Echoes of Wisdom Developers Discuss Decision for Making Princess Zelda the Main Protagonist

Zelda Series Producer Eiji Aonuma, Grezzo Director Satoshi Terada, and Echoes of Wisdom Game Director Tomomi Sano recently had an interview in the newest episode of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer series to discuss the development process on the upcoming Zelda title.

When the interviewer brings up how Princess Zelda is the main protagonist in Echoes of Wisdom, Aonuma says that while Link was initially going to be the lead once again, it ultimately came down to his “sword and shield” getting in the way of the echoes gimmick. Terada follows that up by saying even if they were going to utilize Link’s usual weaponry further into the game, players might just stop using echoes:

An important element of this game is that – for the first time in the Legend of Zelda series – Princess Zelda is the protagonist of her own adventure.

Eiji Aonuma: We were initially thinking that Link would be the protagonist. But when we focused on the gameplay using echoes and had Link copying and pasting things into the game field, the sword and shield got in the way. If you have a sword and a shield, you can just fight using those. There’s no need to rely on the monsters’ power, right?

Satoshi Terada: So, we thought, “What if players could use only echoes at first in order to understand the gameplay, and then as the game progresses, they get the sword and shield?” But even then, we thought that once they got the sword and shield, they would stop using echoes.

Aonuma: That’s just your typical Legend of Zelda game. What are we going to do? (Laughs)

Terada: Echoes plus a sword and shield… They just didn’t work well together. There is a wide variety of echoes, so to get the most out of the gameplay, we decided to stick with echoes only.

Aonuma: If that’s the case, it must be someone who doesn’t fight with a sword and shield, right? Who in the series would be a good fit for these powers and bring their insight to them? Well, that would have to be Princess Zelda.

Aonuma follows this up by saying that when the team was struggling to determine a main protagonist for Echoes of Wisdom, he thought of making Princess Zelda the lead. Everybody has always been asking him for years to make her the main hero, but could never figure out a way to do that until now:

But didn’t it take a lot of courage to make Princess Zelda the protagonist for the first time in this series, given its long history?

Aonuma: Over the years we’ve been working on the Legend of Zelda series, many people have often asked us, “Will Princess Zelda ever be the protagonist?” and said, “I’d like to play as Princess Zelda.”

When asked this question, I’ve always thought, “Of course, as long as it makes sense for the game and does justice to her as a character to be the protagonist,” and answered that way. I had been trying in vain to figure out what would really do justice to her. But when I saw the team struggling to identify the ideal protagonist for this game, I thought, this is exactly the game for her!

While I am happy that Princess Zelda finally gets her time to shine in the spotlight, the developers reasoning for why this is finally happening feels off. Like many other fans, I’ve always thought that the character had potential to be the main protagonist for a series that literally has her name in the title. I just find it odd that, according to Aonuma, it took him this long to make the Princess of Hyrule the main hero when there have been so many other times they could’ve done it.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is now available.

What do you think of their decision to make Princess Zelda the main protagonist in Echoes of Wisdom? Do you think they’ve could’ve done it sooner? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Nintendo

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