Aonuma: Zelda U Won’t be Traditional, Not Tired of Making Zelda Games

Eiji Aonuma stated a short while ago that he was tired of making Zelda games. He also hasn’t done much talking about Zelda U, which is to be expected considering that The Wind Waker HD releases at retail this Friday and A Link Between Worlds comes out later this year. Well, he’s talking about those two topics now:

While The Legend of Zelda producer was not aware of the word that has spread across the Internet, 4Gamer reiterates that during an interview with foreign press, Aonuma had stated, “If I’m getting tired of it, then I’m sure other people are getting tired of it,” which was misinterpreted by many as “Aonuma is tired of making Zelda games.”

“I see,” Aonuma replies with a laugh. “When I say I’m tired, I’m not talking about making Zelda, but rather, the same constituent that has been used to make Zelda up until now. While on the subject, in regard to how we’ve always done things the traditional way until now: ‘Why does it have to be traditional?’ That’s the question I’ve been asking myself.”

He continues, “If we don’t change that, we can’t make something new. We’re slightly approaching The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds with that mindset, and also the next Zelda title, which we intend to continue changing. However, this brings us to the topic, ‘Exactly what is The Legend of Zelda about?”

He had much more to say than that. As an example, Zelda doesn’t even need to be a princess moving forward!

The man who is in charge of all-things Zelda explains that this is a topic that is occasionally discussed with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto. For example, it is a requirement for there to be a Princess Zelda, but that’s not necessarily the main focus of the game. This leaves them with having to think of something that can bring a unique experience to the players. Having players experience something for the first time is what Eiji Aonuma considers to be the core of The Legend of Zelda series.

“Something that is ‘traditional’ is in a sense often something that copies previous works, so if you continue doing that, it gradually takes away from its uniqueness,” says Aonuma. “So we’re currently working on making those parts more and more unique.”

“So, by no means, am I tired of it,” Aonuma reiterates with a laugh. “Rather, the more we change it, the more I get fired up. Having someone think ‘Huh? Is this Zelda?!’ at first, then ‘Oh, it is Zelda,’ is what we’re going for. Something that wouldn’t make it matter whether Link or Princess Zelda appear in it or not. Something where it wouldn’t even matter if Zelda is actually a princess, or not.”

Needless to say, this is an interesting mindset. I can understand wanting to change some fundamentals, because constantly copying yourself can get very old. I think us fans want that same thing too, because every game feeling like A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time just won’t cut it the next decade. I also think it’s interesting the only real requirement is that Zelda exists, and he hopes to have an experience where Zelda doesn’t even need to be a princess or where Link doesn’t even appear in the game. I applaud this approach! What do you think?

Source: 4Gamer