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Aonuma on carefully handling remakes, Wind Waker influence on Zelda Wii U, status update
Coming from a Polygon interview with Eiji Aonuma...
Worries while remaking a game
"That's something I'm very concerned about, I'm always thinking about. With Wind Waker HD the first thing we did was release a still during a Nintendo Direct presentation and there were quite a few fans who said, ‘That's not my Wind Waker.' They said it looked different from the Wind Waker they've experienced.
It is certainly a bit of a balancing act. I too was one of those Star Wars fans who saw the HD Star Wars and was a little bit disappointed because it wasn't my Star Wars. I understand those feelings and I understand the possibility of it happening. So it's something we're aware of."
On subtle changes
"I didn't want to change what made the original so much fun. Whenever there were areas that players were getting stuck I wanted to smooth those out, if the pacing wasn't optimized, if it felt like the rhythm of the game was being effected by whatever task the player was having to do those would be tuned, we tightened those areas up. Basically, the overall image of the game, including the story and the flow hasn't been affected, wont be impacted, but we certainly made adjustments so the rhythm doesn't drag.
Certainly I understand even those areas of the game that weren't optimized could be associated with very fond memories for people who played the game originally, but I wanted to make those adjustments to really optimize the experience for all players, including new players. Hopefully there will be a lot of new players who will pick up the game for the first time and I wanted to make sure that this was optimized for them."
How Zelda Wii U lead to the Wind Waker remake
"When we were thinking about the new Zelda for Wii U, which is something we're actually working on, we needed to experiment with a variety of graphic styles and it was part of that process we took some existing Zelda games and made them HD just to see what would happen. In doing so we realized that the Wind Waker graphic style, the art style, really represented well on the Wii U given the graphic capabilities of the new system. It really brought that world to life. On top of the graphic representation of this world, we were able to tighten those areas I was mentioning before, I really felt like it could breathe new life into this already existing space, this already existing experience. Not that the sequel will look exactly like Wind Waker, but there are certainly things we can learn in developing for the Wii U."
On not being too interested in remakes
"As a creator, I want to make something new, remakes really aren't something that get me excited. We discovered that there was a new fun experience to be had there so there was never any discussion of making a sequel rather than a remake for Wind Waker. As I mentioned before, as a creator I always want to create something new. The decision to make Wind Waker HD actually came as a result of our intent to create something new for the Wii U. "
On a lack of details for Zelda Wii U
"Honestly it's not finalized yet, where in the Zelda universe this story will land. We're exploring different directions that we can take this story at this point, so there's unfortunately nothing I can share from that perspective."
Link
Worries while remaking a game
"That's something I'm very concerned about, I'm always thinking about. With Wind Waker HD the first thing we did was release a still during a Nintendo Direct presentation and there were quite a few fans who said, ‘That's not my Wind Waker.' They said it looked different from the Wind Waker they've experienced.
It is certainly a bit of a balancing act. I too was one of those Star Wars fans who saw the HD Star Wars and was a little bit disappointed because it wasn't my Star Wars. I understand those feelings and I understand the possibility of it happening. So it's something we're aware of."
On subtle changes
"I didn't want to change what made the original so much fun. Whenever there were areas that players were getting stuck I wanted to smooth those out, if the pacing wasn't optimized, if it felt like the rhythm of the game was being effected by whatever task the player was having to do those would be tuned, we tightened those areas up. Basically, the overall image of the game, including the story and the flow hasn't been affected, wont be impacted, but we certainly made adjustments so the rhythm doesn't drag.
Certainly I understand even those areas of the game that weren't optimized could be associated with very fond memories for people who played the game originally, but I wanted to make those adjustments to really optimize the experience for all players, including new players. Hopefully there will be a lot of new players who will pick up the game for the first time and I wanted to make sure that this was optimized for them."
How Zelda Wii U lead to the Wind Waker remake
"When we were thinking about the new Zelda for Wii U, which is something we're actually working on, we needed to experiment with a variety of graphic styles and it was part of that process we took some existing Zelda games and made them HD just to see what would happen. In doing so we realized that the Wind Waker graphic style, the art style, really represented well on the Wii U given the graphic capabilities of the new system. It really brought that world to life. On top of the graphic representation of this world, we were able to tighten those areas I was mentioning before, I really felt like it could breathe new life into this already existing space, this already existing experience. Not that the sequel will look exactly like Wind Waker, but there are certainly things we can learn in developing for the Wii U."
On not being too interested in remakes
"As a creator, I want to make something new, remakes really aren't something that get me excited. We discovered that there was a new fun experience to be had there so there was never any discussion of making a sequel rather than a remake for Wind Waker. As I mentioned before, as a creator I always want to create something new. The decision to make Wind Waker HD actually came as a result of our intent to create something new for the Wii U. "
On a lack of details for Zelda Wii U
"Honestly it's not finalized yet, where in the Zelda universe this story will land. We're exploring different directions that we can take this story at this point, so there's unfortunately nothing I can share from that perspective."
Link