Aonuma’s “What in the World” List Guided Majora’s Mask 3D’s Development

Aonuma was tasked by Miyamoto to replay the original N64 version of Majora’s Mask and come up with a list of thins he would have done differently today. Not expecting to really notice much of anything, he ended up coming to an inpass over many of the design choices in the game, leading him to create a “What in the World” list, something that added to and passed around constantly during development. It appears to be one of the main guiding principles of the game, and is directly responsible for the Boss fight changes, where he has no idea “what in the world” he was thinking when he originally designed them without a designated weak spot.

“Iwata: So development started when you passed on the “what in the world” list to Ooiwa-san at GREZZO?

Ooiwa: Well, we didn’t have that list when we first started working on the game, so at first we played the Nintendo 64 version through and through. We started off by playing in a lot of different ways, captured video, and made a list. Then we heard from Aonuma-san that he wanted to add in new elements.

Iwata: So from the beginning, he wanted to put in new ways to play, rather than making a simple remake of the Nintendo 64 version.

Ooiwa: Exactly. So within our team we brainstormed on all sorts of new ideas that could be put into the game world of Majora’s Mask. We presented our ideas to Miyamoto-san through Aonuma-san towards the end of 2011.

Iwata: That’s about six months after Ocarina of Time 3D has been released. Didn’t you get nervous having heard that you had to present to Miyamoto-san?

Ooiwa: Oh, my heart was pounding while waiting for the response! (laughs) But thankfully the presentation ended just fine. It was at a later time when we received the “what in the world” list, which to us was like a challenge of itself.

Iwata: What was then a challenge to the players was now a challenge to the developers.

Ooiwa: That’s exactly it! (laughs)

Yamamura: That “what in the world” list was first drafted by Aonuma-san, which then I played those parts through to confirm, and had Mario Club play it out too. There were new “what in the world” things from those steps as well, and we compiled them all in one list.

Iwata: So the “what in the world” list went through an upgrade since it left Aonuma-san’s hands.

Yamamura: Right! (laughs) (spread hands widely top to bottom, as if holding a big batch of paper) We handed it all to GREZZO and asked them “We have all these points that need to be addressed. From where should we get started?” That’s when the real development began.

Ooiwa: When we had taken a look at the “what in the world” list, Aonuma-san’s confessions were written everywhere! (laughs)

Iwata: Confessions? (laughs)

Aonuma: I wrote in a bunch of comments on where I thought things weren’t good. Like, “I’m sorry that this comes from the one that made it this way, but…”

Ooiwa: That was on the top of every list.

Aonuma: And “At the time, I think there was something wrong with me…”

Ooiwa: He said something similar every time we had a meeting! (laughs)

Yamamura: “What in the world” was something that he said all the time! (laughs)

Aonuma: Every time a “what in the world” came up, I always apologized and made excuses on why I did what I did at the time. I was probably able to do that because I thoroughly replayed the game first, and that I had a clear idea on what needed to be accomplished.

Iwata: You were able to see a clear direction on how to create it for the Nintendo 3DS.

Aonuma: That’s correct, but the sheer amount was astounding. Of course, at the time I must have been keeping an eye on everything, so I thought to myself why were there so many things that I wanted to fix.

Iwata: I also have a lot of things that I made in the past where I would do things differently if I had the chance! (laughs)

Aonuma: But I have so many! It’s a lot! (laughs)

Iwata: Why are you saying it so proudly! (laughs)

Everyone: (laughs)

Aonuma: I knew I didn’t want to open the lid from the get go, and it turned out that my instincts were correct.

Ooiwa: But think about it this way, you were able to fix every “what in the world” in the game because we had this opportunity.

Aonuma: I guess you’re right. That’s because there were people who were able to make things right… Thank you so much for all you’ve done.

Ooiwa: Oh no, you’re very welcome! (laughs)

Iwata: How does it feel cleaning up after someone’s mess?

Ooiwa: I always felt like it was a challenge bestowed upon our team because of the trust and rapport we established when we worked on Ocarina of Time 3D.

Iwata: Because you were trusted, you were given a challenge.

Aonuma: Right, I think because we had GREZZO work on the remake of Ocarina of Time 3D, they had a deep understanding of the program, so we knew they could get a clear understanding of Majora’s Mask once they played it. A development approach like this one was only made possible because GREZZO worked on the remake of Ocarina of Time 3D.”

Source: Iwata Asks