Interview:Official Nintendo Magazine September 2010

Sword Forger

Eiji Aonuma has been with Nintendo since 1988, and he's been an integral part of the Zelda series since 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Now the producer for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (as well as the Zelda franchise in general), Aonuma recently gave us the opportunity to sit down with him to gain additional insight into Link's latest groundbreaking epic.

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Official Nintendo Magazine: This sampling of Skyward Sword that we got to play – what does it represent? Is it an area from the final game or a test area or what?

Eiji Aonuma: Well, in the demo what you're seeing is an area that will actually end up being divided more – and of course, you won't be able to proceed quite so easily through it – but it represents a very early stage where Link, for the first time, travels down to the realm below the clouds. That being said, the giant skeleton that you fight when you go inside the tree, and [the fight against] the giant scorpion, aren't in those locations within the game. We just put them there for the demo version.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Would this be considered a dungeon or a field in the final game?

Eiji Aonuma: It's the field.

Official Nintendo Magazine: You've mentioned trying to make the game structure different from past Zelda games. Could you elaborate more on how the title is structured?

Eiji Aonuma: You just asked me, "Does this represent a field or a dungeon?" That's really kind of the change that we're doing to the structure this time around. So traditionally, a dungeon would be a bunch of small rooms connected and you'd have to clear one to get to the next and to the next and then finally you get to the boss at the end…. However, this time around what we're trying to do is take maybe some of that dungeon structure and actually move it out of those small connected rooms and, say, into an area that might traditionally be considered a field. [We may] take some of the same elements – some challenges that allow you to progress through the field rather than it being an area of small connected rooms – and maybe there's a boiss character at the end of that….

Traditionally a dungeon is a place where it's all about combat and going from room to room, again, defeating enemies to get to the end. Now, this time we're thinking about creating dungeons maybe where you don't have a sword and your goal is not to defeat them, but to circumvent them or run away from them to clear that particular dungeon, and that's one way the structure is different from other Zelda titles.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Is this graphical style sort of a happy medium between the visual styles of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess?

Eiji Aonuma: We didn't choose this art style for this game because we preferred one art style over another. Those art styles really didn't contribute to our choice of art styles this time around. The reason we have the art style that we do, and this is something that [Zelda creator] Mr. [Shigeru] Miyamoto talked about as well, is that we're focusing on swordplay. And to make the swordplay accessible and clear to the user, that has informed how we created the character designs and why we have some of the exaggerated features for the characters. Implementing those exaggerated features also impacts the visual design, because if we had too realistic of an art style then those exaggerations or deformations of the characters aren't appealing. So we chose an art style that works with that – the elements that are necessary to support the gameplay.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Where any other visual styles considered?

Eiji Aonuma: When we were looking at the basic gameplay, and we looked at what we needed to support that gameplay, the thing that we really focused on was that exaggeration of different features of different enemies designs. Really, this was the art style that we settled upon, so we really didn't try anything else and then toss those aside to use this one. I can say, of course, the art style that we used to help highlight those character exaggerations did inform what we did with the rest of the scenery, so that is where we got sort of that watercolor, more impressionist style of art for all the scenery and stuff you see – that all stems from the choices we made for the art style of the character design.

Official Nintendo Magazine: I really like the art style. It sort of reminds me of a polygonal version of Minish Cap.

Eiji Aonuma: [Laughs] Why was that?

Official Nintendo Magazine: Certainly the colors. The big mushrooms as well.

Eiji Aonuma: Forus we chose to really give a clear representation of things. That was one of the reasons we chose this art style – so we could really define what [things] look like. And I think Minish Cap was probably developed with the same idea in mind, so there were probably some natural similarities.

Official Nintendo Magazine: The demo featured eight slots for items. Does that mean there will be only eight items in the game?

Eiji Aonuma: We don't really want to talk too much about the number of items. If you look at [using] the Wii MotionPlus accessory, the eight item slots is just a really good feel for item selection, so that's why that's there now. That's not to say that it wouldn't increase or that we might be able to fit something else in there that works just as well but has more items.

Official Nintendo Magazine: What is your favorite item to use so far?

Eiji Aonuma: Well, one of the items that I'm really fond of and is new this time around is the beetle – the flying insect that goes out. Right now all you've seen is using the beetle to retrieve items or to drop bombs, but there are lots of different ways to use the beetle. For example, one of the things we're looking at and thinking about is having the beetle be able to go out almost like a flying camera. It can go out and scout out larger areas [while you're in] a safe spot. You can look over places you might not want to travel to quite yet. I think we're going to be able to use what the beetle can do to help us solve puzzles, so the way we implement the inherent functionality of the beetle within the gameplay is something we're still looking at, but I think the possibilities are vast, and we're very excited about it. One of the things I think we might want to try is, of course, you know, we also have characters within the Legend of Zelda – Gorons and Zoras – so with some of the inhabitants of the world it'd be great to use maybe the beetle to do some of those events that you normally do. You know, sometimes they'll challenge you to a race of some sort or something. Hopefully we'll be able to implement the beetle in some of the gameplay interactions with those races.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Speaking of puzzle design, there are new items, new combat, a new structure – will there be new approaches to the puzzles?

Eiji Aonuma: Absolutely, we're thinking of new types of puzzles. Not only new types of puzzles, but new ways to implement Wii MotionPlus that'll allow us to solve puzzles in ways we ahven't done in the past. One thing also that I'd like to mention is that the sword itself has a treasure-seeking ability and so using the sword to seek out new treasures and hidden objects is something that we're going to do. I'd like people to look forward to imagining how we're going to use the sword to do that.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Along the same line, with so many things changing, should we still expect to see Princess Zelda and Ganon in the game?

Eiji Aonuma: Seeing that it is The Legend of Zelda, we can't have a game without Zelda! So I think it's safe to say we'll be seeing her. As to whether or not Ganon will be making an appearance, we don't want to make any comments on that as of yet.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Does this game fit into the existing Zelda continuity, or is this a separate story?

Eiji Aonuma: I think we've talked with the media about this before, about Ocarina of Time being sort of the oldest story in the Zelda timeline, but, of course, in Ocarina of Time the Master Sword already exists, so it's obviously safe to say that this takes place before Ocarina of Time.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Have you given any thought to including voice acting in the Zelda series? If not for Link, then maybe for other characters?

Eiji Aonuma: Personally, I don't want to have Link speak in the game. We haven't had him talk at all up to this point. It's part of the series's history. It would just, to me, break the image of Link to have him speak. In terms of other characters, if Link never talks and everybody else in the game is chatting and whatnot I also think that's sort of an off mixture, so it's not something that, to be honest, I've really thought I want to be superactive about or I've really pressed for. It just hasn't come up to me personally.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Say, since the game is partially set in the sky, any chance Epona is a Pegasus?

Eiji Aonuma: [Laughs] I hadn't thought of that! You surprised me with that one! Of course, you know, Link does have to travel between Skyloft and the land below, and back and forth, so he's obviously going to have to do that via some sort of conveyance. That being said, I'd like to reveal that at a later time, so I don't want to give away too much other than tosay that he is going to be traveling between the two. However, I can guarantee he's not going to be flying around like [Pit from] Kid Icarus!

Official Nintendo Magazine: What's something really cool in the Skyward Sword demo that the average player might not notice – something that's sort of a secret?

Eiji Aonuma: It's not something that's a secret, but I haven't seen many people it when I've had the opportunity to watch people play, and that's the ways that you can fight the Deku Baba plans that come out and try to grab you. They come out and you can that they open this way [horizontally] or they open this way [vertically] and you have to swing your sword [in the corresponding direction], but another way to defeat them is to take your bombs and huck them at them, and with the Deku Baba will actually grab the bomb out of the air or off the ground and hold it in its mouth, and then, of course, it explodes and you can defeat them. I haven't really seen people doing that, and I think it's a fun way to play – another interesting way to defeat the enemies rather than just traditional swordplay.

Official Nintendo Magazine: Has the tea table been upended during development of this game?

Eiji Aonuma: Not yet! With that being said, Mr. Miyamoto has been pretty active in collaborating with us this time around. I mean, obviously he always is, but one of the things under his directive that he wanted to have for the E3 version was that if you charge your sword up and swing, you release those energy beams. That was something that Mr. Miyamoto definitely wanted to have in the E3 demo, and we really worked hard to get it ready and actually got it in. It's a new element that we were just able to implement before E3. Luckily for us, since Mr. Miyamoto is so involved in all of our discussions and whatnot, I don't think we're going to give him the opportunity to come in and upend the tea table this time, because he's not going to go and turn around on something that's helping make! He's not going to be able to flip that over!