Aonuma: A Zelda movie might require a 3DS

Who hasn’t thought about the idea of a movie based on The Legend of Zelda? With how many games there are in the series there would be plenty of material to create an amazing fantasy adventure. A lot of game series have been turned into movies in the past; Silent Hill was pretty good, Mortal Kombat was great and Super Mario Bros. was… quite different from the games! There have been several attempts by fans to create a Zelda movie to show how much attention it would receive. A low budget movie was made by an independent company a few years ago but Nintendo stepped in after allowing it to show for a few weeks. Then there’s that IGN trailer that looked absolutely amazing but then turned out to be an April Fool’s joke (which I was VERY annoyed about!) but in a recent interview with Kotaku, Eiji Aonuma mentioned that, if a Zelda movie was to be made, you might need your 3DS in order to watch it.

Find out what that means after the jump!

There is one big difference between games and movies; in a movie, when something happens, you watch to see how those involved deal with it but, in a game, if something goes wrong, you have to sort it all out. In a game, if you set you accidentally set off an alarm, you can’t just sit back and watch what happens, it’s up to you to figure out a way to deal with the situation. Eiji Aonuma stated in the interview that he and Shigeru Miyamoto had spoken about what they would like if a Zelda film was made:

Eiji Aonuma: “If we were to make a Zelda title, if we had interest in doing that, I think really what would be most important to us is to be able to play with the format of a movie, make it more interactive, like you’re able to take your 3DS into the theater and that leads you into participating in it somehow.”

It’s fair enough that, when developing the Wii, Nintendo wanted to try something new that would revolutionize gaming and came up with the motion controls. When talking about a Zelda film, Aonuma continued to say they would want a Zelda movie to be different from other movies and to somehow change what a movie is.

I don’t really see how interaction that would work in a movie. I suppose you could choose whether Link goes through door A or B, maybe even picking whether or not Link gets rid of a fish in a bottle so he can have blue fire instead which could help or hinder him later on but, apart from instances like that, I can’t see the decisions you have to make having much of an effect of the story. There would be so many variables that would need to be taken into account and all of them filmed just in case they are selected which would put the budget through the roof. It could be that if you pick the wrong door Link dies and you have to try again but, if that’s the case, why bother? Plus, if you’re at the cinema and half the audience pick one option but the other half pick the other option, how would the movie proceed?

I’d love it if a Zelda movie was made but I’m really not convinced by this notion of having the movie be interactive. If I wanted something entertaining that was interactive, I’d play a game, not watch a movie that wants me to do stuff every now and then. Then again, if Aonuma and Miyamoto were involved in the movie’s production I’d probably be a bit more on board as they would make sure everything’s perfect but, even then, I’d be very skeptical and would much prefer a regular movie that I can just watch and enjoy.

What do you think about the idea for an interactive movie? What would you like to see if a Zelda movie was made? Should one be made at all? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: Kotaku