![PEOPLE:
- Satoru Takizawa, age 34. Twilight Princess Art Director.
QUOTE:
Takizawa: I was particularly nervous about Link's design [in Twilight Princess]. The reason for that is ... the more realistic you make characters, the more they tend to start looking a bit like plastic dolls.
... We didn't see any reason to engage … in a struggle over who could make the most photo-realistic game, or any significance in attempting to recreate the real world for that matter. Rather, we felt that it would be more meaningful to create something we wanted to make, and then show the world what kind of game can be made when you have that kind of passion. So we decided to place our emphasis on creating the palpable atmosphere that everyone liked so much about Ocarina of Time.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreigqrghfpn63x2rh2oxwsalhpmtvixw4ougl4hvq262okbjusa7qj4)
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 34. Twilight Princess Art Director. QUOTE: Takizawa: I was particularly nervous about Link's design [in Twilight Princess]. The reason for that is ... the more realistic you make characters, the more they tend to start looking a bit like plastic dolls. ... We didn't see any reason to engage … in a struggle over who could make the most photo-realistic game, or any significance in attempting to recreate the real world for that matter. Rather, we felt that it would be more meaningful to create something we wanted to make, and then show the world what kind of game can be made when you have that kind of passion. So we decided to place our emphasis on creating the palpable atmosphere that everyone liked so much about Ocarina of Time.
(My computer is back and so are the quotes!)
Takizawa on the dangers of realistic characters and how they approached Twilight Princess' art style, 2006.
Source: Iwata Asks
#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#TakizawaQuote
www.hyruleinterviews.com/2abd5c116f0f...
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer (later, Director) of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Aonuma: At the beginning [of Twilight Princess], Link is this cowboy living in Toaru Village—not in Hyrule. Hyrule does exist, but it’s a long way away. They raise cows in Toaru to sell [to Hyrule]. The two places have a friendly relationship with one another. There are several other villages, and every year the kingdom of Hyrule gathers them all together for a kind of festival where all the villages can communicate with each other. Each year, the chief of the village is supposed to attend the festival, but this year, the chief orders this young man to go instead.
On the way to the festival, Link is going to encounter some kind of accident, which … leads him to the main adventure.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiernk2ysrr5ltiajrcsxynnsbj44he76lml7moxldh4vyrfa7xszu)
![PEOPLE:
- Satoru Iwata, age 49. President of Nintendo from 2002-2015.
- Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Director of Twilight Princess, Producer of Phantom Hourglass.
QUOTE:
Iwata: Aonuma-san, you're involved with both [Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass]. Are there any differences in how you work on the two?
Aonuma: When I work on the Wii edition, I'm right on-site, and I often do my job from a director's perspective. On the Nintendo DS version, I do proper producer's work.
...That said, when I worked on the previous game, Phantom Hourglass, I was simultaneously making Twilight Princess, so I couldn't keep a very close eye on things right from the beginning. Then, when Twilight Princess was finished and I went to the Nintendo DS version's office, the development was already pretty far along.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreih2ay6tffahbkv3mx7kzpemhj5nuqc2jerz4evqyvbirqusji277i)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer (and later Director) of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Q: Where does [the recently revealed Twilight Princess] fall in the overall timeline?
Aonuma: I can’t really go into that, partially because І want to keep it a secret, but also because we haven’t decided yet. There are some kinds of... unstable, uncertain ideas we're working on. Depending on what course we choose in terms of development, the final ending may change.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreihiwez5feispxhagj6mrd46w4iksua745isp2i6i676a3ueifk6oi)
![PEOPLE:
- Atsushi Miyagi. Twilight Princess Field Design Lead.
QUOTE:
Miyagi: I had always felt that it wouldn't have been possible to finish everything [in Twilight Princess] by the original deadline, so I felt that the one year delay was only natural.
Since the game wasn't nearly ready in terms of both quality or volume, and we were lacking a clear roadmap for how to proceed, when the decision to postpone release was made I felt that I had to reassess things. Before that, in the period when I felt that it would be impossible to complete everything with the way things were going, I was personally burned out.
Readjusting myself … was really quite a struggle. Before the decision to delay … I was working on what had to be done every day with the deadline right in front of me.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiheswvcanldqmsyqzyhkjxu5jr5zhthdmouxuzgsgy4bpw5oc6f34)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 52. Director of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Aonuma: One time, when I was sleeping, I had a random dream that I was a wolf and locked in a jail cell. Who knows why I had a dream like that...
So when I woke up that morning, I thought it'd be kind of neat to have Link turn into a wolf [in Twilight Princess].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreib7wgxpvidk4gqxuexq6spl6xjetevfzmyj2mb2islo6cswrdgdpm)
![PEOPLE:
- Atsushi Miyagi. Twilight Princess Field Design Lead.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 53. Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Miyagi: I had serious doubts about the controls for [firing a bow with the Wii Remote in Twilight Princess]. … I thought that it was much simpler to use the GameCube controller.
It was then that Miyamoto-san introduced the slingshot, which had not featured up to then, in the early stages of the game, which acts as a tutorial. At the same time, he put in a feature where, when you go to hit something with a projectile, the action stops to give you a second to line up your pointer. …
So although he didn't shake things up in a dramatic way, I would say that Miyamoto-san made a remarkable difference in changing the finished product into a Zelda game, through making numerous small changes.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreidpxud663wx7e2bsa5cgxlzqzikuf5bk3s3gu4gdvv7udgan2mlhm)
![PEOPLE:
- Keisuke Nishimori. Player character designer for Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 53. Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Nishimori: In [Twilight Princess], Link is transformed into a wolf-like beast. In other words, the character the player controls at times moves around on four legs. When we were discussing the wolf's design, Miyamoto-san said: "It's no fun to just look at the back of a four-legged animal all the time."
It's true that … if you look sideways on or from an angle, you can clearly see the motion of the legs and the overall way the character moves. But if you look directly from behind, it looks really boring compared to a human character's movements.
So Miyamoto-san told us to have someone riding the wolf.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreidgaors3ux5eko2act3w2co225jnpbtntdqqo2lu2bv7jnschc63u)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer, then Director of Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. General Producer, then Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
Aonuma: Last year, I was asked that same question by the press, ‘Will Zelda have voices?’ My answer was, ‘Let me think about it.’ But as soon as those articles were printed, Mr. Miyamoto immediately rejected the possibility. Seriously, as far as [Twilight Princess] is concerned, we really cannot see the whole reason why we would need to incorporate voice acting.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiehyitptw233ldmt4atbfprhsjlt32bc5inxknym2iq7hojpzrz4m)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer, and later Director, of Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. General Producer, and later Producer, of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Q: What’s with all the cats [in the early Twilight Princess trailers]?
Aonuma: We're thinking about incorporating some ideas where Link can communicate with animals, опе way or another. I can't elaborate on specifically how. [But] the reason you can pick up cats early in the game in Toaru Village, for example, is because we wanted people to understand you can touch the cats, you can play with them. After leaving that impression, it'll become easier for us as developers to have complex ideas afterward, where the players are willing to approach the animals."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreihd3g3bk4if5iipbuxrbev5s3xttyv73323hqqg6kxazbc5gzkiba)
![PEOPLE:
- Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Ocarina of Time Producer.
QUOTE:
"Koizumi: [Miyamoto] wanted to make [Ocarina of Time] a first-person game. In the beginning, he had the image that you are at first walking around in first-person, and when an enemy appeared, the screen would switch, Link would appear, and the battle would unfold from a side perspective. ...
But—while it wasn't very nice of me toward Miyamoto-san—I didn't try a first-person scene even once! I was making the model for Link, so I couldn't stand to see my Link not appear."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreidxwwx6uwivjcnmhgoynfhwoyazqkpjo4dx7pjcaa5imwzvmj7sq4)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Director of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: We tried changing the camera perspective [in Twilight Princess] from … third person to … first-person perspective in battle. For this prototype, all we did was change this perspective to the first-person view we currently had. We haven’t tweaked things like the spacing between Link and enemies, so it’s really awkward, but having played this version in first person, we didn’t think this was the most effective way of presenting battles.
Link normally has a variety of movements, but when he enters into battle with his enemies, which has come to be known as core scene in Zelda, if that variety is lost, it feels very strange."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreibkjpn4hfddhztpr66lwwieopmukkkxiserbh2vymvf3dmkgf3qha)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer, then Director of Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. General Producer, then Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: As soon as I arrived at my hotel in L.A., Nintendo people were congratulating me, saying ‘Nice job!’ and patting me on the back. I was like, ‘What? What did I do?’ Then I learned that the [Twilight Princess reveal] video [had already been shown] without my knowledge.
So I found Miyamoto and asked him, ‘Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you schedule it so I could be there?’ He just said, ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot.’ Just like that. [Laughs] Later on I saw a video of the unveiling, though—saw people standing, clapping their hands, even crying. I was very impressed."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreihqgkaf4tminkeybph2fatsa6c376wpi2g3jbfg6mzydoi5uezyn4)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Director of The Wind Waker, Producer of Twilight Princess. Later: Director of Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. Producer of The Wind Waker, General Producer of Twilight Princess. Later: Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Q: After The Wind Waker, you joked that maybe you wouldn’t work on the next game. But here you are.
Aonuma: In fact, when we finished The Wind Waker, I asked Mr. Miyamoto, ‘Please give me some other assignment.’ He said, ‘Let me think about it.’
[Finally] he told me, ‘OK, you'll be the producer on the next Zelda.’ I said, ‘What? I wanted [something else].’ But he told me, ‘Rather than working on the details, you can coordinate and supervise and concentrate on making it a better game.’ So I was interested in taking the assignment."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreic35ip5imusipemmmfa6wn374266ulqy3qqn6r473klx3co43mz64)
![PEOPLE:
- Daiji Imai. Twilight Princess Sub-Director.
- Makoto Miyanaga. Twilight Princess Sub-Director.
QUOTE:
"Imai: In general, [the Twilight Princess team] are reluctant to share an idea until it's reached a certain level of completion. They don't like other people closely scrutinizing their ideas before they're fully formed.
The problem is that sometimes other team members end up opposing an idea after it's progressed a long way; if we end up removing or drastically changing the concept, then we've wasted a lot of time and effort.
Mr, Miyanaga created a system where staff members share their ideas with the rest of the team while they're still in the early planning stages, and this has really helped improve our efficiency."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreibwsjecxogjmdbarq7azy23rxl4ikvmnusc7dhd4ahr2mkweeb4k4)
![PEOPLE:
- Yusuke Nakano, age 47. Twilight Princess Illustrator.
- Satoru Takizawa, age 44. Twilight Princess Art Director.
QUOTE:
"Nakano: The Link up till now [Twilight Princess] had been in his teens, but for this one we were talking about making him around 25... maybe even 30.
He would be well-built. A skinny man with a pretty face wouldn’t stand a chance against a large enemy, so we thought about making him quite sturdy. So the first illustrations were, in a way, pretty amazing.
Takizawa: ... There was even a square-jawed, burly-looking Link. [laughs]"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreickozz4vfcfp23dsf3ufckd3t3kew346sjkvrhy2zpe6p63uvxbtq)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Producer, then Director of Twilight Princess.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 54. General Producer, then Producer of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: After the 2004 E3 announcement, Miyamoto heard the response from end-users about [Twilight Princess]. Miyamoto gave us a mission: our goal must be that if we were going to do it, it had to be 120% Zelda, and that meant making a Zelda that exceeded Ocarina of Time.
But where we were at the time did not exceed Ocarina, and regardless of the result, I knew that we had to focus on a new play feeling and also on creating alluring Link actions in preparation for E3. Once we got past E3, only then could we really work toward Miyamoto’s mission. From that point on, I worked not as a producer, but as the game’s director."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreifundeg2szgv4r3ckyugs2rk3fa3jqixkpgwd5go4sv2223vvc6ia)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Director of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: We tried changing the camera perspective [in Twilight Princess] from … third person to … first-person perspective in battle. For this prototype, all we did was change this perspective to the first-person view we currently had. We haven’t tweaked things like the spacing between Link and enemies, so it’s really awkward, but having played this version in first person, we didn’t think this was the most effective way of presenting battles.
Link normally has a variety of movements, but when he enters into battle with his enemies, which has come to be known as core scene in Zelda, if that variety is lost, it feels very strange."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiaq6wheopnmr26ag3znkiye3xtrwt4j3ofngkhcdiexkup6rcd2gy)
![PEOPLE:
- Satomi Asakawa, age 48. Character design for Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, and Skyward Sword.
QUOTE:
"Q: Was it common for you to step outside your explicit role as a character designer and animator at Nintendo?
Asakawa: Since Nintendo did not have enough production staff [during Twilight Princess development], it was necessary for a single artist to do everything from character design to modeling, animation, and even general game direction. It was very fun and interesting!
But nowadays in the video game industry, there’s more division of labor. I think that I worked there during the last era when an artist got to do all those different kinds of work."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreihrvy6afryvmamgmr4psqazntvk653crd5x2zbo6vk6dj3ykqzw5q)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Producer, then Director of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: Try though we did, we couldn’t come up with any good ideas [for Twilight Princess]. We were afraid that [Zelda games were] no longer selling as they once did in Japan.
Zelda’s basic gameplay had been received well by many users in the past. If we changed it just to change it, we worried that long-time Zelda gamers might not appreciate the new direction, and rather than draw new users, we thought that we would end up alienating everyone.
I think that this is something that all developers working on a long-running series confront. It certainly wasn’t easy for me to come up with a viable solution."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreigh2stcbt2vbz5tuffynnukp6xgjhdkzsw2vjcfamoowlj2edga2y)
![PEOPLE:
- Toru Minegishi, age 31. Sound Supervisor for Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Minegishi: I am not consciously trying to use any particular genre of music to represent those [darker] feelings [in Twilight Princess], but I want to try to express this melancholic atmosphere at the beginning of the game to engross players. Through Link's efforts, the mood will eventually become more relaxed as the game progresses—at least, that's my plan. "](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreigmmn5ovv54snlpr6mlxylq3cr2eez4odahnwbuxg2bomschqzkwe)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Director of The Wind Waker, The Wind Waker 2, & Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: What I was told was that the toon-shading technique [in The Wind Waker] was giving the impression that this Zelda was for a younger audience and that, for this reason, it alienated the upper teen audience that had represented the typical Zelda player [in North America]. Having heard that, I began to worry about whether The Wind Waker 2, which used a similar presentation, was something that would actually sell. …
That’s when I decided that if we didn’t have an effective and immediate solution, the only thing we could do was to give the healthy North American market the Zelda that they wanted."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiagkizxthm3avs7hfwhxozhnl6u3q7kev4fudn3tr5ohgftvtius4)
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 43. First Producer, then Director of Twilight Princess.
QUOTE:
"Aonuma: If we still wanted to implement [motion] control [in Twilight Princess], we would have to make him right-handed. However, in order to do this, we would have had to redo Link’s character in the game, which, with only four months left in development, would have been impossible.
It was at that time that we thought if we flipped the entire world laterally, so that left and right were reversed, Link would be right-handed, and that decision to use this bold solution was made. "](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreicdawnuvseflu7qmw3mljm2hwq62iyowfzgtabxecyftyz4oytowe)