Interview:E3 Roundtable July 12th 2007

This transcript can be found over at <a href="http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/interview/13933" target="new">Nintendo World Report</a>. NOTE: At the roundtable, Nintendo didn't allow audio or video recorders to be present. Thus, many of the transcripts available are summarizations. This particular transcript has all the key question and answer questions related to Zelda, as well as a summary of the introduction given.

Nintendo held a roundtable-style presentation and Q&A with Eiji Aonuma about Phantom Hourglass and the future of the Zelda series. Here's an overview.

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-Phantom Hourglass sold out in the Japanese shops from its release a few weeks ago. People purchasing Zelda include first-time Zelda players and, a first for the franchise, adult females.

-Aounuma believes these people were drawn into the game because it only used the touch screen controls.

-The pattern has been in the past that the game sells really well at release and then tapers off. The hardcore Zelda fans want to buy it on release date and that's it. Phantom Hourglass is not doing that because Nintendo believes the expanded audience is continuing to buy the game.

-Much of it has to do with the enormous install base of the DS. The users are looking for new games to play, which may be partly why of the game is doing so well.

-Having played Phantom Hourglass, many users, both core and new, are commenting on the Internet through blogs and message boards, and everyone is finding it a very fulfilling experience.

-In the past he believed it was nearly impossible to create a Zelda game that would appeal to both hardcore Zelda fans and new users as well.

-He thinks the reason for this is the interface, the touch screen-driven gameplay. It allowed them to streamline Zelda to the new users, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game is easier.

-Aonuma: I'm often asked what I think the essence of Zelda is. It's not the complexity of the puzzles, but the accomplishment (yatta!) of solving them.

-The ah-ha moment is the core of Zelda, and Aonuma wanted to make sure that that moment wasn't lost.

-What Bill is playing is the Temple of the Ocean King -- a first for the series: a temple that has a time limit.

-When people on staff starting playing through Phantom Hourglass, they found that the veterans of the series found it more difficult. New players had an easier time of it and started going through the dungeons with ease.

-They found that players who have played Zelda before and thought they knew what to expect were having a harder time, and that new players could get through it more easily.

-The touch screen controls allowed for never-before-seen puzzle types for the series.

-The multiplayer game can be played over Wi-Fi (online).

-They created a multiplayer game before with Four Swords. In the new mode, people take turns on offense and defense. It's controlled similarly to the single player, with the touch screen only. The goal of the game is to take force gems to the base.

-Wins and losses won't be determined by technique; you need to also watch out for what your opponent is doing in offense/defense mode.

-With the stylus control, he really wanted to appeal to the non-gamers with the Zelda series.

-This time he worked as producer, so it wasn't as if he worked on directly developing the game.

-He has to give credit to all the staff who worked so hard on the game this time around.

-The staff included not just the people who have worked on the Zelda franchise for a long time, but also some newbies to the staff who haven't been on the series for very long.

-"When I approached this project, I wanted to get rid of those pre-conceived notion about the controls." The new touch screen controls are fresh, just like some of the new staff members were.

-The director of the game is in his direcrorial debut, and when asked to start the game after Wind Waker, he got on it right away. (Ed. Note - This means the game began development around early 2003!)

-Even before Aonuma told him about the areas of Wind Waker that could be improved on, the director was already analyzing the game and looking at those areas himself for the DS game.

-The salvage arm in Wind Waker is back in Phantom Hourglass, but this time you control the arm as it goes under with the stylus. You need to avoid obstacles as you go down and bring the treasure back up. Aonuma says it looks simple, but it is really quite difficult. He wants the feeling of getting and opening the chest to be an accomplishment.

-This is just one of example of the polish put on the game in Phantom Hourglass. Another feature was fishing, being able to add touch screen controls to that.

-The development was a group effort to find new ways to implement touch screen controls together.

-Aonuma now talking about future Zelda projects.

-There are several things he wants to do; they are bullet pointed in his mind and some of them may really happen, but when talking to Miyamoto he questioned the playability of one thing in particular. Aonuma snapped back, "No, you idiot!"

-His personality is like a kid; he wants to share new information as soon as possible. With the E3 2004 showing of Twilight Princess, they realized that it wasn't really ready to go, which is why it was delayed a while.

Question and Answer

Question: Phantom Hourglass is a sequel to Wind Waker; would you like to do more direct sequels in the future?

"Half-jokingly I've been saying the sea is vast, and maybe that's something we can explore." There could be a sequel to Twlight Princess, but it could be anything, like other games.

Question: The timer for the dungeon, is it a precursor for a lot of timed themes for counting down in the game?

The Temple of the Ocean King is the only one that is timed; that is where you need the phantom hourglass. Enemies around the temple give you more time.

Question: Hoping to have 1:1 sword control in next game?

Still fleshing it out, but we'd like to hear more about it.

Question: Favorite moment in Phantom Hourglass?

Likes making memos on the map. Link will write on his map on the top screen while the player writes notes on the touch screen. He didn't realize this addition until he saw his son playing the game and it was pointed out to him.

Question: Will future Zelda games have more simplified controls in general after Phantom hourglass?

Having streamlined gameplay has been effective, but they'll wait until the US and Euro release to see how it works.

Question: How long until next Wii Zelda?

He's been speaking with Miyamoto about letting people take as long as it takes.

Question: Where is all the equipment from the ending of the first game?

No explanation, but maybe the pirates stole them!

Question: Do you want to get more hands on, or will you continue to step back? Also, do you want to try making other games than Zelda?

He worked very closely with the director this time, and he could do that again or step back further in other Zelda games. On other games, Aonuma says he likes to create something original, so he might try it later.

Question: What about adjustable difficulties for the hardcore players?

He understand the desire for varying difficulty, but the goal is to appeal to everyone instead of either-or.

Question: The setting of the games hasn't really changed. Maybe the past or the future or sci-fi or a wildly different setting?

He's thought about things like putting Link in a modern setting or WWII settings, like how Link would react to being there. He's still trying to figure out how to get that in a game, however.