#TheWindWakerHDQuote
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Linktober Day 10: Zelda
Aonuma & Iwata on "the Zelda cycle".

Via Iwata Asks, 2013

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote, #TheWindWakerHDQuote
#AonumaQuote, #IwataQuote #TrinenQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Iwata-Asks-T...
People in quote: -Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Franchise producer for the Zelda series. -Satoru Iwata, age 54. 4th President of Nintendo. -Bill Trinen, age 41. Localization for many Zelda games, Product Marketing Director. Quote: "Aonuma: There’s a ‘Zelda cycle.’ Iwata: Yes. Bill Trinen-san at Nintendo of America—who always plays a big role in preparing the overseas versions of The Legend of Zelda games—always talks about the Zelda cycle. Aonuma: Basically, as time progresses, negative opinions about The Legend of Zelda turn into positive ones. At first, I wasn’t sure about that, but seeing the response to The Wind Waker HD, I think it may be right. Iwata: And it isn’t restricted to The Wind Waker. Every time a new Zelda title comes out, there’s no shortage of negative opinions, but a year or two later, people are revising their opinions, and its reputation goes up."
October 10, 2023 at 7:34 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on wanting to smooth over The Wind Waker's rough edges, 2013.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerHDQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/1ea41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of The Wind Waker HD. QUOTE: Aonuma: Whenever there were areas [in The Wind Waker] that players were getting stuck, I wanted to smooth those out. If the pacing wasn’t optimized, if it felt like the rhythm of the game was being effected by whatever task the player was having to do those would be tuned, we tightened those areas up. … I understand even those areas of the game that weren’t optimized could be associated with very fond memories for people who played the game originally. … Hopefully there will be a lot of new players who will pick up the game for the first time, and I wanted to make sure that this was optimized for them.
May 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Arimoto, Dohta, & Takizawa on bad art content from the original Wind Waker.

Via Iwata Asks, 2013.

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote,#TheWindWakerHDQuote
#ArimotoQuote,#TakizawaQuote,#DohtaQuote

www.notion.so/abab285aefce...
PEOPLE: - Masanao Arimoto, age 46. The Wind Waker Design Manager. - Satoru Takizawa, age 41. The Wind Waker Design Manager, The Wind Waker HD Art Director. - Takuhiro Dohta. The Wind Waker HD Program Director. QUOTE: "Arimoto: This is a confession from over ten years ago, but polishing up the designer’s data wasn’t a custom that was firmly in place back then [The Wind Waker’s original development]. Takizawa: [For the HD version] Dohta-san would say, ‘Takizawa-san! This is totally impossible for an environment map setting. Take a look!’ I’d look at it and it would be data I had made myself! [laughs] Instead of admitting I was responsible, I’d say, ‘Whoa, that’s horrible! Take care of that, would you?’"
November 17, 2023 at 5:14 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takizawa on the one weakness of The Wind Waker's art style as an option for Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerHDQuote, #BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakizawaQuote, #FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/febaddf2a123...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 44. Art Director for The Wind Waker HD and Breath of the Wild. - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 44. Director of Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: "Takizawa: It was actually one weak spot in The Wind Waker HD art style. An important point in Mr. Fujibayashi's game concept [for Breath of the Wild] was to fill the vast game world with fun multiplicative experiences using physics and chemistry gameplay. And this was difficult to achieve with The Wind Waker’s art style. Why is that? The Wind Waker art style in it's depiction of form, feel of materials, etc. is very stylized. One of our goals was to have the art intuitively suggest possible physics and chemistry gameplay based on the player's experiences in the real world. The problem with The Wind Waker art style was... the lies it told were too big."
December 31, 2024 at 12:15 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Some Star Wars quotes from Zelda devs (1998, 2013)

Sources: GlitterBerri's Game Translations, Polygon

#Zelda
#OcarinaOfTimeQuote, #TheWindWakerHDQuote
#MoriQuote, #AonumaQuote
PEOPLE: - Naoki Mori. Ocarina of Time Cinema Scene Director. QUOTE: Mori: [Ocarina of Time’s] ending reminds me of Star Wars. It also sort of references Dark Crystal. More than figuring out where the scene cuts should be, we were worrying about how to project that atmosphere. I definitely watch anime a lot. So much so that I’m called Captain Anime. [laughs] Anime I consider interesting I show people with reckless abandon. ‘This is great!’ I say. Recently I’ve been enjoying ‘Perfect Blue’, which is a psycho thriller. It’s not because we used it as a reference for the games, but the transitions of scenes were interesting. PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of the The Wind Waker HD. QUOTE: Aonuma: With The Wind Waker HD the first thing we did was release a still during a Nintendo Direct presentation and there were quite a few fans who said, ‘That’s not my Wind Waker.’ They said it looked different from the Wind Waker they’ve experienced. It is certainly a bit of a balancing act. I too was one of those Star Wars fans who saw the HD Star Wars and was a little bit disappointed because it wasn’t my Star Wars. I understand those feelings and I understand the possibility of it happening. So it’s something we’re aware of.
May 5, 2025 at 5:07 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 7: Undead

Aonuma on never getting a break and his family's feelings about it, 2013.

Source: USgamer

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerHDQuote, #ALinkBetweenWorldsQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/bd8ea2c85ef2...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Franchise Producer for the Zelda series. QUOTE: Aonuma: Even when I get home, I'm getting home late. I want some vacation. I want some time off. Q: How much longer do you have … before you get that time off? A: What we're looking at, really, is a sort of trend. I finish one project and the next one is just overlapping. My family is not happy. Q: But they do like Zelda games, right? A: My son absolutely does like Zelda, and my wife has started playing Zelda as well. So that's great. They understand that I'm making these games, but… They're my family, and the fact that we're not taking vacations together, not going anywhere, it's not making them happy. We're trying to find a balance. It's tough.
October 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM