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Hyrule Interviews

@hyruleinterviews.bsky.social

A database of interviews with the Zelda team. Our goal is to preserve that legacy, share it here, and build a safe community for our followers! By @maxnichols.bsky.social www.hyruleinterviews.com

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Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 5h ago

Playsense interviewed me about Hyrule Interviews! I shared the video, but it had issues, so here's a transcript. It was a great chat! We touched on my history with Zelda and game dev, why the I do the project, game preservation, and how it's impacted my game dev work.

Playsense Interview with Hyrule Interviews

A short awhile ago I was interviewed by Play Sense, a game marketing company that, on the side, has a series of interviews with folks…

namelessquality.com

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · yesterday

Aonuma on polishing the Breath of the Wild world based on testers’ paths, 2017. Source: Nintendo Everything #Zelda #BreathoftheWildQuote #AonumaQuote nintendoeverything.com/aonuma-on-ze...

PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Producer of Breath of the Wild.

QUOTE:
Aonuma: [During Breath of the Wild development] I asked the team to create a tool displaying a map on which the movements of a hundred players would be drawn in real time, with a marking point every hour.

[If I saw] that many people were going to the same place at one time, I asked them why they had gone there. … Often, it was something I’d never thought about or seen in this angle during development, but sounded very funny. It also allowed us to detect locations no one was going to because it wasn’t very practical, in order to modify or add a path, change the topography, make a place more attractive… It was instructive to observe and allowed us to do statistics and make every portion of the world interesting.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 2d ago

Miyamoto on the difficulty of justifying small games for the N64, 1996. Source: Shmuplations #MiyamotoQuote shmuplations.com/miyamotoxeno/

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 43. Creator of Zelda & Mario. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: Do you remember that old Mac game where you'd shoot cannons at each other in a windy area? You'd adjust nothing but the launch angle and power to hit the enemy artillery hiding behind rocks. …

But you just can't make a game like that when you have to worry about justifying a 9,800 yen price tag [for N64 cartridge manufacturing]. People look at a casual game like that and assume it can be made on a low budget, or that a rookie can handle it, or that if it's that simple, it could just be distributed via the Satellaview. Everything gets manufactured based entirely on price. Instead of opening up a playground for people to try out new ideas, everything has just become a conversation about cost.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3d ago

Aonuma on convergent ideas with Fumito Ueda, 2017. Source: Nintendo Everything #Zelda #BreathoftheWildQuote, #TheLastGuardianQuote, #ShadowoftheColossusQuote #AonumaQuote, #UedaQuote nintendoeverything.com/aonuma-on-ze...

PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Zelda Franchise Producer.
- Fumito Ueda, age 46. Director of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian.

QUOTE:
Aonuma: It’s funny that you’re mentioning this game, because we are friends with Mr. Ueda and he’s always said that he wanted to make a game like Zelda—hence the similarities in Shadow of the Colossus.

Mr. Ueda was kind enough to send me a copy of The Last Guardian late last year and as I was playing it, I noticed the moments when you climb on Trico’s head to find a path, and jump to reach places that were inaccessible from the height you were at. Without seeing each other or talking about it, I realize we had the same idea. It’s amusing to see we had the same inspirations, the same gameplay [inclination] at different times.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 4d ago

Aonuma on the two ways to get lost in a game, and the essence of Breath of the Wild, 2017. Source: Nintendo Everything #Zelda #BreathoftheWildQuote #AonumaQuote nintendoeverything.com/aonuma-on-ze...

PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Producer of Breath of the Wild.

QUOTE:
Aonuma: There are two ways for you to get lost in a game: because you don’t know where to go, or because you feel like checking out other places out of curiosity. While the former isn’t remotely interesting in terms of gameplay, the latter is something I look forward to making the players experience.

That’s why the game mechanics encourage you to explore. From the beginning of the adventure, Link is able to climb high enough to allow you … to observe the landscape and head for the place that caught your eye using the paraglider. This loop made of climbing, contemplating and gliding is the essence of exploration in this Zelda, and I really wanted to make getting lost in this world a pleasure.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 5d ago

Shigeru Miyamoto's eternal rival, 1996. Source: Shmuplations #MiyamotoQuote shmuplations.com/miyamotoxeno/

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 43. Creator of Zelda & Mario. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: Since my background is originally in industrial design, I view the Rubik's Cube as my eternal rival. There's a kind of product that's very important to me. It's not stuff made by veteran craftsmen who have spent years building computer games specifically for gamers, but rather things that make people realize, "Wow, computer games can do that...?!"

Making products that surprise non-gamers, that is our big challenge. That said, when people point out that we do nothing but make sequels, they're entirely right. [laughs] I want to hurry up and reach a point where we can leave the franchise titles to the younger staff, while the older folks just do whatever they feel like. [laughs]

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 7d ago

I present: 5000 Years of The Legend of Zelda A flowchart of the media that influenced Zelda. Ranging from mythology and historical sources to ancient board games, D&D, 1930s pulp adventure films, and way more! Click through to see the full-size chart. namelessquality.com/5000-years-o...

A screenshot a huge flowchart. At the top are listed things like mythologies and histories; at the bottom is the title screen for The Legend of Zelda. Between the two are numerous influences, ranging from ancient board games, to Tolkien, to 1930s pulp adventure films, and way more.

History of Hyrule, Zelda Archivist @historyofhyrule.com · last wk.

Took me longer than I thought but I finally scanned and uploaded all the meticulously hand drawn maps from this guide at 2400dpi. You can find the zip of the files in the download section, here: archive.org/details/guid...

A screenshot of a computer folder containing dozens of thumbnails of maps.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · last wk.

Yuji Naka on meeting Miyamoto at a presentation by Richard Garriott, 2001. Source: Shmuplations #MiyamotoQuote, #NakaQuote, #GarriottQuote shmuplations.com/miyamotoxnaka/

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 49. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.
- Yuji Naka, age 36. Creator of Sonic.
- Richard Garriott, age 40. Creator of Ultima, director of UItima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: I think this is the first time we’ve had a proper face-to-face discussion like this. I’ve known all about Naka for a long time, though. [laughs] We first met about 10 years ago, I believe. I think it was right after the first Sonic was released, at a game show?

Naka: I remember it well. … I was standing there in the event hall, listening to that famous creator Lord British explaining his new game, Ultima Underworld. Then all of a sudden a voice came from behind me, “Do you find this interesting?” I turned around and it was none other than Miyamoto. That moment was our very first exchange, though I wouldn’t exactly call it a conversation. [laughs]

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 2w ago

Miyamoto on back pain and getting more exercise, 2008. Source: Wired #MiyamotoQuote www.wired.com/2008/06/inte...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: I was always a fan of sports. I never really participated in specific sports or anything, but once I hit 40 I started to get a little bit more active and began swimming more.

So when I was about 40, I started having problems with back pain, and I think a lot of that stemmed from the fact that I worked at a desk all day. And, so that was when I started swimming.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 2w ago

Miyamoto on wanting to make a game where playtime depends on the player, 2000. Source: The Hyrule Journals #Zelda #MajorasMaskQuote, #TheWindWakerQuote #MiyamotoQuote goodblood.games/mmdoublehead...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 47. Producer of Majora’s Mask.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: Take Ocarina of Time for example, that game took about 60 hours to complete. So people would ask “How many hours of playtime are you planning for [Majora’s Mask]?” and we would respond with something like “Around 80 hours…” and they would invariably follow up with “So the Dolphin game will be about 100 hours?” and we would have to reluctantly say, “Yes…”

I really started to feel like we would be working non-stop forever [laughs]. So for [Majora’s Mask], I don’t want to say how many hours it is, instead I want to say something like playtime entirely depends on the player. … The job of Nintendo is to come up with the best game system to create that kind of play.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 2w ago

Kiuchi on the design of the Imprisoned and Demise, in Skyward Sword, 2013. Source: Hyrule Historia #Zelda #SkywardSwordQuote #KiuchiQuote www.hyruleinterviews.com/Hyrule-Histo...

PEOPLE:
- Takafumi Kiuchi. Enemy Designer for Skyward Sword.

QUOTE:
Kiuchi: With the only instructions that it should be enormous and that “its vulnerability is on its head,” we were allowed to design the Imprisoned [in Skyward Sword] as we pleased. Its design looks more like a kaiju than a monster.

Trying to show the impressive presence and the overwhelming power of Demise, we drew him again and again until we got it right. To give him some resemblance to Ganondorf, we didn't just make his hair red, but set it on fire. [laughs] His sword looks like a black Master Sword.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 2w ago

Miyamoto on emotional disconnect between player and avatar, 1989. Source: Shmuplations #MiyamotoQuote shmuplations.com/itoimiyamoto/

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda & Mario, Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: In the medium of animation, you just show what you want people to see. So if you want someone to move fast, you just make them run fast. But in a game, you can't just make a character speed up for that one moment.

There are all sorts of strategies involved there. Take a human character, for example. Let's say you design them to walk in a pleasant, smooth way. This may conflict with the player's feelings—there are times when they want to run away, or times when they want to chase something. If the character keeps walking in that "pleasant, smooth" way when the player is desperate to escape, the player is going to get pissed off.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Uemura on analyzing rival consoles during Famicom development, 2020. Source: Kotaku #NESQuote #UemuraQuote kotaku.com/the-designer...

PEOPLE:
- Masayuki Uemura, age 77. Lead Designer of the Famicom, head of Nintendo R&D2.

QUOTE:
Q: [How did you analyze rivals’ game consoles, like the Atari 2600 and the Magnavox 2, while developing the Famicom]?

Uemura: I had a semiconductor manufacturer dissolve the plastic covering on the chips to expose the wiring underneath. I took pictures, blew them up, and looked at the circuitry to understand it.

I had some experience with arcade games, and right away I knew that none of what I was looking at would be any help in designing a new home system. They simply didn’t have expressive enough graphics. They had a monopoly on patents for them, circuit structures and features such as scrolling. And they were simply old-fashioned. That’s why I couldn’t use anything from them.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Miyamoto's “extreme” ambition for Mii avatars, 2011. Source: Iwata Asks #NintendoWiiQuote, #Nintendo3DSQuote #MiyamotoQuote, #IwataQuote iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD.
- Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: Ultimately, I want Mii characters to be the world standard for avatars. … I hope that in the future, when you have to go to the city hall for some formality, they'll ask you to submit your Mii character too. [laughs]

Iwata: [laughs] What an ambition that is!

Miyamoto: If it becomes a worldwide format, it'll be fun. Purely and simply, I just want everyone to use it in a variety of ways. … Well, that ambition about the city hall thing might be a bit extreme, but I do want Mii to be more widely used.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Miyamoto, Itoi, and Iwata on forbidding dreams, 2011. Source: Iwata Asks #MiyamotoQuote, #ItoiQuote, #IwataQuote iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/w...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Creator of Zelda & Mario, General Manager of Nintendo EAD.
- Shigesato Itoi, age 62. Creator of Earthbound. Editor for various Zelda manga.
- Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: When you've got those plans without any idea of how it will turn out, that's always when people say things like, "But doesn't it sound fun? It's so full of dreams."

That's when things get dangerous, when people start talking right away about dreams or how much fun it will be.

Itoi: I've also put a moratorium of dreams. I'm always saying that the smallest dreams are the best.

Miyamoto: I have a moratorium on dreams, too. And when it comes to something being fun, you need to know what makes it fun. You can't just say, "It's fun."

Iwata: I'm really getting a kick out of the two of you talking about a moratorium on dreams.

Everyone: [laughs]

Miyamoto: … Dreams are absolutely forbidden.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Tezuka on the basic premise of Mario games, 2020. Source: The Guardian #MarioSeriesQuote #TezukaQuote www.theguardian.com/games/2020/s...

PEOPLE:
- Takashi Tezuka, age 59. Co-creator of the Zelda series. Director or Producer of over 20 Mario games.

QUOTE:
Tezuka: It is the basic premise of Super Mario games that we can naturally enjoy Mario’s actions. The technical aspects may be different between 2D and 3D games, but this remains the same.

If we as players mess up a move because of the controls rather than something we did wrong, then we end up not wanting to play any more. On the other hand, if we feel like things would have worked out if we’d just jumped a little earlier, then that makes us want to try again.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Wornell on how he became the F-Zero X announcer, 2022. Source: Kiwi Talkz #StarFox64Quote, #FZeroXQuote #WornellQuote www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dcu...

PEOPLE:
- Jim Wornell. NOA Associate Producer for Ocarina of Time, Starfox 64, and F-Zero X. Graphic designer for several other Zelda titles.

QUOTE:
Wornell: I had overseen the process for the Star Fox 64 voice-over work, and F-Zero X came out right after. Since we used the studio in Seattle for Star Fox 64 I thought, “Well let's use the same studio again.” So I went down there [with two other guys], we all recorded our lines one at a time in the booth, sent all three samples off to Japan, and Japan picked my voice. I kind of wanted the gig so I made sure I nailed it. [laughs]

I … played a lot of Ridge Racer and I kind of patterned my voice after the announcer from Ridge Racer because he's got that that great inflection.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Miyamoto on a feature he forgot in Ocarina of Time, 1999. Source: The Hyrule Journals #Zelda #OcarinaofTimeQuote #MiyamotoQuote goodblood.games/ootmiyamotoq...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Producer of Ocarina of Time.

QUOTE:
Q: [Ocarina of Time] features the “flow of time.” Does that mean you can record the number of days it took you to clear the game?

Miyamoto: I forgot about that feature [laughs]. At one point, there was a move to bring forward the release date of Zelda, and at that time, we were told that no further changes to the system were allowed. At the end, “THE END” would have displayed, a beep sounds, and “It has been XX days since leaving Kokiri Forest.”

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 3w ago

Koizumi on the Zelda game he liked working on the most, 2017. Source: Social Media #Zelda #OcarinaofTimeQuote #KoizumiQuote www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...

PEOPLE:
- Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 49. Worked in various roles on A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and The Wind Waker.

QUOTE:
Q: Which has been your favorite Zelda game to work on?

Koizumi: Ocarina of Time. It was a lot of fun to work on, and perhaps the reason it stayed with me is that we had to start from zero to make that game.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 4w ago

Itoi on the Butoh-like vision for Giygas, 1989. Source: Shmuplations #EarthboundZeroQuote #ItoiQuote, #MiyamotoQuote, #ItouQuote shmuplations.com/itoimiyamoto/

PEOPLE:
- Shigesato Itoi, age 40. Creator of Earthbound Zero (Mother). Later: editor of Zelda manga and guides.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Creator of Zelda & Mario.
- Seikou Itou. Author of the novel No Life King.

QUOTE:
Itoi: With Giygas in Mother… I feel like we could have refined him so much more, but… well, it's out there now.

Miyamoto: I know. I really wanted to give it one more shot, right at the very end.

Itoi: For that final form, I'd actually given instructions for it to be like Butoh, that "dance of darkness." Something incredibly frail... like if they were right there in front of you, you'd feel like they'd collapse if you barely touched them. Eerie and beautiful… but that's easier said than done, right? [laughs]

Itou: That sounds… hard. [laughs]

Itoi: I wanted to depict the terror of the weak. But man, it was tough.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 4w ago

Maybe crowd-sourcing will help-- I'm trying to update Mobygames' Ocarina of Time credits. These are all people that were uncredited in 1998, but got credited in later editions of the game. But the approver isn't convinced. They think these might have been people who worked on Master Quest only.

Character Voices: Fujiko Takimoto, Nobuyuki Hiyama, Jun Mizusawa, Takashi Nagasako, Yayoi Jinguji (credited as Yayoi Jinguji), Kaori Mizuhashi

Motion Capture Actor (JAC): Yoshinori Tsujimoto

Action Coordinator (JAC): Yuta Morokaji

Motion Editors: Hiroshi Momose, Rui Shimamura

English Text Writer: Dan Owsen

English Text Translation: Hiroyuki Yamada

NOA Support: Manabu Fukuda, Gail Tilden, Yoshio Tsuboike

Manual Editors: Yushi Ozeki, Yasuhiro Sakai, Jim Wornell

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 4w ago

Iwata on finding shared sets of values with employees, 2019. Source: Ask Iwata: Words of Wisdom from Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's Legendary CEO #IwataQuote

PEOPLE:
- Satoru Iwata, age 59. President of HAL from 1993-2000, President of Nintendo from 2002-2015.

QUOTE:
Iwata: Listening to [employees] speak their minds one-on-one, I came to realize “The reason behind that particular decision isn’t getting through,” or “That thing I said was misconstrued and became a real source of frustration.” Where possible, I took these opportunities to provide additional context for why I’d said what I had said, or what events led to a particular decision.

Effectively, this was the same as asking them “Given these circumstances, what would have been your thoughts?” When somebody says, “I would have done the same thing,” of course it’s reassuring. Discovering a shared set of values makes both parties feel a lot more comfortable.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · 4w ago

Yamauchi on the viability of large-scale games, 2000. Source: Nintendo Magic: Winning the Videogame Wars #YamauchiQuote

PEOPLE:
- Hiroshi Yamauchi, age 81. President of Nintendo from 1949 to 2002.

QUOTE:
Yamauchi: Large-scale games are no good. If we keep it up, game makers the world over are going to collapse. These industrial-strength games are played out. The true nature of the video game business is developing new kinds of fun and constantly working to achieve perfection.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · last mo.

Miyamoto on Mario's last name, 2015. Source: Game Informer #MarioSeriesQuote, #MiyamotoQuote web.archive.org/web/20240205...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 62. Creator of Zelda & Mario.

QUOTE:
Q: Some people claim that Mario and Luigi's last name is "Mario." Are their names officially Mario Mario and Luigi Mario?

Shigeru Miyamoto: This is an old story, but Hollywood did a film version of the Mario Bros. many years back. There was a scene in the script where they needed a last name for the characters. Somebody suggested that, because they were the Mario Bros., their last name should be Mario. So, they made him "Mario Mario." I heard this and laughed rather loudly. Of course, this was ultimately included in the film. … But, just like Mickey Mouse doesn't really have a last name, Mario is really just Mario and Luigi is really just Luigi.

SpriteCell @spritecell.bsky.social · last mo.

For the past couple months I have been working on compiling a list of Shigeru Miyamoto interviews that are lost, may or may not exist, are incomplete, unscanned, and/or untranslated. There are over 200 on this page, maybe you can help in some way: spritecell.com/shigeru-miya...

Lost Shigeru Miyamoto Interviews

This page of the Shigeru Miyamoto Archive collects interviews that are lost, suspected, incomplete, unscanned, or untranslated to English.

spritecell.com

SpriteCell @spritecell.bsky.social · last mo.

If you would like to help preserve web history it’s as easy as installing the Wayback Machine add-on/extension and making two clicks when you see something interesting to save it. Firefox: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo... Chrome: chromewebstore.google.com/detail/wayba...

Wayback Machine – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Wayback Machine for Firefox. Welcome to the Official Internet Archive Wayback Machine Browser Extension! Go back in time to see how a website has changed through the history of the Web. Save ...

addons.mozilla.org

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · last mo.

Miyamoto on what it means to be "Zelda-esque", 1998. Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations #Zelda #OcarinaofTimeQuote #MiyamotoQuote www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-t...

PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.

QUOTE:
Miyamoto: It’s often said that something or another is ‘Zelda-esque’, but when you ask “What exactly is that?” you’ll always find opposition.

There are numerous staff members who’ve been playing Zelda for a long time, so when there are two options to choose from they know which better conveys the image we’ve chosen for Zelda.

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · last mo.

Hayao Miyazaki pitches a video game to Miyamoto, 1992. Source: Family Computer Magazine (Famimaga) #MiyazakiQuote, #MiyamotoQuote www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5zM...

PEOPLE:
- Hayao Miyazaki, age 51. Co-Founder of Studio Ghibli. Director of films like My Neighbor Totoro and Nausicaä .
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Creator of Zelda & Mario. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department..

QUOTE:
Miyazaki: I didn’t know much about video games but [there is] a game I wanted to create… … It takes place when the Japanese forces were nearly wiped out by the US in the South Pacific Ocean. The objective of this game is to board a torpedo bomber and hit a US aircraft carrier with a torpedo.

That said, you can also choose not to get on a bomber. Then what will you do? Maybe you grow vegetables on an island to sustain yourself. Maybe you starve and eventually the war ends. Or maybe you become a prisoner of war and stay in a prison camp until the war is over… or maybe you die during the process.

Miyamoto: I see.

Miyzaki: So there are many choices you can make. … We would make these animated scenes and you need to choose your action [with a time limit]. I discussed making such a game.

Miyamoto: I see…

Hyrule Interviews @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social · last mo.

Mori on what Ocarina's ending reminds him of and other media he’s watching, 1998. Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations #Zelda #OcarinaofTimeQuote #MoriQuote www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-t...