Nintendo’s Eiji Aonuma discusses the future of Zelda development

ttttyyt

Your latest game, Spirit Tracks, is the first canonical Zelda title to involve Princess Zelda herself in the gameplay. Why did you decide to make Zelda playable this time and why has it taken so long?
First, about the reason why you are now going to be able to control Princess Zelda. Back in the days when we first released Phantom Hourglass, we had established the battle mode. And even though it was just a Wi-Fi mode with one-on-one gameplay, we had some solid response about the ability for the player to control the Phantom character by drawing the path he should follow. And we thought at that time that we would probably be able to take that and incorporate it into the main gameplay. In fact, that was actually one of the most important things that led us to the new project that eventually became Spirit Tracks. Of course, at that time, we had to discuss the story. Why would an archenemy like the Phantom become your ally, we asked ourselves? And during that discussion we came up with the idea that one way would be if a second character took control of that Phantom for you. But who? We thought Zelda might be an interesting and appropriate character. So that’s how we decided upon the story where Zelda is going to have her body taken away by an enemy. One of the most important facets of the story would be for Link to regain her body, but at the same time her spirit form can take on the adventure together with Link.
An additional explanation actually has something to do with your second question. You may be thinking that we could have invented any character to take on the role of the Phantom spirit. So why Zelda? Well, here’s another element. The main director of Spirit Tracks has had some great concern about the Zelda franchise, specifically the kind of person Zelda is as a character has never been clearly identified. And he insisted that we take this opportunity to clearly identify who she is. Personally, I also think that her entire appearance may also explain why we’ve never made use of her before. From the first game she wore a skirt and, from the developer’s viewpoint, animating someone in a skirt is actually not so easy. That’s why in The Wind Waker, Tetra (who was actually Princess Zelda) was not wearing a skirt. That’s why she couldn’t accompany Link in the past, but now that she’s in spirit form, wearing a skirt is not such a big issue for the animators.
Nintendo has been criticised in the past for characters like Zelda, Peach and Donkey Kong’s Pauline. They’re all damsels in distress rather than pro-active heroines. Are you hoping to change that perception?
Oh yes, I think so. In fact, sometimes in the past our staff members have done some research into how players think about our game characters. Many users have remarked that it’s not interesting if the women were characterised as people who always need to be rescued by the men. Boys will always want to play the hero, who will always reach out a helping hand to the girl, of course. But this time around, by clearly depicting what kind of personality Princess Zelda has, I think it can deepen the game experience for the player. Come to think about it, the Sheik character in Ocarina Of Time… Although she didn’t appear very often through the game, we found that many people appreciated that particular incarnation of Princess Zelda.
Spirit Tracks is now the third Zelda game to use the cel-shading technique. What is it you enjoy about working in that art style?
The first title for which we used cel-shading was The Wind Waker, but we have to admit that the technique was still in the experimental stage and our aim was to make the first Zelda with a new type of graphics. With Phantom Hourglass, we were thinking purely about how to make the first Zelda for DS platform. The limitation we faced was that, although there was an enormous amount of information to be displayed on-screen, those screens were actually very small in comparison to a home TV screen. For us to be able show a lot of information, we had to change the proportions of the characters in relation to their surroundings, and the only solution was to adopt a super-deformed style for the characters. And cel-shading was the most appropriate way to realise those manga-like proportions so that the animation would look right. And because we’d decided to adopt a touch operation for the gameplay, we needed a top down perspective, which worked very well with cel-shading.
You mentioned there that Wind Waker was an experiment. Majora’s Mask fell into that category too, but most other Zeldas follow the template laid out by the original NES game or Ocarina Of Time. When you’re creating a new Zelda game, how do you decide whether to be experimental or follow the classic style?
I should probably have not used the term ‘experiment’ when talking about the adaptation of cel-shading into Wind Waker. I used that term with the benefit of hindsight, but of course, when we were actually working on Wind Waker we were not thinking of it as an experiment at all. The cel-shading was a new opportunity for us to provide a very unique and unprecedented play experience. And, talking about uniqueness, I believe that Zelda is all about unique experiences. And how we create those experiences actually varies from game to game. With the leap from Phantom Hourglass to Spirit Tracks, even though we’re trying to be unique, people may think that Spirit Tracks is not unique, because it is using the same engine and the same controls as before. So in order for us to uphold the uniqueness of the franchise, we had to think of other ideas outside the presentation and controls. That’s why we introduced the train idea and the ability to control Princess Zelda.
Come to think about it, if a player feels that one of our games was experimental then it’s probably because we weren’t able to provide the customer with a stable feeling. So if people feel that Majora’s Mask was an experimental game in the Zelda series then that’s something that we have to assume was because we didn’t give the impression of a stable and solid gameplay system.

One of the reasons Phantom Hourglass worked so well is that it was designed with the DS’s unique features in mind. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, was designed for GameCube before being adapted to Wii. With the next Wii game, how do you intend to exploit its unique features, especially now that options like MotionPlus, the Balance Board and Vitality Sensor are all available?
Well, Mr Miyamoto has already stated that we’re working with the MotionPlus as the necessary item for you to play the new Legend Of Zelda on Wii. That prototype is already running in our studios and we have a solid feeling and response about the controls. When we were working on Twilight Princess it was, as you say, a GameCube game that, at a very late stage in development, was made to work on the Wii as well. We wanted to fully take advantage of the motion sensing technology of the Wii. And if you ask me if the end result was sufficient, well, I’d have to say that it was not strong enough. Because of that, when we started working on the new Wii game, I wanted to deepen our possibilities. Twilight Princess had already achieved some things that were unique and unusual, and to improve upon that was not very easy. And while we were struggling with these diffi***ies, we noticed that Nintendo was working on the new technology that was to became MotionPlus. And after a few experiments with the device we realised that it allowed us to do everything we were unable to do with the standard Wii Remote the first time around.
As you know, new technologies are emerging every day, but we’re not often thinking about how these new inventions can be applied to our game making. Rather, we are always thinking about the ideas that may or may not be doable today, and when a technology like MotionPlus comes along and enables us to realise those ideas, that’s how we like to work. And that’s how we’ll be using any new technologies that appear in the future.
Back when Link’s Crossbow Training was released, Mr Miyamoto gave an interview in which he revealed that he’d wanted to make Zelda into a first-person shooting game, as far back as Ocarina Of Time. Did you learn anything from Link’s Crossbow Training that caused you to reflect on those abandoned plans?
Well, it is true that Mr Miyamoto mentioned turning Ocarina Of Time into a complete first-person shooter. There were such talks during development, but it was with the premise that we, the developers, could not realise the smooth animation shift between Link wielding his sword and then changing to shoot his arrow at an enemy. So if we’d failed in achieving that kind of smooth operation then Ocarina Of Time may have become a very different game. But, in fact, we were able to realise that system where the player was able to change between sword and bow in front of the camera. Additionally, Mr Miyamoto never really let go of his idea to change Zelda into a first-person shooter, which is why – with the advent of the Wii Zapper – we created that kind of software in Link’s Crossbow Training.
Another reason we never made a first-person Zelda was because of the argument that had existed in the first-person shooter development arena, specifically the theory regarding camera operation. In those days the player would use an analogue stick to move the camera, but when they turned the stick to the right, for example, there was heated debate about how the game screen should react to that. Some thought that a movement to the right should turn the screen to the right, while an equal number of people believed very strongly that this was not natural. If we push the stick to the right, they said, then the camera should turn to the right, causing the screen to scroll left. This debate continued for years, but with the advent of the Wii Remote’s pointing device that argument became unnecessary and that’s when Mr Miyamoto felt the time was right to realise his ambitions to create a shooter involving Link, which led to the creation of Link’s Crossbow Training.
Did you learn anything from that experience that might influence future Legend Of Zelda titles?
To tell you the truth, I actually wanted to create Link’s Crossbow Training 2. I thought that we should do something more and better in the field of the first person shooter, based on our experience of the first game. For example, I was thinking that maybe we could intensify the multiplayer mode. The original game was really just a solo game, but I thought that we could add a true multiplayer mode with multiple users playing together, from remote areas, over the Wi-Fi Connection. But the fact of the matter is that a lot of people inside Nintendo insisted that I should work on a new Legend Of Zelda title rather than working on more Crossbow Training. But, talking about the influence of that game, I think we have learned something about the potential use of camera work in a 3D world, and in the future I think we’ll reach a point where users are naturally changing the camera angle without even realising it. I am afraid that it might be the eternal theme that we have to deal with. We are always thinking about how to improve that natural shifting of the camera when we are working in three-dimensional videogames.
It’s interesting that you were told to continue with the Legend Of Zelda series despite your other ambitions, and you’ve been working exclusively on the series for over 12 years now. Do you ever feel like working on other franchises or even creating your own original ideas?
Actually, a lot of people do ask me how many more years I’ll be making The Legend Of Zelda and whether I want to create something new. The fact is that I just don’t feel that way. I mean, what is The Legend Of Zelda? There should be a Link and a Princess Zelda and of course enemies, but that’s really all we need to make a Legend Of Zelda game. As I said, we could make it into a first-person shooter or it could be any small single element currently featured in the whole franchise which might come to define the future games. Zelda is such a broad world that we can explore and each game can be totally different, which is why I never grow tired of working on the series. Having said that, however, I don’t think that I have done enough challenges myself. Take Super Mario Bros for example. Mr Miyamoto has always been the Super Mario Bros person, but at the same time, he always comes up with brand new ideas like trying to sell bathroom scales to the Wii audience. That’s very unconventional and he’s the sort of person who’s capable of doing that. But when I think about myself, I am always making Zelda from the perspective of the public. And that’s what I don’t like about it. And while I’m not saying that I’d like to make a new RPG, or anything like that, I do want to break down the framework in which I currently create games..

40861633

求中文啊！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！

ttttyyt

不难的~~~~~~~~~~~~~

专属她的猫

老实说，如果是同样长度的日文，我还没啥问题，但这么长的英文，看了就晕了……

boxupnei

再过2个月就正式公布了...

leverto

老实说同样长度的中文我都要看上半天。这英文就更晕了，看来看去我只会读26个字，啥意思愣是没懂

恋妖壶

我如果闲的蛋疼，给大家翻翻…………

不过我估计h版会更快翻了

merkatz

虽然标题写了future，不过实际内容很少涉及到Zelda新作，唯一提到新作的段落也只是再次确认了会使用M+的消息。这篇访谈的大部分内容还是在讲Zelda这块招牌背后的制作思想，比如如何提供崭新而流畅的游戏体验、关于新的硬件技术的应用的看法等等。
我比较感兴趣的是他谈到希望能制作出提供多人同屏游戏的林克十字弓这点。我玩的时候就深切遗憾这么有趣的游戏竟然没提供多人同屏模式。