#TheWindWakerQuote
LightNews LightNews
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
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
Haruhana on art styles and standing out in a crowded market, 2017.

Source: Arts & Artifacts

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#HaruhanaQuote

www.notion.so/06aaee32280f...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiki Haruhana, age 46. The Wind Waker Design [Art] Manager. QUOTE: Haruhana: We were asking ourselves ‘Is this the right direction to go?’ and ‘Does realistic equal a good game?’ At the time, as console hardware specs went up, many games were heading in a more photorealistic direction. And, at that time, when I was flipping through a game mag, all I saw were really similar-looking games, and I began to worry we would be making one of them. So we thought about what we needed to do with our art to make [Zelda on the GameCube] stand out. How could we make the readers of that magazine stop and look at our project? We decided that making a realistic Ganondorf and Link wasn’t it...
April 30, 2025 at 3:06 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takizawa & Aonuma on how the Ocarina graphical style didn't "exceed expectations" for Zelda GCN, 2013.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#TakizawaQuote, #AonumaQuote, #IwataQuote

www.notion.so/abab285aefce...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 41. Design (Art) manager on The Wind Waker. - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker. - Satoru Iwata, age 53. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Takizawa: We had been trying to figure out which graphical direction to take for [The Wind Waker]. And we wondered whether continuing the path taken by Ocarina of Time, and evolving upon it by giving it more detail was really the right path. Aonuma: Simply carrying on down that road was an option, and we proceeded with a prototype, but it was incredibly normal and didn’t exceed expectations. Iwata: At Space World the year before we showed a demo video of an evolved form of Link from Ocarina of Time, so a lot of people were expecting something along those lines. Aonuma: Yes. But it was difficult for us to imagine ourselves easily coming up with new ideas and expanding on that world if we had chosen that path.
July 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #10: Species/Race
Aonuma & Honda on how the Rito were inspired by the Watarara from the Ocarina manga, 2004.

Source: Viz Media

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeMangaQuote,#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote,#HondaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/1aec8fb05127...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 41. Director of The Wind Waker . - A. Honda. One half of “Akira Himekawa”, the Zelda manga artist/writer duo. QUOTE: "Aonuma: When we decided to set The Wind Waker in the sea, we thought a race that could fly through the sky was absolutely necessary. … Then we remembered Rouru of the Watarara from your manga. I liked that story a lot. In the end, the story ended up being different from the manga, but the Rito race that appears in The Wind Waker was influenced by Rouru. Honda: … When we were asked to write a bonus story [for the Ocarina of Time manga], we wanted to introduce a new race, but all that was left was one that could fly in the sky. Aonuma: Ha ha ha! We were thinking the same thing!"
October 10, 2024 at 4:20 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on a reason they may have never had a playable Zelda before Spirit Tracks, 2010.

[Hyrule Interviews highlighting a quote is not an endorsement of the statements in the quote]

Via GamesTM.

#Zelda
#SpiritTracksQuote,#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/d2c90e8b2fcf...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 47. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of Spirit Tracks. QUOTE: "Aonuma: I also think that [Zelda’s] entire appearance may also explain why we’ve never made use of her before. From the first game she wore a skirt and, from the developer’s viewpoint, animating someone in a skirt is actually not so easy. That’s why in The Wind Waker, Tetra, who was actually Princess Zelda, was not wearing a skirt. That’s why she couldn’t accompany Link in the past, but now that she’s in spirit form [in Spirit Tracks], wearing a skirt is not such a big issue for the animators."
March 6, 2024 at 6:44 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takizawa on how he expects the team will start missing out on family time due to long hours on Twilight Princess.
Via Nintendo Power, 2005.

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote, #TwilightPrincessQuote
#TakizawaQuote, #AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/99c2dfc0cc57...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 33. The Wind Waker Art Manager, Twilight Princess Art Director. - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Director of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Takizawa: I remember the summer when we were deep into Wind Waker development: our [Takizawa & Aonuma] wives went off on their vacations to visit their parents, and we had to stay at work and focus on finishing the game. Suddenly, Aonuma- san’s wife sent a photo of his cute kid to his cellular phone, and he howled about wanting to be with his family. Sigh—no doubt we’ll have another summer like that ahead of us as we head into final development on Twilight Princess!"
November 23, 2023 at 6:34 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on feeling both excited and worried when releasing a new game, 2013.

Source: Zelda Universe

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/690c8afba273...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Zelda franchise producer, Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Q: One of the toughest things as a creator is show your work to the public. I would love to know how you feel whenever a game you make ships. Aonuma: I’m always worried. I’m always worried and excited, a combination of both things. I’m always thinking of how well they play; will they think what I thought was fun is fun? For example, with The Wind Waker, when it was first released there was some criticism. Some people didn’t like the direction we were taking Zelda; they thought maybe it wasn’t the direction they had anticipated or the direction they wanted to go. "
September 25, 2024 at 11:54 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on asking to be reassigned, 2005.

Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote, #TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/19841fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of Twilight Princess. Later: Director of Twilight Princess. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. Producer of The Wind Waker, General Producer of Twilight Princess. Later: Producer of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Q: After The Wind Waker, you joked that maybe you wouldn’t work on the next game. But here you are. Aonuma: In fact, when we finished The Wind Waker, I asked Mr. Miyamoto, ‘Please give me some other assignment.’ He said, ‘Let me think about it.’ [Finally] he told me, ‘OK, you'll be the producer on the next Zelda.’ I said, ‘What? I wanted [something else].’ But he told me, ‘Rather than working on the details, you can coordinate and supervise and concentrate on making it a better game.’ So I was interested in taking the assignment."
February 15, 2025 at 1:09 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #30: Mount

Aonuma on how he was a new father when he wrote the King of Red Lions' lines, 2013.

Source: Zelda Dungeon

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/1144d02d32de...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of The Wind Waker HD. QUOTE: "Aonuma: We created [The Wind Waker] just as my son was born. At that time, I thought that I would like for my son to play this. The lines spoken by the Red Lion King boat that Link rides were written by me. Since I had just become a father, I had him speaking in a self-important manner that children would understand. [laughs]. Q: So at that time, those lines were messages directly from you? Aonuma: When you read it again 10 years later, you wonder ‘What’s this guy trying to say?’ [laughs]. When I think back to my perceived image of a father figure back then, I’m a little embarrassed. As a result, the dialogue of the Red Lion King became a little more ‘mild’ for the remake."
October 30, 2024 at 4:37 PM
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
Oyama on his favorite contribution to The Wind Waker, 2006.

Source: Nintendo Power

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#OyamaQuote

www.notion.so/7afe967639d4...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiyuki Oyama, age 32. The Wind Waker Character Designer. QUOTE: "Oyama: Zelda fans have a wealth of interesting opinions about The Wind Waker. From a creator's standpoint, it was an unbelievably exciting project that brimmed with character design. Of my contributions to The Wind Waker, I'd have to say that the minigame-peddler Salvatore was my favorite. Originally, the game plan had the concept of a submarine minigame. The minigame itself wasn’t going to be too difficult, so we wanted to add more liveliness to the event somehow. I got some input that we should see if we could bring more story to the minigame through the use of character dialog and picture cards. So I let my imagination run with those notions."
September 20, 2024 at 4:42 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the difference between Ocarina and The Wind Waker's wall bombing, 2004.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote,#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/f87f768d9182...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 41. Dungeon Director of Ocarina of Time, Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: The bomb explodes [and] this results in the wall breaking and room ahead being revealed. … We hear the now famous Zelda success chime. The purpose of this chime is to inform the player that he has solved the puzzle. … [In Ocarina] the success chime was heard before the explosion ended. Although this chime is supposed to indicate success, it occurs before the player realizes the result. … Thus, he does not feel the reality that his actions were the correct answer. Instead, they feel like a mere game mechanic. In the Wind Waker scene, the success chime was moved to play [after the smoke clears]."
April 15, 2024 at 4:09 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on why they abandoned The Wind Waker 2, 2007.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TheWindWaker2Quote, #TheWindWakerQuote, #TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/f528e57822e0...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Director of The Wind Waker, The Wind Waker 2, & Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Aonuma: What I was told was that the toon-shading technique [in The Wind Waker] was giving the impression that this Zelda was for a younger audience and that, for this reason, it alienated the upper teen audience that had represented the typical Zelda player [in North America]. Having heard that, I began to worry about whether The Wind Waker 2, which used a similar presentation, was something that would actually sell. … That’s when I decided that if we didn’t have an effective and immediate solution, the only thing we could do was to give the healthy North American market the Zelda that they wanted."
May 13, 2024 at 4:07 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takano & Aonuma on Tetra's personality change in The Wind Waker, 2002.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#TakanoQuote, #AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/1322f2cbb9cf...
PEOPLE: - Mitsuhiro Takano, age 35. Script & Event Planner for The Wind Waker. - Eiji Aonuma, age 39. Game Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: Takano: I had people complain to me that when Tetra becomes Princess Zelda, her tone suddenly changes, but it’s not any different. I think they get that impression because her appearance and facial expressions are totally different. Aonuma: Hearing about her destiny leaves her bewildered, so it’s only natural for people’s impression of her tone to change. I bet every player has their own ‘voice’ for Tetra inside their heads.
April 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma & Miyamoto on changing eye color in The Wind Waker, 2003.

Source: Nintendo Power

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote,#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/02dc1e4b6c40...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 39. Director of The Wind Waker. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: As we managed to program the movement of the eyes [in The Wind Waker], we began to look at different ways we could make use of that. It became part of the natural process of figuring out how to make Link feel more alive and aware of his surroundings. It was through this natural process that we began to put in items that would attract Link’s attention. Miyamoto: When we decided to use the eyes in this way, we considered changing Link’s eye color throughout the game. There were points where his eyes were bright red while he was fighting, and there were some different opinions on that. … But even if you could see his eyes, we thought it was a little strange."
March 25, 2024 at 4:12 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Minegishi on appreciating Alan Menken's work at Disney, 2006.

Source: Nintendo Power

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#MinegishiQuote,#MenkenQuote

www.notion.so/39665faf60ea...
PEOPLE: - Toru Minegishi, age 31. Composer for Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, & Twilight Princess. - Alan Menken, age 56. Composer for films like The Little Mermaid, The Beauty & The Beast, & Aladdin. QUOTE: "Minegishi: Alan Menken, who created Disney's modern musical-style animated features such as Aladdin, is another favorite. Disney's feature animation provided a very good reference when I worked on The Wind Waker. Their films demonstrated how to synchronize music with character animation. "
May 22, 2024 at 5:11 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on why Zelda games have stealth sections, 2005.

Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote, #MajorasMaskQuote, #TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/19841fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director. Director of Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Aonuma: I really don’t know why, but I love that kind of stealth action. Maybe it’s because I liked it when I was a child... the feeling of walking around and doing something secretly. Since most of the time in The Legend of Zelda, players have to engage in swordfights; it's very active and looks cool, but once again, in terms of making a good contrast, I think working in some quiet, silent, and stealthy moves is a very good idea. So, I'm willing to incorporate some of those stealth-game ideas.
August 31, 2025 at 7:34 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober Day 28: Light/Bright
Dohta & Iwata on "reality over realism" in The Wind Waker.

Via Iwata Asks, 2013.

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#DohtaQuote, #IwataQuote, #AonumaQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Iwata-Asks-T...
People in quote: - Takuhiro Dohta. The Wind Waker HD Technical Director. - Satoru Iwata, age 54. President of Nintendo. - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of The Wind Waker HD. Quote: "Dohta: I think Aonuma-san has said this before, about how it’s ‘reality over realism.’ With The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, I think we were able to express a good feeling that doesn’t come across by simply portraying a photorealistic sea or sky. Iwata: That includes light or a breeze that the eye can’t see. Of course, it isn’t actually bright and a sea breeze isn’t actually blowing, but you sense those things in that gameworld."
October 29, 2023 at 12:15 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #7: Royalty/Noble
Aonuma on Tetra's mother and unknown birthright, 2002.
Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/1322f2cbb9cf...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 39. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: [In The Wind Waker] Tetra’s mother died when she was little, so Tetra herself has no idea that she’s actually Zelda. But her mother told her a number of things. You can visit Tetra’s room in the game, and inside you find a picture of the Master Sword. Tetra’s mother told her to find it, but not even Tetra knows what it will mean for her. She just thinks it’s a treasure to be sought by pirates. That’s why she’s continuing to lead her pirate horde, searching for treasures such as the Master Sword and the Triforce, as well as the legendary hero. The picture of the green-clad boy that can be found in her room hints at her destiny."
October 7, 2024 at 6:26 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on what they originally wanted instead of the Baton of Winds, 2003.

Source: Nintendo Prime

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/12641fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 40. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: At first [The Wind Waker’s Baton of Wind] wasn’t a baton. Do you know what a theremin is? The musical instrument that’s played like this [pantomimes]. It wasn’t a theremin, but we wanted to have something like it. Based on that, we transformed it until it became a baton. After looking everywhere for a new element to input the musical notes, we came up with the idea of the theremin. [laughs] But people would’ve become confused if we used a theremin, so we had to modify it somehow."
November 1, 2024 at 5:10 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #4: Night

Aonuma on making the player reflect on their place in the game world, 2004.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote
#Linktober
www.notion.so/f87f768d9182...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 41. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: People tend to forget that Link is just a child on an adventure. … When this happens, the things that the player is doing tend to become typical game actions and the awareness that the player is just playing a game becomes stronger. … Players who need bombs to progress [in The Wind Waker] … will by chance [visit] the bomb shop in the middle of the night. When the shopkeeper says, 'Hey, you're just a boy!' the player who had not been consciously thinking that Link was just a boy realizes, 'Oh! That's right! I'm just a boy.' The player then reflects that he's walking around in the middle of the night and starts to feel the loneliness of the middle of the night. That leads the player to become one with the game world."
October 4, 2024 at 6:15 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Nishimori on characters he created for The Wind Waker, 2005.

Via Nintendo Power.

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#NishimoriQuote

www.notion.so/810c9b5aa295...
PEOPLE: - Keisuke Nishimori. Character Modelling & Animation in The Wind Waker & Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Nishimori: I was in charge of the modeling and animation of non-player characters in The Wind Waker, such as the forest creature Makar, Link's grandmother, and Tetra, plus more NPCs in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! I also helped design some of the standard Mario series character models that have guided designs on Nintendo's Mario collaborations with other developers. It's really interesting to see such characters go and be designed into other games, doing a variety of things outside of Nintendo. Ah, and here's one more of my characters that you might remember: Bowser Jr. in Super Mario Sunshine!"
February 13, 2024 at 5:57 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on making the player reflect on their place in the game world, 2004.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/f87f768d9182...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 41. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: People … tend to forget that Link is just a child on an adventure. … When this happens, the things that the player is doing tend to become typical game actions and the awareness that the player is just playing a game becomes stronger. … Players who need bombs to progress … will by chance [visit] the bomb shop in the middle of the night. When the shopkeeper says, 'Hey, you're just a boy!' the player who had not been consciously thinking that Link was just a boy realizes, 'Oh! That's right! I'm just a boy.' The player than reflects that he's walking around in the middle of the night and starts to feel the loneliness of the middle of the night. That leads the player to become one with the game world."
April 14, 2024 at 5:48 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the biggest change they ever made as a result of fan feedback, 2013.

Source: Zelda Universe

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote, #TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/690c8afba273...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker & Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Q: What is the largest or most important change that you’ve made to the Zelda series because of feedback from fans? Aonuma: Hmm… I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.
September 6, 2025 at 12:56 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how you end up wanting to 'look after' Link in The Wind Waker, 2013.

Via @zeldadungeon.bsky.social

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/1144d02d32de...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: "Aonuma: Even though it’s just art, the character on the screen is a projection of yourself. As you journey with the character for a little while you have a sense wanting to look after him, which I think is interesting. But that wasn’t the plan from the get-go. As we were making the game, it gradually became that way. We decided that we wanted Link’s eyes to move as a special effect. After consulting with the programmers, we were able produce this effect well."
January 21, 2024 at 10:59 PM