Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi Discuss Elden Ring and the Zelda Bubble
Posted on July 07 2023 by Kora Burton
We recently covered RTL Nieuws’ interview with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, in which the developers commented on the return of classic Zelda gameplay for future installments in the series. But that’s not all the duo discussed during their sit-down with interviewer Bastiaan Vroegop; Aonuma and Fujibayashi also addressed questions about last’s year’s successful open-world game Elden Ring (2022) and the way they approach inspiration when working on Zelda titles.
Here’s our translation of Fujibayashi’s response to the question: “The hit game Elden Ring was supposedly inspired by Breath of the Wild. Was that game last year also a source of inspiration for you?”
“Sorry, but we didn’t really have a chance to play the game. We were too busy with the development of Tears of the Kingdom, so because of that we couldn’t really game. We did hear about it.
“Even if we did have time to play games, we would not reuse any ideas. If we make a game, we think of a general concept which we use as a base for thinking of new ideas.”
I’d have to agree with the interviewer when he says, “That is quite interesting.”
Vroegop goes on to point out that other game and studio developers reference inspiration from other titles when talking about their new games. He then asks: “Does Zelda get made in some form of a bubble?” Aonuma responds:
“Of course, there are situations where you create something that looks like an existing game, but I would never attempt to put someone else’s ideas in my own game. I am too prideful for that. I always go looking for original ideas.
“When I made Link Between Worlds, there was a 3-D system where if you jumped it would look like Link was coming towards you. When I showed this to Nintendo President Iwata at the time he said he did not know that it was possible. I was truly incredibly happy to hear this, because for me that is the core of game development: figuring out things that others had never thought of.”
If you want to check out RTL Nieuws’ full interview with Aonuma and Fujibayashi, you can find it here, although non-Dutch readers will need to use a translator. Friend of Zelda Dungeon Wez64 recently streamed their translation of the article for us, the video of which you can check out here. Many thanks to them again for their wonderful work!
What do you think of Aonuma and Fujibayashi’s comments on inspiration (or lack thereof) after Elden Ring‘s success? Do you think Zelda is developed in a bubble? Could Zelda be improved by taking more inspiration from other titles? Let us know what you think down below!
Source: RTL Nieuws / Translation provided by Wez64
Location: Athens, Georgia, USA
Favorite Zeldas: Wild Era, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time
Date Joined: 2022
“Tell me… Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”
