Link’s Awakening’s Chamber Dungeon Born from Miyamoto’s Desire for “Mario Maker-Like Gameplay” in Zelda
Posted on September 22 2019 by Rod Lloyd
The massive success of the Super Mario Maker games has led many Nintendo fans to call for a similar experience for the Legend of Zelda series, in which players can build and customize their own dungeons, quests, and beyond. Well, it seems that dream extended to members of Nintendo’s staff as well, and the Chamber Dungeon feature in the newly-released Link’s Awakening exists as a result.
In a recent interview with IGN, Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma revealed that Link’s Awakening‘s Chamber Dungeon was born from a particular request by series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Aonuma shared about his discussions with Miyamoto during Link’s Awakening‘s planning stages:
“I talk to Mr. Miyamoto regularly about ‘the next Zelda game,’ and one time, he asked me if I could come up with a game that features Super Mario Maker-like gameplay, but for Zelda… We talked about how a game like this for Zelda would have dungeons, but it’s generally quite difficult to devise the logic needed to solve them.”
Given the difficulty described above, Aonuma then explained how the development team decided to make the Chamber Dungeon more approachable for players:
“So we gave some thought into a more approachable style of play where you have to think about how to arrange parts that already have a solution to create a single dungeon, instead of allowing players to create complex arrangements like in Super Mario Maker 2, and that’s how we created the Chamber Dungeons for this game.”
Aonuma also provided insight into the decision to debut this new creation tool in Link’s Awakening specifically:
“Given that the Chamber Dungeons feature is based on using rooms that already have a solution, we went looking for examples from existing titles, and found that the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening would be the most suitable, because each room is usually the size of a single screen, and seen from a top-down view this makes their layout easy to understand… A critical part of the Chamber Dungeon gameplay is understanding the original dungeons before arranging your own.”
The Chamber Dungeon has been met with a mixed reception, but the feature does seem like a great foundation for a full “Zelda Maker” sometime down the road. Aonuma has admitted that he would be open to such a title if the Chamber Dungeon turned out successful.
What are your thoughts on Link’s Awakening‘s Chamber Dungeon? Would you like to see a full “Zelda Maker” game in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: IGN (via Nintendo Life)
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
