53. Producer of Twilight Princess.

QUOTE: Miyagi: I had serious doubts about the controls for [firing a bow with the Wii Remote in Twilight Princess]. … I thought that it was much simpler to use the GameCube controller.

It was then that Miyamoto-san introduced the slingshot, which had not featured up to then, in the early stages of the game, which acts as a tutorial. At the same time, he put in a feature where, when you go to hit something with a projectile, the action stops to give you a second to line up your pointer. …

So although he didn't shake things up in a dramatic way, I would say that Miyamoto-san made a remarkable difference in changing the finished product into a Zelda game, through making numerous small changes.

[hyruleinterviews]

Takizawa & Aonuma on how the Ocarina graphical style didn't "exceed expectations" for Zelda GCN, 2013.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/abab285aefce4a909e9c262abbdee561

PEOPLE:

Satoru Takizawa, age 41. Design (Art) manager on The Wind Waker.

Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker.

Satoru Iwata, age 53. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE: Takizawa: We had been trying to figure out which graphical direction to take for [The Wind Waker]. And we wondered whether continuing the path taken by Ocarina of Time, and evolving upon it by giving it more detail was really the right path.

Aonuma: Simply carrying on down that road was an option, and we proceeded with a prototype, but it was incredibly normal and didn’t exceed expectations.

Iwata: At Space World the year before we showed a demo video of an evolved form of Link from Ocarina of Time, so a lot of people were expecting something along those lines.

Aonuma: Yes. But it was difficult for us to imagine ourselves easily coming up with new ideas and expanding on that world if we had chosen that path.

[hyruleinterviews]

Terada & Sano on clearly defining the functions of each echo, 2024. Source: Ask the Developer https://www.notion.so/11341fe961fd8021bafaed314ba28d34

PEOPLE:

Satoshi Terada. Co-Director of Echoes of Wisdom.

Tomomi Sano. Co-Director of Echoes of Wisdom.

QUOTE: Terada: Since there are so many echoes at your disposal [in Echoes of Wisdom], we made sure to give each one a specific characteristic so that players would remember what each one does. We wanted players to be able to remember off the top of their heads which echo to use in certain situations.

Sano: Having the freedom to solve puzzles by yourself is a key feature of Legend of Zelda games. But having too much freedom can leave you feeling stumped. We made a conscious effort to clearly define the functions of each echo so that players understand how and where they should be used.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on how Japan lacked games to bridge simple and complex FPSs, 2008.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/b5e9f8738b764a55bd1f5d83df618cb2

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. Creator of Mario & Zelda. General Producer of Link’s Crossbow Training.

Satoru Iwata, age 48. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: In the US, various types of FPS games made for PCs slowly began to be released on home consoles. However, in Japan, there had been no basis for FPS-style games, and advanced games just kind of sprung up suddenly. …

Iwata: There’s a really big difference between the simple shooting games and the advanced FPS games, isn’t there? I think that although a lot of people would find the FPS games really fun, many have this image that it’s really hard to bridge the gap in difficulty between the two.

Miyamoto: Right, and I really felt there was room for a game that would bridge that gap, which is why I created Link’s Crossbow Training.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on realizing that Super Mario 64 was getting boring, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/8f65dbbe83ce4562a94c9abc575ba8ea

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Super Mario 64. Creator of Mario & Zelda.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: When I was working on Super Mario 64, I realized halfway through that it was getting boring. …

I don't remember if it was when I watched someone playing it, but I was like, "Wait, a minute…" So I went around and asked everyone, "This game was really fun in the beginning, but now it doesn't feel fun anymore, does it?" And just as I'd expected, they all said, "We agree.”

Well, it was something really simple with Mario's movement. In the beginning, we had Mario turning really slowly, so that it was really overemphasized. But at some point he'd started turning really quickly. He kind of zipped around.

So then we changed it so that he went back to turning really slowly.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto, Itoi, Iwata, and the value of ‘creative destruction’, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/8f65dbbe83ce4562a94c9abc575ba8ea

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Mario & Zelda. General Manager of Nintendo EAD.

Shigesato Itoi, age 62. Creator of Earthbound.

Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: [Meetings are] no good if someone doesn't at least once introduce some creative destruction, like, "I'm not so sure…" Something that is broken down and reassembled has greater reality.

Itoi: Like, "Isn't that a little boring?" or "Aren't you avoiding what you should really be doing?" Or, "Don't you think the fans may not like that?"

Miyamoto: Right. It's important that the values of someone who says that—the values of a single person—rework the problem once. Then it gets more real.

… On the other hand, when it comes to everyone deciding together, it lacks sharpness or something like that.

Iwata: Yeah. When a meeting yields results, you didn't decide anything by consensus, but rather, somebody laid their opinion on the line.

[hyruleinterviews]

Hara on the design approach for Zelda's study, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

https://www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd801ea787e0548179e625

PEOPLE:

Yoshikazu Hara. Structural Artist for Breath of the Wild.

QUOTE: Hara: I created [Zelda’s study in Breath of the Wild] out of the concept that, since it is in a separate tower, it was originally intended to be used as a lookout station but was not in use at the time. Also, since it was far from her father's watchful eye, Princess Zelda used this room for her research. She struggled to produce results on her own, so I expressed her isolation within the castle through this lone tower.

However, I think that it will be apparent to players from the remains of the room that she was prolific in her research and continued to fight, looking for ways to help and not giving in to the circumstances.

[hyruleinterviews]

Sato on writing down some of what Tezuka said during development of Mario Wonder, 2023.

Source: Ask the Developer

https://www.notion.so/321b536b1fee458bbddb96976545ebc0

PEOPLE:

Masanobu Sato. Art Director of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Takashi Tezuka, age 62. Director of the first four Zelda games, Producer of Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

QUOTE: Sato: That reminds me, I wrote down some of the things that Tezuka-san said during development [of Super Mario Bros. Wonder] on sticky notes and kept them on my desk. I brought them with me today.

Tezuka: Really? [Laughs]

Notes:

”Use the concept of multiplication to expand ideas and create.”

”Don’t try to do it all alone.”

”Different people find different things fun.”

”Don’t simply replace things. Change the entire approach—new inspirations!”

[hyruleinterviews]

Ishikawa, Sato, & Yabuki on realizing weather and time of day changes in Mario Kart World, 2025.

Source: Ask the Developer

https://www.notion.so/20b41fe961fd80e1bedfef95e832975e

PEOPLE:

Masaaki Ishikawa. Mario Kart World Art Director. Artist for Phantom Hourglass and Link’s Crossbow Training.

Kenta Sato. Mario Kart World Programming Director.

Kosuke Yabuki, age 44. Mario Kart World Producer. Twilight Princess Level Designer.

QUOTE: Ishikawa: Right, the sheer volume of work required to prepare all the art needed to show time and weather changes in a seamless world [for Mario Kart World]… We were under no illusion. [Laughs] We were even on the verge of giving up on it at one point.

Sato: But the appeal of having time and weather changes won out. So we decided to try and find a way to implement this feature that we'd initially considered giving up.

Yabuki: … If the time of day and weather are fixed, then it's easier to create the clearest path under those conditions. But even just with changes in brightness or the angle of the light, we have to check multiple variations and adjust them accordingly.

[hyruleinterviews]

Hayashi, Iwata, & Kitaura on generational knowledge, 2010.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/6438e3a91bbd4a24b77d39a23036a090

PEOPLE:

Yosuke Hayashi, age 31. Producer & Director for Metroid: Other M. Later: Producer of the Hyrule Warriors games.

Ryuzi Kitaura. Cinematic Director for Metroid: Other M.

Yoshio Sakamoto, age 51. Producer & Director for Metroid: Other M.

QUOTE: Hayashi: Well, when [Sakamoto and Kitaura] were explaining the movements on the storyboards [for Metroid: Other M], for example, there'd sometimes be a reference to an obscure old monster film that only the two of them would get.

Iwata: So these references meant nothing to you, coming from a different generation?

Hayashi: That's right [laughs]. They'd say things such as 'This part is just like Gyaosu'—I was none the wiser what they meant.

Iwata: Ah, Gyaosu, eh? [laughs]

Kitaura: It was just the two of us who understood.

Iwata: Actually, I'm a member of the generation that knows about Gyaosu as well… [laughs]

[hyruleinterviews]

Mori’s dissatisfaction with Zelda's expression in the final scene, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/dc4631410a4343159f4f2c05bd782211

PEOPLE:

Eiji Aonuma, age 48. Dungeon Director for Ocarina of Time.

Naoki Mori. Cinema Scene Director for Ocarina of Time.

QUOTE: Aonuma; Some people are still playing it, so I can't be too specific, but in the last scene [of Ocarina of Time], [Mori] just couldn't settle on an expression for [Zelda’s] face.

Mori: Yes, that's right.

Aonuma: Did you eventually find something that satisfied you?

Mori: That was for the Nintendo 64 system, so there were hardware limitations to what we could express. I asked about adding one more expression for eyes, but they said it was impossible. I proceeded with what was available, but it just didn't look right to me. I ended up frustrated to the very end.

Aonuma: Ever since, Mori-san has wanted Zelda to have more vivid facial expressions.

[hyruleinterviews]

Nishimori on Miyamoto's advice for wolf Link, 2006.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/d28f338fac344b08b2b1fc736e836059

PEOPLE:

Keisuke Nishimori. Player character designer for Twilight Princess.

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 53. Producer of Twilight Princess.

QUOTE: Nishimori: In [Twilight Princess], Link is transformed into a wolf-like beast. In other words, the character the player controls at times moves around on four legs. When we were discussing the wolf's design, Miyamoto-san said: "It's no fun to just look at the back of a four-legged animal all the time."

It's true that … if you look sideways on or from an angle, you can clearly see the motion of the legs and the overall way the character moves. But if you look directly from behind, it looks really boring compared to a human character's movements.

So Miyamoto-san told us to have someone riding the wolf.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto & Iwata on the staff's “air of disagreement” with Link's Crossbow Training, 2008.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/b5e9f8738b764a55bd1f5d83df618cb2

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. General Producer of Link’s Crossbow Training, Producer of Twilight Princess.

Satoru Iwata, age 48. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: After Twilight Princess, I talked to the staff about whether or not we could do a side story. … But they were coming up with stories that can be described as ’epic tales’ rather than ’side stories’…. I ultimately suggested that we make [Link’s Crossbow Training].

Iwata: What was the staff’s reaction?

Miyamoto: They were kind of shocked. It was like killing all the ideas they were working with until then. Some even felt that we should not do something which makes it look like we are reusing the already existing software. …

Iwata: Well, at the beginning of the project, even I sensed an air of disagreement, or at least a lack of understanding, amongst some of the staff.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on asking the Twilight Princess team to pitch a side story sequel, 2008.

Source: Iwata Asks

https://www.notion.so/b5e9f8738b764a55bd1f5d83df618cb2

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. Producer of Twilight Princess, General Producer of Link’s Crossbow Training.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: With a big series like Zelda, we usually only release a new version every 3-5 years, but we thought it would be great to make something [where Twilight Princess players could] keep playing in the same world. I think it’s important for players to be able to play new games at a fairly fast pace.

So, I asked our Zelda staff to think about a new project with an extra story based around Twilight Princess. But then, they were coming up with stories that can be described as ’epic tales’ rather than ’side stories’.

… We took some time to ponder over the new project and I ultimately suggested that we make a game … that utilized the Wii Zapper.