Early Breath of the Wild Build Featured Link Exploring Historic Japanese Castle
Posted on August 04 2020 by Kristen G. Rosario
Back in 2017 at the Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC), Nintendo gave attendees a treat by showing off an early build of Breath of the Wild. With the game having been released six months earlier to much acclaim, Nintendo offered a little insight into the development process, as they had done at GDC in March of that same year. Unfortunately, however, that footage was only ever shown to the people in attendance, until today.
Thanks to Pixelpar and Vicente Quesada on Twitter, we were given more insight into that CEDEC panel with some images showcasing the early build of Breath of the Wild. The images (which can be seen in the gallery below) show Link navigating a map of Kyoto, Japan, using the skydiving mechanic previously seen in Skyward Sword, and even traversing Japan’s Himeji Castle. According to Pixelpar, a 2D map of Kyoto was used in order to help to determine the size of Breath of the Wild‘s world and gauge distances between landmarks.
One takeaway from these images is the fact that developers scrapped the skydiving mechanic for Breath of the Wild. As development of the game started immediately after the completion of Skyward Sword, it would make sense that they initially thought the mechanic could be implemented into Breath of the Wild somehow. The reasons for its removal are still unclear, but, who knows, the mechanic could make a return in the Breath of the Wild sequel instead.
What do you think of this news? Would you like to see the skydiving mechanic make a return in the Breath of the Wild sequel? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Pixelpar, Vicente Quesada (via Nintendo Life)
Kristen G. Rosario is an Editor who joined Zelda Dungeon back in September of 2015. His current goal is to become a full-time video game journalist, hoping to eventually gain a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. While he pursues that dream, he not only takes care of his adorable dachshund Angel, but also helps run a YouTube channel with his brother. The Zelda series is a quest he hasn’t fully completed yet, but hopes to get there one day.
