Aonuma Declares: The Zelda Game That Was Most Reactive to Fan Opinion is Twilight Princess

Nintendo is famous for its innovation. Every generation, the Big N comes out with something new and attempts to be revolutionary, from its consoles to its games. Some of the most highly rated games of all time, such as Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, have come from Nintendo when no one was really expecting it. Nintendo’s strongest point is its innovation, but it comes with a price.

Many people feel cut-off from Nintendo when they make decisions without listening to the fans. There was outrage when The Wind Waker was released over the cel-shaded graphics that were used, and barely anyone, besides Zelda die-hards, remembers Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Thus, innovation is not always favored over listening to the fans.

Eiji Aonuma, the Zelda series producer, declared in an interview that Twilight Princess was Nintendo’s attempt to listen to the fans concerning Zelda. This is what he said:

“Hmm… I think the project that reflects our reaction to fan opinion is probably Twilight Princess. The incentive for us to create that different version of the Zelda universe was certainly as a result of The Wind Waker criticism that we received. Fans were saying that it wasn’t what they were looking for, it wasn’t what they were hoping for, so that’s why we went with this different graphic presentation. So I think that’s probably the one, the biggest change that we made.”

“I still remember eight years ago at E3 when we ran that first video of Twilight Princess. It was received very well; there was a standing ovation! So I still remember that moment very well.” — Eiji Aonuma

It is good to hear that the fans are really cared about as sometimes it just seems like companies are out of touch. It served them well to listen to the fans about Twilight Princess, too; the game received many 95 or higher ratings, making it one of the highest rated Zelda games of all time.

What do you think? Do you prefer innovation or fan-pleasing? Or do you think that they can coexist?