26. It’s Not Enough

Is this all right? We’ve been having a lot of fun with this conversation.

This has been interesting.

It has been.

I’m really satisfied. I think we were able to have a conversation that only the three of us could have had.

Oh, I’m glad to hear that.

And as I said earlier, I think that this conversation has made it really obvious why Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda have kept going for 25 years. So I think it was the perfect conversation to have around the 25th anniversary of those games. Thank you so much.

No, thank you.

I’d also love to hear how you like the game after you’ve played it.

It seems like the game would be a lot of fun to play with a group. I’m sure The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would also be a lot of fun to play with a group of people, even though it’s a one-player game.

Yeah, it would be a lot of fun just to watch someone play.

That’s very true. I’m sure it would be a blast playing it as a family!

Definitely!

We’ve put a lot of new elements into the operation system of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, so you can play the game even if you’ve never played any of the games in the Legend of Zelda series. So kids who don’t have any preconceptions about the game may actually be better at solving the puzzles.

That makes sense. But it’s really amazing that after 25 years, you can still make it new.

That’s true. (laughs)

It’s new, but it’s still The Legend of Zelda. I guess you could even say that it’s still The Legend of Zelda because there’s something new about it.

That’s true.

But how did you keep that up for so long?

Hmm...let’s see... Well, Nakago-san has worked on the games with me the whole time, and there’s one thing that he always says during development. He says, ”There’s still something missing.” Every time. At first he says, “There’s definitely something missing,” and then he says, “Still something missing.” And then he says, “I think we’ve almost got it,” and, “It’s looking good.” There’s a process we use when we make The Legend of Zelda, a cycle of thinking up ideas, and testing them out, and I think the reason why The Legend of Zelda has lasted 25 years is that we always feel that it’s not quite enough.

Oh, that makes sense.

And there are no criteria for what’s missing or what’s enough.

It’s nothing concrete, but I feel like the three of us who work together on the Legend of Zelda games Tezuka-san, Nakago-san and I have a shared understanding about it.

I see. Thank you so much. Why don’t we end on that note?

We could go on forever, after all. (laughs)

It actually feels strange that we’re being recorded. (laughs) The three of us always have similar conversations when we get together.

Yeah.

Thank you both very much for talking to me to today.

Thank you.

Thank you.