Aonuma Compares His Check-Ins with Tecmo Koei to Those with the Zelda U Team

Eiji Aonuma, the man currently in charge of the Legend of Zelda series as a whole, loosened the reigns a bit when he decided to let Tecmo Koei make Hyrule Warriors, but he still checks in on them. The check-ins themselves are not any more obtrusive or common than the ones he makes on the internal Nintendo team, because Aonuma has just as much confidence in them as he does his own crew.

Jason Schreier: Mr. Aonuma, since you talked about Hyrule Warriors during the preproduction stage and then went off to work on the traditional Zelda, how do you feel about other people working on your baby, the series you’re in charge of? Is it scary?

Aonuma: Actually, no, I had the same concerns that I do when I leave my team in Kyoto—I give them an assignment and we work on developing a game. Because the check-ins that I do with Tecmo Koei are pretty much in the same frequencies as the ones that I have with my team internally, they happen about once a month. There is the physical space difference, where my team is local, but having worked with the development team at Tecmo Koei, I really get the sense that they are very passionate about the Zelda franchise, and they really love the Zelda franchise. So I really got the strong sense that it wasn’t a mistake, that this is actually a really good move, and every check-in that I have where they show me the new version, what they’ve done with the Hyrule Kingdom is just confirmation of that.

Do you agree with Aonuma just checking-in with Tecmo Koei, or should he be keeping a much closer eye on them?

Source: Kotaku