5. Enjoying a Dense Legend of Zelda Game

Now I would like to have you talk from your respective points of view - as those who made the gameworld - to those who still don’t understand the game very well, about what kind of game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is and what you recommend about it. Asuke-san, would you please start?

Sure. Even someone like me who wasn’t very good at Legend of Zelda games was able to easily get into the gameworld and grow accustomed to it, so it turned out to be a fun game. Before, when I heard people around me speak passionately about how the Legend of Zelda is so great, the gameplay was too difficult for me and I had trouble enjoying it. But with Skyward Sword, you can move however you want, so I naturally came to enjoy the action involved in fighting enemies and solving puzzles. Now I find myself in the same position as those who speak passionately about The Legend of Zelda.

Did that happen because you - who was no good at Legend of Zelda games - worked hard at it?

I didn’t work at it so much as play like normal and suddenly reach that point. It uses Wii MotionPlus, so the game doesn’t require any complicated button-pushing. That makes it easy for first-time players to understand. For that reason, you can get into the game without feeling the controls are difficult. I realised that I was improving as I continued playing. I also gradually came to enjoy solving the puzzles. Even someone who has only played Super Mario Bros. before can naturally become good at the controls and enjoy the fun of The Legend of Zelda, so I hope people will play it.

Okay, Hiramuki-san?

If Asuke-san was a Mario type of guy, I was once a Pikmin guy, but now I’ve worked on The Legend of Zelda longer.

You switched from being a Pikmin guy to being a Zelda guy.

Yes. (laughs) This time, we made the forest with multiple comings and goings in mind, but actually that’s something we did in the Pikmin series, and the Temple of the Ocean King in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is similar.

You go into the Temple of the Ocean King multiple times. The more times you visit there, the deeper you can go into it.

I see. So to Hiramuki-san, there’s a single thread connecting Pikmin, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

That’s right. Pikmin has 30 days and the distribution of the creatures changes each day, and they grow up. I hope people will enjoy how, as the story progresses, the forest changes in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The last time you visit, something unbelievable happens.

Oh?

But I can’t say any more. (laughs)

That’s right. (laughs) Ito-san?

I think many people think of The Legend of Zelda as Medieval European-style fantasy. But robots appear in this one.

Yes. Last time in Iwata Asks: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. (laughs)

It’s true. (laughs) We often ask what the essence of Zelda is, and I think one aspect of it is that it’s deep enough to hold anything appealing. It’s the kind of game that you can make with conceptual freedom, so all kinds of people throw out ideas, and lots of fun ideas condense into it. The result is the density that we’ve been talking about. You can play this dense game intuitively with Wii MotionPlus, so I hope people will play it.

It’s dense, but you can play it comfortably.

Yes. And personally, I really like the character

Fi is a character who goes with Link on his adventure and navigates.

That’s right. We call the system Fi Commentary. For example, if you target various characters and enemies and call forth Fi, she will talk about them. And what she says is really funny. (laughs)

Sometimes you learn things you wouldn’t otherwise.

That’s right. If you use it, the world opens up, so please target all kinds of things.

All right. Fujibayashi-san is appearing multiple times, so, since I’ll have another chance to ask him, I’ll finish up by offering my thoughts on today. I thought it was great how you are able to enjoy talking about what you made, even though it was an immense project, development took a long time, there were lots of alterations along the way, and there must have been times when you were confused and struggled. And whereas I had understood to a certain degree the concept of playing the same landforms multiple times, today I gained a deeper understanding of it. I hope even more strongly now that all kinds of people will play in the same landforms multiple times and notice the game’s density. Good work, everyone.

Thank you.