With just days to go before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has published a brand-new instalment of their “Ask the Developer” interview series. This time around the interview was all about Tears of the Kingdom and had the likes of Eiji Aonuma answering the many questions that were out before him and other members of the development team.
During the interview, Aonuma and Fujibayashi, discuss Link’s new abilities in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
Aonuma and Fujibayashi on Link’s New Abilities:
Eiji Aonuma: “Yes. They are all new. You’d be wrong if you thought the abilities were the same as before. In particular, one of the things that sets this title apart, the fun of attaching objects to each other, was something that Fujibayashi-san brought up in the early stages of development, saying, ‘This is the gameplay I want to implement in the sequel!’.”
Hidemaro Fujibayashi: “Back then, I tried creating vehicles using only the mechanisms and parts available in the previous game and presented them.
For instance, I used spinning cog wheels as tyres and attached four of them to a board to create a car. I also made a paddle steamer by attaching boards to those self-rotating cog wheels. By assembling stone slabs into a gun barrel and using a Remote Bomb, I also created a cannon that shoots Ancient Spheres. I attached it to a car to create a tank. By showing these ideas, I proposed that if Link had the ability to attach things together, we could create this new kind of gameplay using materials we already had available. This was how we came up with the idea of creating vehicles with the Ultrahand ability in this title.”
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 9, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Chapter 4.
Ask the Developer | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Participating Developers)
- Eiji Aonuma | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division (Producer)
- Hidemaro Fujibayashi | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No.3 (Director)
- Takuhiro Dohta | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Programming Management Group (Technical Director)
- Satoru Takizawa | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Design Management Group (Art Director)
- Hajime Wakai | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Sound Management Group (Sound Director)
