Aonuma Explains How Characters Were Chosen For Hyrule Warriors, Including Tingle

Hyrule Warriors has quite a varied cast of playable characters with inspirations stemming from a number of different games in the Zelda series. With such a wide selection of warriors to choose from, some may want to know how the team decided which ones to include in the final cast. In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal from September 5th, Zelda director Eiji Aonuma and Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi revealed how the development team made such decisions.

In the interview, Aonuma and Hayashi were asked:

“Q: How did you decide which characters to include in Hyrule Warriors?

Hayashi: The No. 1 thing we considered was which characters Zelda fans love and want to play as. We also had staff members play several Zelda games and see what characters really made an impression on them.

Q: Who’s your favorite character to use in the game and why?

Hayashi: I was happy to play as Ganon. The idea of being able to use characters you’re not normally able to play as in those Legend of Zelda games was something I find satisfying.

Aonuma: I had the most fun playing with the original character Koei Tecmo created called Lana. The scene where you’re fighting alongside the child of the Deku tree really left a big impression on me.”

This response clearly applies to the inclusion of series favorites like Shiek and Midna. And Hayashi’s interest in playing as a villain like Ganondorf makes sense considering fans do not normally have the opportunity to play as antagonists. The process by which they measure character popularity may not be completely clear, but I’d agree that the characters present are among the most popular.

Well, maybe Agitha‘s not amongst the most popular. How did they decide on Agitha exactly?

Anyway, fans may also be surprised to learn that series mainstay Tingle was considered as a playable character in the game’s final release. The interviewer continued to ask:

“Q: Any chance of seeing Tingle in this game?

Hayashi: Actually, Tingle was a character we kind of considered and sort of went back and forth on. We really wanted to include him but Mr. Aonuma suggested that it might be good to include some other character.”

I would love to know what Tingle’s attacks would have looked like. I can imagine them to be as fanciful and eccentric as one would expect. The interview seems to have gone under radar until now; but with the release of Hyrule Warriors’ Majora’s Mask DLC pack soon approaching, the inclusion of Tingle as a playable character may still be a possibility.

Would you want to play as Tingle in Hyrule Warriors? Was your favorite character included in the game? Let us now in the comments.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal