The Wind Waker HD developers played with a strategy guide
Posted on September 19 2013 by John
Iwata Asks are interviews with the developers of Nintendo, who discuss the processes and motivations behind Nintendo games; the resulting conversations with Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata and the game developers always make for entertaining reads. In the recently released Iwata Asks for The Wind Waker HD, the developers of the game revealed an interesting tidbit about how despite having developed a game themselves, solving puzzles as players was sometimes difficult. Hit the jump to see the quote.
When discussing the “fresh feeling” of playing relatively old games, series producers Eiji Aonuma and Satoru Takizawa had this to say:
Iwata: And eleven years is more than enough time for people to have a fresh feeling towards it. I doubt many people would feel like playing the remake of a full-length game that came out two years ago, no matter how fun it was, unless it had something really mind-blowing. But when eleven years pass, you might not be able to start over from scratch, but you’re able to enjoy it with a fresh feeling.
Aonuma: That’s right, so when playing the game again, even those of us who made it have forgotten a lot about it. We feel like we’re regular players and say things like “Huh? Was it like this?” as we play along.
Iwata: You get stuck on the puzzles, even though you made the game yourself! (laughs)
Takizawa: Yeah! So we keep a strategy guide at hand. Imagine a developer using a strategy guide to play his own game!
Takizawa: (laughs)
I have to say, even after a gap of eleven years, it is surprising that the developers themselves had to play with the aid of strategy guides. Putting aside the fact that The Wind Waker isn’t necessarily the most difficult game in the series, one would think that the makers of the game themselves would be familiar with he puzzles and obstacles which they devised to challenge players. Nevertheless, it is understandable that through making so many games in the eleven-year gap between the game’s release and the present day, not all features of the game would be fresh in their memories when playing through it again.
You can read the full Iwata Asks interview with the game’s developers here.
But what do you think? Do you find it surprising that the developers kept a guide at hand when re-playing the game? Just how easy is it to retain details of a game’s puzzles and features after eleven years? Tell us in the comments below.
Source: Iwata Asks
