How Modern Can Zelda Get?

[luke_c]

We've seen hints from Nintendo's Zelda franchise producer, Eiji Aonumam that more flight may be in Link's future. Last week, I asked him about things like cars and guns getting into a Zelda game.

Consider that the earliest Zelda game was all caves and magic swords, with nothing more high-tech than a boomerang and a whistle. Several Zeldas later, Link was sailing ships, taking pictures with a camera and, as of a week from today, driving a train in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the DS.

So I wrote to Aonuma: "Spirit Tracks features a train, which may be the most modern piece of technology included in a Zelda game. How modern do you think the Zelda universe can get? Could it include, for example, a radio? A car? A gun?"

In an e-mailed response, Aonuma said: "Technology actually was not a major concern for us when we decided to use the train. In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the boat was the key mode of transportation. Now that Spirit Tracks takes place on land, we needed a new way for players to get around, and felt that the train offered the best sense of exploration and discovery. We don't think it feels out of place in the game world. Trains are also a popular mode of transportation in Japan. My children and I still feel a great sense of adventure when we ride trains in Japan."

Note how un-Zelda-like some of my suggestions were. Final Fantasy can get modern and even futuristic. Even World of Warcraft manages to include motorcycles. But a Zelda game with even more modern technology?

I don't see Aonuma ruling any of it out based on what he then said to me about future tech:

"Regarding use of other forms in technology in the future, as long it adds to the overall game experience and is something we feel the player would enjoy, we wouldn't be afraid to implement it. As a matter of fact, we have used the Hook Shot in several previous games, which would be considered a very modern type of technology, even by today's standards. "

So maybe Link can have a cell phone some day. Though I doubt they'd go that far. I don't see the gameplay benefit of an iPod over a fairy. But a car... then who would need a horse any more?

Source.

Interesting ideas there...

 

[webyugioh]

I thought of this when I read it.

 

[CrimsoniteX]

The Legend of Zelda... IN SPACE!

 

[Prophet]

Let's not give Nintendo any ideas for future gimmicks. I'd take a mature story driven Zelda over a "futuristic" Zelda any day.

 

[dinofan01]

The Legend of Zelda... IN SPACE!

*Looks at Galaxy*

A couple of years ago I would have tried to slap you through the internet.....now, I have to say your guess is more likely then anyone's.

 

[Law]

Mechas.

But you need a different Triforce in order to power each Mecha, and when you have all 3 triforce pieces you can make the mechas combine to make a super mecha, before flying into space to battle with RoboGanon

 

[alidsl]

This guy beat you to it

 

[dib]

Trains don't introduce adventure. If anything, the absolute opposite is true: a train runs on a track in forward or reverse.

My criticism of their current direction is that they've deprived the series of its legacy, and the reason why gamers kept returning to Hyrule for all those years. Miyamoto has stated that his intention in creating the original was to bring the sort of exploration to video games that he enjoyed as a kid in the outdoors. That is what this series always delivered and why it was a landmark, genre defining title.

But there was no exploration in Phantom Hourglass, it was moving from one island to another where you find a singular goal at a singular location and then leave with no expectation to ever return. The ship didn't introduce freedom as a mode of transportation, if anything it was confining. And as a video game mechanic, it was boring.

The dichotomy between his past work on console installments and these current handhelds is astounding, and it's insulting that he wants to bullshit us to make up the difference. Yet I'm confident he will continue to interpret the game's success as vindication of his design choices, because any Zelda game will be a commercial success so long as it adheres to basic elements familiar to the series with the labyrinths and inventory.

 

[Raika]

Super Zelda Galaxy.

 

[shakirmoledina]

camera? i have to play further i guess

modern tech can be in zelda and do u wanna know how?

Spoiler

 

[blackdragonbaham]

i am not that big fan of science fiction, but i am interested in how good a legend of zelda in a future, means sience fiction plot would be:. perhaps we'll see in near future:. kinda final fantasy with action gameplay and zelda characters:.

 

[jalaneme]

Trains don't introduce adventure. If anything, the absolute opposite is true: a train runs on a track in forward or reverse.

My criticism of their current direction is that they've deprived the series of its legacy, and the reason why gamers kept returning to Hyrule for all those years. Miyamoto has stated that his intention in creating the original was to bring the sort of exploration to video games that he enjoyed as a kid in the outdoors. That is what this series always delivered and why it was a landmark, genre defining title.

But there was no exploration in Phantom Hourglass, it was moving from one island to another where you find a singular goal at a singular location and then leave with no expectation to ever return. The ship didn't introduce freedom as a mode of transportation, if anything it was confining. And as a video game mechanic, it was boring.

The dichotomy between his past work on console installments and these current handhelds is astounding, and it's insulting that he wants to bullshit us to make up the difference. Yet I'm confident he will continue to interpret the game's success as vindication of his design choices, because any Zelda game will be a commercial success so long as it adheres to basic elements familiar to the series with the labyrinths and inventory.

QFT well said.

 

[Sachka]

There's actually a space ship / rocket stone in game that rockets into space when you play a tune with the flute.

 

[Veristical Blaze]

Maybe they think of completing a timeline-like thing. How further in the time-line how more modern the zelda's get, even if they say there is no timeline, i still think they kinda push it along this way.
For me I hope Zelda will stay it's good old exploration-by-horse or feet game. No modern technology, before we know link is in the 19th century and he's flying a plane...