7. A Challenge from the Developers

You can rent the appropriate items for each dungeon and beat them in any order, but you have to return the items you rent sometime.

Yes. For example, you might set a timer and know you have to return it the next morning when the rooster crows.

We thought of all sorts of ideas for what happens when players don’t return the items – like late fees – but nothing seemed to fit.

What did you do?

We decided to have the item return on its own once you game over. That’s a little like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.¹⁹ (laughs)¹⁹. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask: An action-adventure game released for the Nintendo 64 system in November 2000. Players had to clear it in three days of in-game time. When players saved, the clock turned back to the first day, some supplies disappeared, and the player’s number of Rupees returned to zero.

I see.

And once you’ve rented an item, you don’t want to return it, so you work really hard not to get a game over.

If there’s a clear drawback to game overs like that, that adds tension to gameplay.

Exactly. Also, in some previous games in the series you get sent back to the entrance after a game over. If you make it all the way deep into the dungeon and then get plopped back out front…

You lose enthusiasm.

So another theme this time was making sure that players don’t lose their desire to try again.

So even if you get a game over, you can borrow an item again right away, and there are warp points in the dungeons. Even on the field, we put in a way so you can warp between places that are close to where you want to go.

It’s become easier to go around the game world.

This Zelda game allows the player more freedom since you moved away from the one-track approach of previous games and rethought the conventional aspects of the series. Lastly, from your respective positions, would you comment upon what you want players to check out? Let’s start with Takahashi-san.

All right. This time, you journey back and forth between Hyrule and Lorule. In design, we paid attention to the contrast between those worlds.

You want players to enjoy comparing the two worlds.

Yes. Characters in Hyrule may have a different role in Lorule, and while the arrangement of the buildings is the same, the shapes and materials can be completely different. We made it so you can enjoy the contrast, so I hope people will discover the differences while thoroughly adventuring through the fields of those worlds.

We made this game based on the world of A Link to the Past, but we completely redesigned the dungeons. And we’ve packed in a lot of new content that didn’t exist before, so I hope people will enjoy it.

This isn’t a remake, it’s a new game that serves as a sort of sequel.

Absolutely. In a meeting, Aonuma-san said that this game has both newness and familiarity. Just as he said, I think this turned out to be a game that new players as well as fans of A Link to the Past can enjoy, so I hope everyone will try it out.

I hope people will check out how great 60 fps looks, how easy it is to play, and how comfortable it feels.

You paid a lot of attention to that and stuck with it! (laughs)

Yeah. (laughs) Also, you can use StreetPass²⁰ this time. This of course wasn’t in the previous game.²⁰. StreetPass: A feature that allows users who enable it to walk around with their Nintendo 3DS system turned on to exchange certain game data with other Nintendo 3DS users whom they pass on the street that also have StreetPass enabled. You are also able to have StreetPass encounters with those who have visited various Nintendo Zone hotspots before you.

What can players do with StreetPass?

You can

I hope people who have never played The Legend of Zelda will play it. As mentioned before, you can play multiple dungeons in parallel, and if you get stuck somewhere, there’s always another approach ready for you to try, so if you don’t give up, anyone can make it all the way to the end. And you can use the Play Coins²¹ you get for walking around with your Nintendo 3DS

And of course you recommend it to people who already love The Legend of Zelda games.

Of course! We put in a lot of gameplay elements that people can play up like item power-ups. And once you’ve cleared it, we’ve prepared a tough mode with stronger enemies, so I think people who have played previous Zelda games will find it incredibly rewarding.

We made this game with the idea of rethinking the conventions of Zelda games, and we truly did take on all kinds of challenges. The ones who undertook that were younger developers, and during development, I often exclaimed, “We can do that?!”

You thought so, too? “We can do that?!” (laughs)

Yeah! (laughs) Earlier, we discussed the Tower of Hera and how there’s a mechanism you hit with the Hammer in order to jump. Just like you, when Link flies up and the visuals switch automatically to the upper floor, I thought, “We can do that?!” Afterward as well, the ideas everyone came up with often made me think, “We can do that?!” But while this is a new Zelda game, it will also make you think, “Oh, this truly is The Legend of Zelda!”

It’s a Zelda game no matter who looks at it, but it’s also new.

Right.

Listening to you talk today, I got a strong sense for how this Zelda game wouldn’t have come to be if it weren’t for the Nintendo 3DS platform. The developers took on various challenges, as if solving puzzles in Zelda games, so it must have felt great when as a result, the pieces came together and you found the correct answer! (laughs) As if that chime that rings when you solve a puzzle has rung in your heads.

That’s right. (laughs)

In a way, that is the real thrill of being a developer, so today I was able to hear a lot of stories about the satisfaction of achieving a sense of conviction that you’ve made something good.

Um, I forgot to mention something.

Yes?

There are quite a lot of minigames.

Like

Baseball? In a Zelda game? (laughs)

That’s right! (laughs) Like in a batting centre, Link holds a bat and hits. It has nothing to do with the main game! (laughs)

(laughs)

Another one is

You made it that challenging?!

I asked Mario Club²², and no one could clear the hardest level.²². Mario Club Co., Ltd.: It conducts debugging and testing on Nintendo software during development.

So if anyone clears the highest level, be sure to brag!

Here at the end, the developers offer a challenge!

(laughs)

Job well done, everyone.

Thank you.