Miyamoto wants 'big, new ideas' in next Zelda
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Oct 9th 2008 at 2:36PM }
The Zelda team is currently beavering away at the next game in the series, and it sounds like the title might introduce a different spin on the usual Zelda formula.
Shigeru Miyamoto has told IGN that the Zelda franchise requires "big new unique ideas," and added that the development team "is very focused on trying to find those ideas." He ruled out adopting a first-person perspective for the series, after IGN reminded him that Eiji Aonuma showed The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess played through Link's eyes at GDC 07. May we recommend a side-scrolling game interspersed with lengthy, high-quality cut-scenes? Oh, uh, never mind.
Anyway, while Shiggy's comments are rather vague, this does raise another issue: is the Zelda series growing stagnant? The initial outcry over Wind Waker suggests change is a delicate issue with the fans!
[Via Go Nintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
comtar @ Oct 9th 2008 2:55PM
Here's a big bold idea, how about everyone is voiced over, including Link... Give it a more dramatic presentation on par with some of the Final Fantasy games. It should be easy to give Zelda a more dramatic presentation with voiceovers without making the entire cast sound "full-retard" like the old Zelda cartoon series.
Shadow31 @ Oct 9th 2008 7:44PM
That just wouldn't be the Zelda style, though. It has been brought up in the past, and most of the hardcore fans immediately shot down the idea, and Nintendo agreed that it just doesn't fit the game series. It's cheap and VERY easy to add voice-overs, it's just a matter of preference. Text boxes are what make Zelda games. 'Nuff said.
wud_e @ Oct 10th 2008 10:49AM
I'd rather not have voice overs but if thye did I don't want Link to have a voice.
Chris @ Oct 9th 2008 2:48PM
Honestly, TWILIGHT PRINCESS was so good that I'd worry about them messing with success. You could give me a straight-up sequel to that game and I'd be beyond pleased. That said I did adore WIND WAKER, so if the experimentation is as thought-through as that game was, I'll go along for the ride...
Moose @ Oct 10th 2008 10:21AM
I agree ... If it ain't broke don't fix it. I'd like to see a TP sequel and THEN they can innovate all they want.
TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 9th 2008 2:49PM
Sci-Fi Zelda in 2010.
Yea heard it here folks.
samfish @ Oct 10th 2008 2:24PM
The problem with a sci-fi Zelda is that it wouldn't do anything to address the stale formula of Zelda games.
The gameplay in Zelda is perfect. They SHOULD NOT change that. The game's problem is that ever since aLttP, it's been:
3 dungeons> Mid game boss> 7 dungeons> Gannon
So putting Zelda in the future wouldn't really do any good, if the Earth, Fire and Water Temples are still the first 3 dungeons but have a sci-fi feel to them.
To me, they just need to do something that fuses the pacing of aLttp, OOT, WW and TP with a scenario that goes off the beaten path the way Majora's Mask or almost all of the handheld Zelda's did. Okami pulled this off BRILLIANTLY. If Okami were a Zelda game, I would put it only second behind Ocarina.
Shadow31 @ Oct 9th 2008 2:52PM
Hmm... I do agree that new ideas are important to keep a series fresh, but... Nintendo rarely lets the ideas get stagnant anyways. Their core games have way too many spinoffs and not enough of what the game is meant to be. Don't get me wrong, some of the spinoffs are really fun... but they need to just make some good old fashion sequels. Ya know, don't really mess with the formulas between every game... I really wouldn't mind another Twilight Princess (only more epic, maybe with some unlockables for the second play through)... I mean, not specifically Twilight Princess, but just a normal Zelda game. Then focus on a spinoff.
This is why I'm in favor of Mario Galaxy 2, and don't get me started with a sequel to DK64. Oh, and a WiiWare 2D Metroid. And a new console Kirby... *rattles on*
Sean @ Oct 9th 2008 2:54PM
"The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess played through Link's eyes"
Can I get a link to a video of this?
vidGuy @ Oct 9th 2008 10:35PM
There's always evidence. It's about 1:50 into this video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2267798831844194977
ryan @ Oct 10th 2008 11:24AM
gosh, i hope we never have that unleashed on us. Just fighting one enemy he couldn't keep him on screen for more than 2 seconds at a time. that's my biggest problem with FP games.
SuburbGuerrilla @ Oct 9th 2008 3:01PM
Grand Theft Zelda!!!!
Marcelo @ Oct 9th 2008 8:11PM
As silly as that sounds, that might be the way to go on this series. The best thing about the original Zelda was the complete lack of linearity - you could truly go anywhere you wanted, provided you could get there/survive. You could walk around, find yourself lost, accidentally wander into level 8 with the wooden sword and 3 hearts and be spooked out of your mind.
Since then the series has slowly chipped away the non-linear open-ended gameplay in lieu of large epic storylines that are exploratory, but not very open-ended.
Perhaps if Zelda were to focus on making a Hyrule that was large, open, and completely without a linear story to drive you. You had to figure out where to go and what to do and what order to do it in, you could tackle dungeons in whatever order you liked without necessarily needing the right items (although they would definitely help you). They could even populate the game with more monsters in the open areas that would rush you every now and then, Dead Rising-style. Kill that batch, and you'd be free and clear until the next 200 meters or so.
So hey, if they did that I'd be down. Twilight Princess was disappointing to me in every way except graphically. I know the thing I loved about original Zelda (and Metroid for that matter) was how absorbed I was into this other world, where I could explore, get lost, get in over my head, die, discover, and eventually triumph. That to me is much more important that 1-1 swordfighting.
Cody @ Oct 9th 2008 9:07PM
You got to remember, Marcelo, that even in the original Zelda the entire Hyrule map was not open to explore. Sure a good portion was, but you would still get to a point or area that was unobtainable until later in the game. It's the same idea shared throughout Twilight Princess, albeit proportionately different in size.
Marcelo @ Oct 10th 2008 1:25PM
Not sure that's so true. You could go through a good 60-75% of the original Hyrule map with no sword and no items. Add one item and you can get most of the rest of it.
Twilight Princess is much more linear - you start with only the village and the surrounding area, then you get to expand to the nearby forest, and only then do you get to go out into Hyrule, and it's only a little bit of Hyrule which expands one area at a time for you.
I was really disappointed with Hyrule in Twilight Princess - both because it was incredibly linear and because it was much smaller than I had hoped. I want to get lost in Hyrule again instead of being led around. The only time I've felt like that is on Wind Waker, and that was only occasionally. If the game hadn't telegraphed where the different destinations were and you had to find them yourself then that would have been much more interesting.
ZombiePikmin @ Oct 9th 2008 3:02PM
Call me crazy but, ya know how every LoZ is in a different time. I had a dream they made it set in modern NYC
dan @ Oct 9th 2008 3:29PM
I think Wii-motion plus offers the most hope. Serious sword duels, and boss fights where you have to seize key opportunities to hit their weak point. Even the ability to cast spells by holding + and waving the control around in certain patterns (circle = ring of fire, stab down = earthquake, etc.)
GTA-style games are all the rage. There's definitely something cool about taking on more side-quests and mini-games, and letting people make up their own goals for their own amusement. Maybe even add in creative vehicles, like Square-style airships and hovercrafts. This would really change the feel of the game, but this concept is pretty popular.
Something more crazy/risky: incorporating aspects of life simulations. You "raise" and "train" Hyrule Castle, or other villages. And for every one-on-one boss fight, you might have the occasional group-to-group village or castle fight. Or maybe you build sims-style relationships with different characters and factions, to unlock certain items, abilities, and side-quests. But this is much more of a stretch, and would require some Miyamoto brilliance to make it work.
SephFinale @ Oct 10th 2008 8:43PM
Sounds like FFCC: My Life as King.
Hardy @ Oct 9th 2008 3:37PM
This is what I want.
Epic story, factions at work, with actual wars going on. Mainly I want the story to be better then save the princess beat Ganon.
MotionPlus sword fights.
And MOST IMPORTANTLY, fully orchestrated music, and voice acting for all character other then Link.
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:58PM
The orchestra is a must. There is nothing Zelda needs more. MotionPlus is great, too, but the orchestra would make me happiest.
(Also, anything modern-day or futuristic would never, ever work. Ever. It's just fact. Zelda's not a sim, and it's not Grand Theft Auto. It's an RPG. A single-player, third-person RPG.)
Teddy @ Oct 9th 2008 3:44PM
The next Zelda game should be set in today's world. Link should be a high-school student struggling with teen issues like school, girls, drugs, parents and getting into a good college (his future). One day he realizes that those issues will have to take a backseat when he discovers who he really is and what real challenges await him. The CEO of a mega-corporation will try to conquer our modern world using the evil that Link's ancestors stopped. It's time for Link to grow up and save our world. If they go the scifi route, people will think they just copied SMG, not that it wouldn't work, but I think a modern setting would make it better.
TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 9th 2008 4:10PM
Think of it either as the future with laser swords, etc. Temples are space stations. And maybe Ganon as a Darth Vader type guy(except Ganon won't be his dad). And to make even more awesome...every cutsceneis CGI(Kingdom Hearts 2 beginning-like) has voiceover(except for Link)
Or as(more risky) LoZ: Tron.
That'd more awesome than anything ever. :P
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:54PM
NO! NO! Both of you, NO!
Baddog! This idea sucks.
Shadow31 @ Oct 9th 2008 7:48PM
Dude... why not have Ganon be Link's father? It'd be hilarious!
Note: If Nintendo actually did this, I'd be pissed unless Miyamoto found a way to pull it off while keeping the Zelda feel.
Aaron @ Oct 9th 2008 3:47PM
NWF, you guys have a short memory...
"Twilight Princess will be, without a doubt, the last Zelda game as you know it in its present form."
- Shigeru Miyamoto, September 2005
I'm a huge fan of the series, but I've been eagerly awaiting the re-invention of the Zelda series for three years now.
Ghen @ Oct 10th 2008 7:48AM
What would you change? open world, dungeon, open world, dungeon. This is the formula for success.
gwalk @ Oct 9th 2008 3:48PM
Yes. New ideas are a must. Twilight Princess was boring.
bukizzle715 @ Oct 9th 2008 3:49PM
No! Don't mess with Zelda! I don't care if Miyamoto is a genius, because they'll probably just "Wii mundane activity" it. You know they're going to give us some malarchy about how they want to create a "bridge" so casuals can play it too. Whick will suck it up.
leonus11 @ Oct 9th 2008 3:50PM
@ Hardy
i agree with you COMPLETLY except the part about the voice acting. why? well (IMO) not only will it be weird that links the only one who doesn't speak but there hasn't been a LoZ that has had voice acting. it just.....idk....doesn't seem to go with the zelda series. ALTHOUGH i could be wrong! here's hoping ninty (miyamoto more importantly) proves me wrong! :D
bug frawg @ Oct 10th 2008 12:53AM
The cd-i zeldas had voice acting, if you count them as actual games in the series. (it's best that you don't)
I just wonder what ganon's up to........
Ghaleon @ Oct 9th 2008 3:57PM
Zelda is just too boring for me now. I barely played Zelda: Toilet Paper before ditching it. NEW IDEAS DAMMIT. Glad they realize this (WW was great, but the gameplay was exactly the same as OoT).
Zelda II sequel please, haha. And how bout a real narrative
Andy @ Oct 9th 2008 4:01PM
Twilight Princess was kind of a bore. Okami has a better story and game-play. Maybe they should make the next Zelda less 'core friendly' and more 'rpg-nerd friendly.'
Brendon @ Oct 9th 2008 4:03PM
Less brown.
BananaBoat @ Oct 9th 2008 4:03PM
No new ideas...please....just upgrade the graphics so they take advantage of the Wii (unlike Twilight Princess, which wouldn't have been taking advantage of a Nintendo DS, much less a Wii).
They need to take one step back into Wind Waker land and Majora's Mask land for the overall feel of the game. TP's color pallet was just a shade too dark, and if they could infuse just the slightest bit of color in there, I think they'd have it perfected. No cell shading, but color nonetheless.
I guess my fears at this point are: Miyamoto is going to make it into a casual wiimote waggle fest, or he's going to do something insane like give Link a voice actor, or some other such insanity.
Don't let me down Shiggy...don't let me down.
Mr Khan @ Oct 9th 2008 4:10PM
They won't make it casual in the sense you speak of, though they'll probably take efforts to make the game "accessible" if only through simplicity of Wii controls
Probably a longer "tutorial area" too, like the one they had in Ocarina of Time. A whole village to learn basic mechanics.
Mr Khan @ Oct 9th 2008 4:06PM
Your comment counter is broken, it reads 0 comments as of this post (the 15th)
Anyhoo, it's weird that this story is just getting around, it's from E3 2008, and i think you already ran a story about it
http://nintendo.joystiq.com/2008/07/16/e308-miyamoto-says-ds-and-wii-zelda-teams-collaborating/
Which is from exactly the same interview
Not dogging either you or RMC, its just weird that he dug this up now of all times.
But pertaining to the story in question, i think they might try to pull a "Majora's Mask" on us, since Twilight Princess is basically Zelda 101 in terms of story. Something less conventional and NPC-driven, with a control scheme that switches out between basic button/gesture driven combat but can switch over to pointer/motion+ combat for more advanced enemies (Darknuts and their ilk). The combat/lock on view should be over-the-shoulder, but the regular view should be traditional third person
My 2 cents. Link shouldn't speak, either. At most do what Metroid Prime 3 did, at most.
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:49PM
I agree that they should stay standard third-person. It's Zelda.
They did a mini-FPS with Zelda with the Zapper, and see how well that worked out.
3cubed @ Oct 9th 2008 4:09PM
Wow. This story reminded me that Twilight Princess is on sale at Circuit City for 35$ this week. I guess its time to stop waiting for the player's choice to come and just buy it.
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:47PM
It's been $20 at Walmart for months.
Jacob @ Oct 12th 2008 3:55PM
I don't know about a futuristic Zelda -- isn't that sort of what Metroid Prime is? I know one is in first person the other in third person, but at the same time they're undeniably cut from the same cloth.
BBFP @ Oct 9th 2008 4:45PM
The new zelda should have wii speak and motion plus so you can trade items online!
michael @ Oct 16th 2008 7:55PM
at our walmart, the price of twilight princess hasn't budged a bit. im not kidding. its still $ 49. On some of the other comments , i don't think voice overs should be added, because, if i remember correctly, I think miyamoto said he didn't want voices in his games because he wanted the player to feel like he/she was the hero. In which they have their own name and such. adding voices would take that away. Unless, they did it to where link was a mute, like jak and daxter. I still don't like the idea though. Some voices in games sound crappy. Another thing, i really don't care what time period they put the next zelda game in. I think it will be interesting no matter what. Miyamoto said himself he didn't exactly have a time line for the games. Jak and Daxter had the same concept. It had an awesome story line to it too. Now don't get all off at me just because i got into a sony game. For one thing, i don't like sony at this point. Some of their games are ok, but i like nintendo way better than sony. I can't say that about microsoft though. I do like nintendo better because their games are more original. They have more of a classic feel to them. Theres no telling what nintendo will do with the next zelda game. Either way, i'll be happy. Just be glad their continuing their the series. I'm sure they won't let us down.
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:46PM
By "unique" I hope they mean that they're planning on deviating from the standard Zelda/Mario storyline. I would love a wholly new story (don't say WindWaker, it's the same story in disguise), like in Majora's Mask or Link's Awakening.
Andy G @ Oct 10th 2008 8:45AM
Yes, Majora's mask was by far my favorite.
zchry @ Oct 10th 2008 11:25PM
None compare to Ocarina of Time in overall quality, but Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening get bonus points for originality and are my two favorites, respectively.
zchry @ Oct 9th 2008 4:51PM
Your Zelda Age is 25! This is 8 years over your real age!
pderdeyn @ Oct 9th 2008 4:57PM
The initail outcry over Wind Waker was just that, initial. That game was absolutely amazing.
CJLopez @ Oct 9th 2008 5:04PM
I'd rather go for a new turn
I was thinking, make that Ganon takes over everything, Zelda is killed and Ganon has sealed the way for the Hero to be reborn. Then, its up to a Goron, A hylian and a Zora to join forces and break the seal so the hero can be born, or brought from another time. You can choose who to play the game, each with its own stats, abilities and skills, and even be able to play co-op (Monster Hunter 3 style)
And make it this game a 2 games game, first when the seal has to be broken and the later where you have to defeat Ganon, using either reborn/brought from another time Link and the Hylian, the goron of the Zora
Roto13 @ Oct 9th 2008 5:17PM
I think Twilight Princess is probably the first Zelda game that didn't feel fresh enough. The Game Cube version might as well have been Ocarina of Time 1.5. It was a great game, don't get me wrong, but most Zeldas do a lot more differently than Twilight Princess did, and that's half the appeal of the series.
Dylan @ Oct 9th 2008 5:21PM
For the love of God, new temple ideas.
Ever since OoT, there has been a Forest, Fire, and Water Temple, as well as some sort of desert temple and some eerie, dark temple. I get the feeling I'm playing the same temples over and over again, although I did love the Sky Temple of that Snow Temple from TP (I hadn't touched it for 2 years, give me a break) I love that Link doesn't speak. It adds more "mystery" to him. Although the characters that DO speak, voice acting would be nice. Online would be essential (Sword fights via wifi anyone?). Of course Wii Motion Plus. Integrating Wii Speak into the game would also be fun. More challenging bosses would but good too. I beat the boss in no more than five tries. And a new story-line too. The plot for almost every Zelda game is defeat Ganon, save Zelda. tLoZ has the potential to have a much deeper story line, and I would like to see that in the next game.