Interview:Gameswelt October 18th 2013

Gameswelt October 18th 2013

Date	October 18, 2013
Interviewee	Eiji Aonuma
Interviewer	Gameswelt
Description	Aonuma answers questions about A Link Between Worlds and reveals a harder difficulty mode after beating the game.
Source	[1] (video) Translated by Fuffelpups of Go Nintendo (edited)

Gameswelt: Who had the idea to make A Link Between Worlds, was it you, Mr. Miyamoto or somebody else?

Aonuma: The development started with the idea that Link can merge as a painting with the wall. With that feature in stone, we needed to find a direction for the game. There were long discussions about it and then I remembered Miyamoto saying that he would like to make an A Link to the Past game in 3D. So we put these two ideas together.

Gameswelt: So A Link between Worlds is the sequel to A Link to the Past, do you fear expectation everyone has from the sequel to a game that many call the best 2D title in the series?

Aonuma: It will be difficult to surpass its predecessor but A Link between Worlds is a completely new game, so we believe that we made something that fans and newcomers will enjoy a lot.

Gameswelt: What was your inspiration for the game?

Aonuma: The inspiration came from the boss fight against Ganon in Ocarina of time, where Ganon hides himself in four paintings, we thought it would be interesting if Link can possess this ability.

Gameswelt: Last week you released a new trailer for A Link between Worlds and introduced the Kingdom of Lorule, can you say anything about that and how it is connected to Hyrule?

Aonuma: Link has first to discover Lorule and then he can travel between these two worlds. In Lorule he meets princess Hilda, later in the game he will find out that there is a connection between princess Zelda of Hyrule and princess Hilda of Lorule.

Gameswelt: Last week you talked about a possible Majora's Mask remake, because many people would love to see it happen. Do you get annoyed by this kind of question you always get asked?

Aonuma: No, because we know the people love the games but now we talk about A Link Between Worlds, I can't always talk about Masjora's Mask. But I'm never annoyed when somebody asks me anything related to the Legend of Zelda Franchise.

Gameswelt: Mario and Pokémon are loved around the world equally but The Legend of Zelda has more fans in the western part of the world. Have you any idea why that is the case?

Aonuma: I don't really know why but I thought about it many times. The Legend of Zelda series is well known in Japan but the number of people who actually played it is lower than in the west. Maybe more casual players think it is a game more for the core player, we have no clue but we hope to close the gap with A Link Between Worlds and that everybody enjoys the new game.

Gameswelt: Two of my coworkers would like to see a The Legend of Zelda game with elements of Dark Souls, what do you think about this idea? They think Zelda should focus only on the hard core players but I think it should have a balance between casual and core, younger and elder players.

Aonuma: We know what kind of game hard core players are enjoying and appreciate that. But we also want that new players can enjoy the game. It is hard to find the right balance for both kind of players. One idea for players who seek a greater challenge was the Hero Mode in The Wind Waker HD, we know it is not that what they really want but we hope it is a good compromise for everybody. We hope through the implementation of such features to get people excited about the game who already know Zelda games and also new players who never played any of the games.

Gameswelt: Does A Link between Worlds have a Hero Mode?

Aonuma: No, it won't be the same as in The Wind Waker HD but if you beat the game, there will be a second more challenging difficulty.

Gameswelt: So my final question, are you already preparing a new announcement for the next E3, in 2014? Maybe a Zelda for the Wii U? How about this?

Aonuma: Actually I wanted to prepare something for my visits in Germany and New York, that I can announce. But I was so busy preparing my presentation of A Link between Worlds, that I can't show you anything "new" today. But you can enjoy my next announcement. As soon as I am back at my office I will start preparing something new that I can show.