Yesterday Nintendo published Part 4 of their “Ask the Developer” interview with the Zelda staff leaders who worked on the new game. In Part 4, the final section of the interview, Eiji Aonuma, Tomomi Sano, and Grezzo director Satoshi Terada discussed how Echoes of Wisdom embodies the “Zelda-like” feeling, and what the definition of said feeling means to them. It’s clear that all of them were passionate about their work as they looked back during their favorite moments in the project’s development journey.
Aonuma in particular became quite emotional during his routine playthroughs of the final product. “As a producer, it felt like watching your child grow up. I’m really grateful for all the hard work. I hope lots of people will enjoy this new top-down Legend of Zelda and will be excited for future top-down Legend of Zelda games too.” At the time of this writing, Aonuma has played the game eight times total, and even he discovered new ways to play with the Echoes each time. But certain moments in the game especially impacted him after the sixth time. “For me, it’s when you enter Suthorn Prairie from Suthorn Beach, and the main theme starts playing,” said Aonuma. “That part really got me.”
The part that moved Aonuma the most? The ending itself. “…I felt the power of music was so strong, it nearly brought me to tears. As the music played, I thought, “Wow, that’s good.” It was really moving,” he admitted. “Agh, I’ve got to play it through again now.”
This powerful feeling is relatable to any Zelda fan who’s been with the series a long time. Aonuma has worked on Zelda for a long time himself, almost as long as Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto had recruited him to be a lead designer for Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64, and since then, the rest is history. Now a Producer, Aonuma has been heavily involved in the creation of the series since, which included writing the script for the King of the Red Lions in The Wind Waker, among many other things. He once likened the King’s fatherly relationship with the Hero of Winds to his own experience as a new father.
For Sano, her favorite parts of Echoes of Wisdom were the different races and regions in Hyrule, and the beginning sequence. “The scene where you first confront Ganon is really good,” she pointed out. “The moment you leave the cave and that theme starts playing, that’s the first time you hear it in the game. I feel like that scene was really created to resonate with the player’s feelings. You don’t know where it is that you’ve arrived, but you get the feeling that the real adventure is about to start.”
Terada and Aonuma shared that most of the Grezzo staff are Zelda fans too and have enjoyed playing the games since they were little children. “So even now, when making a new top-down game in the series, we’re always thinking about how we can bring that “Legend of Zelda-like” feeling to the game,” said Terada. “However, we packed in so many things we wanted to do to create this “Legend of Zelda-like” feeling, and the map ended up eight times the size of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.”
Echoes of Wisdom’s map was originally four times the size, but one thing lead to another until it became its massive size today. Aonuma assured, however, that the top-down map is more approachable than previous 3D open world formats. As it turns out, Grezzo’s strong suits include dungeon design. Yes, it’s official. Bona fide traditional dungeons are back in their puzzle-solving glory, with a fun creative twist thanks to the echoes.
“I think this Legend of Zelda game is one that’s approachable even for people who don’t play games very often. With previous Legend of Zelda games you had to fight enemies yourself with your sword,” explained Terada. “People who aren’t so good at action games might have felt that it was too difficult for them. However, with this game, you can play using echoes and try out lots of different things. So, I think it’s enjoyable even for players who usually struggle with more demanding action gameplay.”
Now that the interview is complete in full, Parts 1 – 4 can be read in its entirety in the News section of Nintendo’s website. Echoes of Wisdom is out now and available worldwide for purchase.
