Mii Researcher Discovers that Breath of the Wild NPC’s Are a Form of Advanced Mii
Posted on January 04 2021 by Emi Curtis
When it comes to Zelda, Miis aren’t exactly something we talk about too often. The customizable humanoid icons first premiered alongside the Wii in 2006 and have ingrained themselves as a Nintendo staple ever since, getting their own video games in the form of Tomadachi Life and Miitopia, and even showing up in Super Smash Bros.. Save for the brief crossover in Nintendo Land with the Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest minigame though, Miis really haven’t ever had much involvement with Zelda at all.
Until now.
Seems Miis are actually baked into the very DNA of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Alice, HEYimHeroic on Twitter, is an expert on Miis, working on a project known as the Mii Library that hopes to discover all there is to know about Miis. In digging into the nuances of Breath of the Wild‘s NPC design, Alice and other researchers discovered that the game uses a system called UMiis in order to create the NPC’s of Breath of the Wild. These UMiis use very similar parameters to those that create Miis, meaning that Miis can be converted into Breath of the Wild NPC’s with some effort and a couple nuances and exceptions.
I’ll admit, to a degree, it frightens me to consider what some infamous Mii monsters like Lonk would look like when converted to UMiis, but if you so desire to discover for yourself, you’re in luck! Given the vast interest in Alice’s research, they will be opening commissions to “inject” Miis into Breath of the Wild and have stated that they intend to post the information regarding how to do so onto the Mii Library in case you’re a savvy-enough modder to handle the operation yourself.
You can find Alice’s Twitter post explaining the science behind all of this right below, and you can follow their Twitter right here. Be sure to also check out their project the Mii Library too for other interesting facts about Miis!
Hi, Mii expert here. Turns out, the NPCs in TLoZ:BotW use an advanced version of the Mii format. This means that with modding, you can inject Miis into the game. 🙂
Thinking about opening commissions for Mii injects, both screenshot/images of your Mii and mod downloads! pic.twitter.com/8NfVr4zyqA
— i’m alice (@HEYimHeroic) January 4, 2021
What do you think about all this? Who knew Miis and Zelda had a deeper connection? Would you want to have your Miis put into Breath of the Wild? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: HEYimHeroic (via GoNintendo)
Emi Curtis is an associate editor with Zelda Dungeon, having originally joined the team in late 2020. She is a freelance artist, programmer, and streamer with a healthy love of both the creative and analytical. She can frequently be found playing RPGs and Adventure games, her favorite of which being The Wind Waker. She is also quite fond of playing Zelda Randomizers. Currently, she hosts a tabletop RPG series on Twitch and operates a freelance illustration business. She can be found on Twitter and Twitch as her VTuber alter-ego Gwen Myoty, creating nerdy artwork, dungeon mastering tabletop games, and playing RPGs.
