All Articles: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

For a game that’s less than nine months away, we certainly don’t know a whole heck of a lot about The Legend of Zelda Wii U. It’s rumored to be an “open world” game, and the art style is certainly beautiful, but that’s about it. Thankfully, Producer Eiji Aonuma recently saw down with Famitsu (via Kotaku) to briefly give fans a window into the development process.

Aonuma revealed that his team is currently in the “end stages of development” and that he’s editing character dialogue and in-game text… just as he did near the end of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword‘s development. He also said that he wants fans to get “something new” out of The Legend of Zelda Wii U:

According to Aonuma, the keyword this time is “something new.” Ocarina of Time was a huge leap for the Zelda series and since then Aonuma explained, “I think the base of our secret sauce has always been Ocarina of Time. But this time, the change in flavor will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food. Perhaps, players will be surprised.”

“Please look forward to it, because I think we’ll be able to make ‘something new’ like Ocarina of Time was,” Aonuma added.

I’ve got to admit, I’m a sucker for a good food analogy and describing the game as “Western style food” will only fuel the “open world” rumors. Whatever happens, we should all be playing The Legend of Zelda Wii U by the end of the year.

It’s looking more and more likely that The Legend of Zelda Wii U will be the last major title released for the console when it launches sometime next year. With the NX seemingly right around the corner, Producer Eiji Aonuma is hoping that the promise of an open world will make fans flock to Link’s latest Hyrulian adventure. But Aonuma has something else up his sleeve as the developer recently told IGN that Zelda Wii U will feature a “twist” on traditional open world gaming:

“We actually had some feedback from Skyward Sword, where people were saying, ‘This is not exactly the Zelda game I was looking for, I was looking for a bigger open world.'” Aonuma told IGN. “Unfortunately, I can’t go into details but I’m hoping to put a surprise, or kind of a twist, on my view of an open world game. I hope that you’ll look forward to it.”

Nintendo has always been a very secretive company, so it’ll probably be a long time before we find out what this “twist” is. However, Aonuma is also looking to plan something big for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, and we might hear about it sooner rather than later. Speaking to Famitsu (translated by Nintendo Everything), Aonuma said:

“This year we wanted a Majora’s Mask concert, so it is not impossible that there may be a 30th anniversary concert next year. However, as we are trying to complete the new Zelda as fast as possible, that is all that is on our minds. That being said, we hope something will take form for the 30th anniversary. It is especially important to a producer of the series, so I hope to give something everyone can look forward to next year.”

Rumor has it another HD remake is in the works (current scuttlebutt points to a remake of Twilight Princess), but all we really know for sure is that The Legend of Zelda Wii U will be released for the Wii U sometime next year… though Nintendo is not a company known for forgetting important anniversaries.

Eiji Aonuma, the Producer of the Legend of Zelda franchise at Nintendo, recently sat down with Gamereactor to discuss The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D. Naturally, the conversation drifted to the next entry in the series, the currently untitled The Legend of Zelda Wii U. When asked about the size of the game’s open world, Aonuma said he has built the game’s to be “as large as can be realized [on the Wii U]”:

“A huge, seamlessly unfolding world is something that can’t be achieved if the hardware isn’t advanced enough,” he responded when asked how the studio was transitioning to the new world teased in last year’s demo. “Ever since we made the very first generation of Legend of Zelda games though, we’ve had as large a world as can be realised with the hardware, so you could say it was inevitable that we’ve now done the same with the new Wii U title.”

But Aonuma did express confusion at journalists who have been saying that the Zelda franchise has “finally” gone open world. In his mind, the Zelda games have always operated within an open world:

“When I first showed off the new Zelda game on the Wii U, it seemed everyone was very excited and started proclaiming that a Zelda game had at last become open world! Zelda games have always allowed you to roam and explore a huge world. What’s changed now is that the hardware has progressed to the point that you can now explore this vast world seamlessly; the underpinning of the game hasn’t changed.”

I’ve got to admit, I agree with Aonuma here. In The Legend of Zelda on the NES, players could explore the entire map and tackle the dungeons in any order they chose. That is the very definition of an open world game. The same idea powers The Legend of Zelda Wii U, but as the developer said, it will be quite a bit bigger because of the increased processing muscle of the Wii U.