![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past, co-creator of Zelda.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: The theme for [A Link to the Past] is a ’real-time action-adventure game.’
Q: I noticed you didn’t say ‘RPG’.
Miyamoto: The Zelda series has never used the word ‘RPG’. The way I see it, there are some light RPG elements to Zelda—like the fact that your character grows in power as the game progresses—but that’s it. If we expanded on those elements, my sense is that it would be taking the game in the wrong direction.
… In the Zelda series, Link does get stronger as you progress through the game, but that was done in order to to help players who are bad at action games. We wanted the game to get easier as Link gets stronger."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiacwnm4cecivtvs6aodypui4d6g6danxdqhtz54xpccpexs6bi5oe)
PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past, co-creator of Zelda.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: The theme for [A Link to the Past] is a ’real-time action-adventure game.’
Q: I noticed you didn’t say ‘RPG’.
Miyamoto: The Zelda series has never used the word ‘RPG’. The way I see it, there are some light RPG elements to Zelda—like the fact that your character grows in power as the game progresses—but that’s it. If we expanded on those elements, my sense is that it would be taking the game in the wrong direction.
… In the Zelda series, Link does get stronger as you progress through the game, but that was done in order to to help players who are bad at action games. We wanted the game to get easier as Link gets stronger."
PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: That’s why when I’m asked what direction RPGs as a whole are headed in, I feel like I can only respond ‘I don’t know.’ There’s games, for example, like Final Fantasy, which emphasize presentation and graphics… which are clearly different from what Dragon Quest and Zelda are doing. If you ask me about specific individual cases, I might be able to give some kind of an answer.
… Ultimately, whether you’re looking at Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, I don’t think you can talk about these games as if there’s a single process. And that’s also why I sense a danger in trying to fix a definition to the term RPG."
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer and Co-Director of The Legend of Zelda (1986).
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: Back when [Zelda] was born, I was… [thinks] Influenced by games like Black Onyx and Ultima. The ideal would be not to have any influences at all. But I wanted to take the interesting parts of those games. It makes me feel proud that those people think that my characters are strong. That was something interesting. That was the foundation.
But thinking of what was fun, I thought the character’s process of gaining strength was fun, but I didn’t think the way of playing them was fun. [laughs]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreig35yljsl5l644e2ddfub5d6skin5kmleisejj4imowgyqhwij3hi)
PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer and Co-Director of The Legend of Zelda (1986).
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: Back when [Zelda] was born, I was… [thinks] Influenced by games like Black Onyx and Ultima. The ideal would be not to have any influences at all. But I wanted to take the interesting parts of those games. It makes me feel proud that those people think that my characters are strong. That was something interesting. That was the foundation.
But thinking of what was fun, I thought the character’s process of gaining strength was fun, but I didn’t think the way of playing them was fun. [laughs]"
Some Miyamoto quotes on the RPG genre and whether Zelda games are RPGs (1990, 1992, 2003).
Sources: Shmuplations, Nintendo Prime
#Zelda
#MiyamotoQuote
#ALinkToThePastQuote
(see below for links to sources)
![PEOPLE:
- Yoshiki Haruhana, age 46. Character designer and art lead for many Zelda games.
- Yusuke Nakano, age 47. Illustrator for many Zelda games.
QUOTE:
Haruhana: [Looking at Adventure of Link art, straight-faced] He’s got some nice hips.
All: [Laughter]
Nakano: Link’s appearance has always been a little bit androgynous, and he has some effeminate traits as well. One might say that those traits are his roots.
Perhaps the fact that in the Japanese A Link to the Past commercial featuring Scha Dara Parr’s Zelda rap, the person dressed up as Link was female was also symbolic of that.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreid7cswibuv7tug52savm2ipuax2zekydhwvnt5bca4e6uilyl4w6y)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Producer of A Link to the Past.
QUOTE:
Miyamoto: One idea [cut from A Link to the Past] was with the lantern: if you used it on a grassy area, it would cause a huge brushfire. If you cut a little circle of grass around you, you could safely stand there in the middle of it!
… In swamp areas, you could use a shovel to dig a ditch, and then if you bombed the swamp breakwater it would cause the water to rush into the hole you’d dug. That idea was actually half-complete… if we’d had another six months, we might have been able to make it a reality.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreieapm2qwfqt4qqfr22tsf4dwvwgq5cgktwce2kaa4bglcsqpi4evu)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Producer of The Legend of Zelda (1986), Adventure of Link (1987), and the upcoming A Link to the Past (1991).
QUOTE:
Miyamoto: Ever since I started making the first game in the series, I’ve been saying that the 3rd Zelda [A Link to the Past] will feature a party, one that consists of the protagonist, who’s a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl.
The fairy that appeared in Adventure of Link was actually a party member designed for Zelda 3. A girl who looked a little like a fairy and whose role consisted of reconnaissance. Like the characters in action games that don’t engage enemies in combat but rather go and scout out the surroundings and return to you safely. It’s also fun when an action adventure game lets you choose who to send out.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreif32qetgdrsdqrx2omucqex7k67l5ztvanykwt7rb7gccsodr6nfa)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Producer of A Link to the Past.
QUOTE:
"Q: [A Link to the Past] has a light world and a dark world. When did you decide on that sort of duality?
Miyamoto: At first there were three worlds, but players would’ve gotten confused. That’s why we had to fix things up. It’s difficult to plant a new concept like that in an action game, you see."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiaeh5tg7b22esr2ne5b7lqzpvoixxr7yqi3cecrfoivtwfhse6vni)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer of A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: I thought it’d be funny if you could cut the grass, so we included it in A Link to the Past.
For Ocarina, we included that too, but it was too obvious you could cut the grass, so we extended it to the signs. We tried hard so that you could swing your sword in many different angles, but you couldn’t notice it that easily, and since the signs were the elements that best showed those angles, we wanted the player to cut them. [laughs]
The signs floated on the water, right? I didn’t tell the staff to include that, though. They didn’t want to leave the signs on the waterside, so they made them float on the water. [laughs]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiaby6r53csrwzzim6eclneqzowdoicsftdavp7igmjsqftzz3avam)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: I always ensured that I get 8 hours of sleep a day so my brain doesn’t get tired [while working on A Link to the Past]. I also made sure that the programmers were taking time off to sleep. Work never progresses if you don’t get any sleep.
But, while it’s important to get some rest, it’s also not good to have people saying ‘Well, it’s time to go home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.’ If someone prances out the door because the day is over when everyone’s still hard at work, their reaction will be ‘Who is this guy?’ [laughs]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreidpykq6qocdsvstli7f6u3carxxqoxk3pp4sucxogbxvk5qlttdzq)
![PEOPLE:
- Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. A Link to the Past Manual Author & Illustrator.
QUOTE:
"Koizumi: My first assignment [at Nintendo] was to do the art and layout and eventually the writing for the manual for The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.
What was funny was that at the time, it didn't seem like they'd really figured out what most of the game elements meant. So it was up to me to come up with story and things while I was working on the manual. So, for example, the design of the goddesses as well as the star sign associated with them."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreia4ceqvtvmmb5xr3di65nmbkmvvmbfrfhtbcipnwredefedfyztwu)
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Creator of Zelda & Mario, Producer of A Link to the Past.
- Yuji Horii, age 36. Creator and writer of Dragon Quest.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: One of my goals for the new Super Famicom Zelda [A Link to the Past] is to make the environment so attractive that players will enjoy just running around in it.
My basic policy is: if it will make the game fun, I’ll try anything. Maybe I’ll ask Horii here to write the scenario. [laughs]
Horii: I have always wanted to try writing an action RPG scenario."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreibwkuoudoebkgezyqnbx47huj4ngyging6lo5pb7bngssjkwrsowa)
![PEOPLE:
Shigeru Miyamoto, Age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past, co-creator of Zelda.
QUOTE:
"Miyamoto: The theme for [A Link to the Past] is a ’real-time action-adventure game.’
Q: I noticed you didn’t say ‘RPG’.
Miyamoto: The Zelda series has never used the word ‘RPG’. The way I see it, there are some light RPG elements to Zelda—like the fact that your character grows in power as the game progresses—but that’s it. If we expanded on those elements, my sense is that it would be taking the game in the wrong direction.
… In the Zelda series, Link does get stronger as you progress through the game, but that was done in order to to help players who are bad at action games. We wanted the game to get easier as Link gets stronger."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreifl4tf46si3nvvghj4lown4giscllpksotnh2c5k7kc2m6a67lpta)
![PEOPLE:
-Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of Marvelous, Dungeon Director of Ocarina of Time.
-Shigeru Miyamoto, age 60. Producer of Ocarina of Time, co-creator of Zelda.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: Playing [A Link To The Past] was actually the start of not only my involvement with the Zelda series, but also just the first game that made me want to make games. Before I had just been working as a designer [artist] at Nintendo, but when I played this, this was what made me think, 'Oh, I might want to make games.'
… The game I made after that was called Marvelous, which actually never came out in North America, but Mr. Miyamoto actually saw that game and he was like, 'If you really want to make a Zelda game that bad, why don’t you just actually make a Zelda game.' And that's what led me to work on Ocarina of Time."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiggtu732hviyzgaoudu5inzk2m36hu6zqkrfxybrrpk6rsaq5gwce)
![People in quote:
Shigeru Miyamoto, age 37. Producer of The Legend of Zelda (1986), Adventure of Link (1987), and the upcoming A Link to the Past (1991).
Quote: "Miyamoto: Ever since I started making the first game in the series, I’ve been saying that the 3rd Zelda [A Link to the Past] will feature a party, one that consists of the protagonist, who’s a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl.
The fairy that appeared in Adventure of Link was actually a party member designed for Zelda 3. A girl who looked a little like a fairy and whose role consisted of reconnaissance. Like the characters in action games that don’t engage enemies in combat but rather go and scout out the surroundings and return to you safely. It’s also fun when an action adventure game lets you choose who to send out. "](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreicxlrwnysbpyycpy4urldhh5c6apde2533xpvvulf5lbdrcqzf6xe)
![People in quote:
-Takaya Imamura, age 55. Object Designer on A Link to the Past.
Quote: "Imamura: I designed all the bosses [in A Link to the Past] except for the last one and one other. It was not just the art; I also designed the mechanics together with one of the programmers. For some bosses, we came up with the mechanics just with the two of us, while for others we first received instructions from planners on what kind of enemy they wanted.
I also designed the game’s [Japanese] title logo and dungeon maps. Designing dungeon maps is a harsh job, as the dungeons consist of multiple floors and their structure kept changing over the course of development."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreicz6zpwcgnxyyu2rbwfxxrssepfvnt6qz7bskajoqycfy6eooesye)