Special Edition The Legend of Zelda Interview

The first The Legend of Zelda game was released in 1986 in Japan! If you haven’t played a Zelda game before, this interview with Eiji Aonuma, the producer of the series, will fill you in on the basics!

Zelda is the princess who appears in the Zelda games. Link is the hero of the games, the character the player controls. As Link, the player’s aim is to defeat any forces of evil that might appear! As the ruler of Hyrule, Zelda has a duty to protect her kingdom, and she’s got something about her that makes her different to most girls.

Link and Zelda are extremely important to one another, and often they must work together to dispel evil. Together, they’re a force to be reckoned with!

Link and Zelda

(From The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for Nintendo 3DS and 2DS)

The Legend of Zelda
The first title in the series was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Well, she’s not the character the player controls, but I think she’s someone who’s very important to everyone who plays the game.

Also, Link’s name suggests that he acts as a “link” to the game world. So I guess you could say they’re games where you “link” to another world and have adventures involving Zelda.

Zelda is a symbol of peace in her world, but when the evil Ganondorf comes along to cause trouble, Link has to get involved and deal with him. This is the kind of relationship that develops between Link and Zelda throughout the series. There are times when Ganondorf isn’t the main bad guy, though…

Ganondorf

(From The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for Wii U)

The Triforce is a sacred relic that grants the wishes of anyone who touches it. The Triforce is comprised of three smaller Triforces: Courage, Wisdom, and Power. Link, Zelda and Ganondorf are tied to these Triforces and their virtues. What that means in practice varies throughout the different games in the series.

The Triforce

I always say it’s the one I’m working on at the moment! (laughs) Of course, I’m attached to all the titles, but I guess it’s no surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time made the biggest impression on me, because it was the first game in the series that I worked on.

When we were making that game, I was able to actually include lots of things I’d experienced in real life in the game. I felt that I’d created Zelda’s world in my own special way. When I saw the ending for the first time, I cried... (laughs).

The latest title in The Legend of Zelda series (working title) for Wii U

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
for Nintendo 64

Lots of people say they like the puzzle-solving in the Zelda games. Maybe people will hear “puzzle-solving” and think that means the games are difficult, but these puzzles aren’t complicated. Maybe they should be called “tricks” instead – you’ve just got to figure out how they work. Link’s adventures are filled with these tricks. It’s up to you to find them, and try various things.

“So this is what happens if I do this…”, “I thought that doing this would cause that, but actually something totally unexpected happened…”. These are the kinds of fun thoughts players have all the time while they’re playing Zelda games.
When my son was in primary school, I asked him what he liked best about the Zelda games, and he said that the most fun thing was finding treasure chests. He didn’t even mind if they only contained one Rupee! (laughs) It’s all about the sense of achievement you get when you find a treasure chest, and the excitement you feel when opening it. Part of the thrill is finding and solving a puzzle, and part of it is the surprise.

Treasure chests are filled with all sorts of items!

(From The Legend of Zelda:
The Wind Waker HD for Wii U)

Don’t worry! Anyone can play the Zelda games! People think that action games need lightning fast reflexes, or that they can’t be cleared unless your skills are up to scratch, but Zelda isn’t like that! (laughs) What’s more, the weird and wonderful thing about games is that you get better at them as you play. Zelda’s no exception.

If you start out wanting to try various things, you’ll gradually get better at the game, and will end up achieving more and more. You can try things again and again, of course, so if you get stuck the best thing to do is just spend some time in the game world, and learn about how it’s been put together. Do that, and you’ll soon be able to proceed!
That’s right! For example, Link carries a sword around with him, but he can also use lots of other weapons, or buy jars full of potions. In other words, there are lots of different ways to play the game. A section that you were struggling with might become really easy once you try another method!

If you can’t get past a certain area, try wandering around a different part of the world, and maybe you’ll find another way to proceed. I hope every player will have faith that they can make these kinds of discoveries as they play!
The Legend of Zelda is a series of games, so some people might wonder if they won’t understand anything unless they start with the first title in the series. There’s no need to worry, though: every game has its own self-contained story. Each one’s completely separate, so you can start with whichever title you like. I hope people will play the latest Zelda titles, enjoy them, then go back and play some of the older games!