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Aonuma Talks Zelda's Past, Nintendo DS Zelda Plans

Posted by simoniker on from the robin-williams dept.

Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma on the Zelda franchise, as the EAD deputy manager reveals he wasn't a fan of early Zelda efforts ("I could not stand the original Zelda. When I first played it, I did not know what I was doing. I was overwhelmed by enemies and I got killed right away"), questions the infamous CD-I Zelda titles ("I must admit, they were a strange characterization of the Zelda games"), and mentions future franchise plans, including a previously unconfirmed Nintendo DS Zelda title: "We have a Game Boy Advance Zelda [Minish Cap], a DS Zelda, and this [realistic] GameCube one."

2 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not good by Captain+Rotundo · · Score: 2, Informative

    I don't have concerns, but I personally think that the first Zelda is the best one. LTTP is close, and Link's Awakening was almost as good as that. But the 3D ones (OOT, MM, WW) just haven't caught the complete nature that the overhead ones had. and I am not an old gamer complaining about progress I don't think its the interface or the dungeons, I think its the weak story.

    THe first one was pure game, and the second had some minor story to it... for some reason I think the story to WW feels like an annoyance (the game would be better if it just left out all the ridiculous story that isn't important to play anyway)... OOT is actually good, I guess my complaint is that It didn't evoke that same awe that LTTP did for me what it came out.

    I think its possible to have a situation like the original with just gameplay and no silly cutscenes and still have a good game. And while only a minor annoyance the silly stuff they bable about in WW doesn't and anything... I pay attention enought to figure out where to go, and then go play (haven't finished yet :)

  2. Re:Zelda by jasonditz · · Score: 2, Informative

    The problem is Zelda games are time consuming to make. The brand needs a lot more handholding from the big name Nintendo developers and at best they can produce 1-2 titles a year.

    Even then a top notch title like Wind Waker did not sell as many copies as Pokemon Colosseum, and both are dwarfed by the handheld RPGs.

    In fact, in the 8 years since Pokemon arrived on the scene, there has not once been a year in which a Zelda title was not outsold by some Pokemon title.

    Even Ocarina of Time, the breakout Zelda title of the last decade, was outsold in Japan in its year of launch by the two year old original Pokemon RPG. Not just by a little either, it was a two to one margin.

    Pokemon is the 800-lb gorilla of the video game industry. Nothing else comes close, not Grand Theft Auto, not Final Fantasy...