Link To The Past In 3D? Eiji Aonuma Ponders Remake
The Zelda series has garnered controversy over the years for the style choices made by the design team, most notably for The Wind Waker on Game Cube, which featured striking cel-shaded visuals and charming cartoon action. Bright blasts of yellow and green marked a departure from the look of the masterpiece Ocarina of Time on the N64, Edge magazine's number 1 game EVER. But the fans weren't sure. Its true, there wasn't a games magazine in the land that didn't feature a letters page rich with the ink of fervent fans offended by this new cartoon styling, their efforts matched by stalwart critics staging a war of attrition on behalf of Miyamoto-san.
The argument: surely games don't need graphic realism, when there is so much animation and comic art to inspire the designer in new directions. Then again, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Read on after the jump...
Well, Zelda series designer Eiji Aonuma was interviewed recently in Official Nintendo Magazine (UK Edition), and among other things, he alluded to the prospect of revisiting some of the earlier titles:
I always think about what we couldn’t do and what didn’t work well in the previous game when we start a new title, but there’s no game that I would want to actually change as such. I have to say though, the first Zelda game that I played and felt potential in was Link to the Past. I’m actually very interested in what it would be like if we remade that title as a 3D game.
Aonuma came to the series with Ocarina of Time, and so understands intimately what it means to take these games into three dimensions. The Zelda universe is so rich with recurring elements and archetypal heroes and villains that I think revisiting earlier games might not be such a bad idea. With so many filmmakers re-cutting and adding new endings to their films (following arch-tinkerer Ridley Scott), it makes sense that games designers take the opportunity to rethink classic games, and retell those stories from a new visual perspective.
The only problem comes with the idea that there would be a direct translation of the locations from 2D to 3D. Would it work? Would over-the-shoulder third-person viewpoints (the mainstay of contemporary adventure gaming) undermine the patchwork world of the classic SNES game? Since everything has to make sense 'from the front' on the SNES, what amount of creative license would be needed to make things feel right in 3D? If the geography was changed radically to fit the needs of true 3D, would it still be Link to the Past?
Though Aonuma's comment emerges from his own curiosity, the prospect of remaking such titles seem to reignite the heated debates around the Zelda franchise and its visual style. Back to collecting sand and whacking bats...
SuperSpecialDavey
Posted to Hot Stuff on 17 November 2007
· Comments (9)
Other stuff like this: 3D, Remake, Zelda
Personally, I loved the artistic style of The Wind Waker. The expressive faces of the characters, the way many of the characters looked like they jumped right off of old Greek pottery, and the smoothness of the animation created for a visually breathtaking gaming experience.
Ocarina of Time, on the other hand, has not aged well in terms of graphics. The blocky 3-D graphics, while amazing for their time, now have an awkward eyesore quality to them. Additionally, both it and Twilight Princess seem to be in love with bland colors and a lack of lighting. This doesn't really fit with other games in the series, which have used a bright colors across the whole spectrum to make Hyrule jump off the screen at you.
I think we saw that Link @ E for All!
I see where people are coming from with the Wind Waker graphics, but I'm sorry, it was still Zelda. The game was tight.
And I loved the graphics. There are only so many games where I can just sit in awe of a particular area or scene and just say "wow". I did that a lot during Wind Waker. The cell shading was just so clean.
I want Link to the Past remake!!! Phantom Hourglass felt like a snes sequal and got me wanting.
The argument can (and has) been made that the series has essentially been remaking A Link to the Past since Ocarina of Time, at least as far as the game mechanics, if not the art direction. I personally have found a lot to love about every game in the series, but personally I would not be thrilled if the next game was a 3D LTTP. I'm looking forward to seeing something that really changes how we think about the wii remote, rather than just aiming to shoot arrows.
I think I've pictures of that guy on deviantArt.
And to be frank, if this was made and released we Zelda fans would buy it anyway.
The Wind Waker is a great game! As far as the story goes, however, it just wasn't as engaging as Ocarina of Time. It also had some flaws: sailing on a boat just isn't as epic as dashing off on your horse. If someone made a 3D Link to the Past, I'm sure I'll buy the game again. 3D doesn't really matter, but it does help with realism and the general "feel" of the game. It's just much more exciting (and I can only speak for myself!) to see Ganon towering above than just a sprite of him at the top of the screen.
I'd hit that. ...those
Echoing the aboves sentiments. Wind waker's graphics are amazing! It's too bad a lot of people don't think that because they want Gear of Wars 'realism'. I'd popped it in the other day and you can tell it will age very well because it's so clean. It's animation come to life.
It's too bad they made you sail to each triforce piece location, and deal with endurance dungeons during the last third. That was the only bad thing. In the old days, they would have made an entirely new dungeon theme for each triforce piece. That was lazy. :)
3D LTTP? A 2D game plays so much differently than a 3D game. It might be worth it to see the hyrule universe as it was back then. However, I don't think it will add anything to the series (or the genre), except for nostagic purposes.
But... the 3D remake of the 2D final fantasy were pretty good in my opinion. :D
for the record Wind Waker is my FAVOURITE GAME EVER
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