#ALinkToThePastQuote
LightNews LightNews
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on the original open-ended vision for A Link to the Past, 1992.

Source: Shmuplations

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/bdf016370eb1...
Miyamoto on the original open-ended vision for A Link to the Past, 1992. Source: Shmuplations #Zelda #ALinktothePastQuote #MiyamotoQuote https://www.notion.so/bdf016370eb14b94aa2be3c4cc3dcaf6
August 5, 2025 at 10:34 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #3: Favorite Game
Haruhana & Takizawa on being inspired by A Link to the Past, 2017.

Source: Arts & Artifacts

#Zelda, #Linktober
#ALinktothePastQuote
#HaruhanaQuote, #TakizawaQuote
PEOPLE: - Yoshiki Haruhana, age 46. Artist who designed Zelda in Ocarina of Time and Toon Link in Wind Waker. - Satoru Takizawa, age 44. Breath of the Wild Art Director, designed Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Haruhana: It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that playing this title [A Link to the Past] was what got me into the world of gaming and set the course of my life. Takizawa: It’s the same for me, in that A Link to the Past was what inspired me to try my hand at Nintendo’s employment examination. It was truly sensational.
October 3, 2026 at 6:35 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 19: Link

Haruhana & Nakano on androgynous Link character designs, 2017.

Source: Arts & Artifacts

#Zelda
#TheAdventureofLinkQuote, #ALinktothePastQuote
#HaruhanaQuote, #NakanoQuote

www.notion.so/06aaee32280f...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiki Haruhana, age 46. Character designer and art lead for many Zelda games. - Yusuke Nakano, age 47. Illustrator for many Zelda games. QUOTE: Haruhana: [Looking at Adventure of Link art, straight-faced] He’s got some nice hips. All: [Laughter] Nakano: Link’s appearance has always been a little bit androgynous, and he has some effeminate traits as well. One might say that those traits are his roots. Perhaps the fact that in the Japanese A Link to the Past commercial featuring Scha Dara Parr’s Zelda rap, the person dressed up as Link was female was also symbolic of that.
October 20, 2025 at 3:47 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on a very different vision for the 3rd Zelda game, 1989.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote, #TheAdventureofLinkQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/2c09a218fe49...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 36. Producer of The Legend of Zelda (1986), Adventure of Link (1987), and the upcoming A Link to the Past (1991). QUOTE: Miyamoto: Ever since I started making the first game in the series, I’ve been saying that the 3rd Zelda [A Link to the Past] will feature a party, one that consists of the protagonist, who’s a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl. The fairy that appeared in Adventure of Link was actually a party member designed for Zelda 3. A girl who looked a little like a fairy and whose role consisted of reconnaissance. Like the characters in action games that don’t engage enemies in combat but rather go and scout out the surroundings and return to you safely. It’s also fun when an action adventure game lets you choose who to send out.
May 23, 2025 at 4:10 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Nishida on the iconic spinning Triforce, 2017.

Source: Nintendo Website

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#NishidaQuote

web.archive.org/web/20171001...
PEOPLE: - Yasunari Nishida. Programmer on A Link to the Past. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 64. Producer of A Link to the Past. QUOTE: Nishida: Just before the [A Link to the Past] logo appears, a polygonal Triforce symbol comes spinning in. I was in charge of programming that. Q: You created that iconic scene? Nishida: Yes. Back then, I was just beginning to experiment with polygons, which were expected to be the core technology of the future. That scene was Nintendo's first time to use it in a game. Q: Quite some time ago, Shigeru Miyamoto said in an interview that Nintendo outsourced most of the programming prior to Super NES. Shimizu: That's right. … I was the first one in Entertainment Analysis & Development, the department that I belonged to at the time.
June 19, 2026 at 12:04 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on the planned world structure for Link to the Past, 1991.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/4d8a6b5d9269...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Producer of A Link to the Past. QUOTE: "Q: [A Link to the Past] has a light world and a dark world. When did you decide on that sort of duality? Miyamoto: At first there were three worlds, but players would’ve gotten confused. That’s why we had to fix things up. It’s difficult to plant a new concept like that in an action game, you see."
February 6, 2025 at 11:54 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Tezuka on weapon combos in A Link to the Past, 2017.

Source: Retro Gamer Magazine

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#TezukaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Retro-Gamer-...
PEOPLE: - Takashi Tezuka, age 56. Director of The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, and Link’s Awakening. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 64. Producer of The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, and Link’s Awakening. QUOTE: Tezuka: At the start of development [of A Link to the Past], we wanted players to be able to freely choose which weapons to hold, not just the sword and shield. We also thought about having these weapons combine, say for example, having the Bow & Arrows set to the A button and a Bomb to the B button so that when you use them together, Link would shoot an arrow with a bomb attached. In the end we didn’t use this in A Link to the Past, as Shigeru Miyamoto requested that Link always have the sword equipped.
May 9, 2026 at 8:55 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on his thinking behind introducing the ability to cut grass, 2003.

Source: Nintendo Prime

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote, #OcarinaofTimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/12641fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer of A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: I thought it’d be funny if you could cut the grass, so we included it in A Link to the Past. For Ocarina, we included that too, but it was too obvious you could cut the grass, so we extended it to the signs. We tried hard so that you could swing your sword in many different angles, but you couldn’t notice it that easily, and since the signs were the elements that best showed those angles, we wanted the player to cut them. [laughs] The signs floated on the water, right? I didn’t tell the staff to include that, though. They didn’t want to leave the signs on the waterside, so they made them float on the water. [laughs]"
January 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on the timeline of the Zelda saga, 1999.

Source: Shmuplations

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote, #ALinktothePastQuote, #TheLegendofZeldaQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/8d67b7d41dfe...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Producer of Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, & The Legend of Zelda. QUOTE: Q: Before it was released, Nintendo announced that Ocarina of Time would “unlock the mysteries of the entire Zelda story”. Could you tell us about that in your own words? Miyamoto: Maybe “mysteries” was a bit of an exaggeration, but you do learn the story of where the Triforce came from, and it is meant to be "episode 1" of the Zelda saga. The basic order is Ocarina, then the original Zelda, followed by A Link to the Past.
August 12, 2025 at 11:07 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 3: Flames

Miyamoto on cut fire and digging mechanics in A Link to the Past, 1992.

Source: Shmuplations

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/bdf016370eb1...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Producer of A Link to the Past. QUOTE: Miyamoto: One idea [cut from A Link to the Past] was with the lantern: if you used it on a grassy area, it would cause a huge brushfire. If you cut a little circle of grass around you, you could safely stand there in the middle of it! … In swamp areas, you could use a shovel to dig a ditch, and then if you bombed the swamp breakwater it would cause the water to rush into the hole you’d dug. That idea was actually half-complete… if we’d had another six months, we might have been able to make it a reality.
October 3, 2025 at 10:52 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Tezuka and the rise of the hero in A Link to the Past, 2017.

Source: Retro Gamer Magazine

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#TezukaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Retro-Gamer-...
PEOPLE: - Takashi Tezuka, age 56. Director of A Link to the Past. QUOTE: Tezuka: In the midst of a forest … the sword stood waiting for someone worthy of wielding it to arrive. Link draws the sword out as the light trickles through the leaves. ... Our main aim was to show the birth of a hero in a scene fitting of The Legend Of Zelda, and overlap this with a sense of achievement for the player that they have been recognized as a hero after having overcome many challenges. What we had decided on from the start was that Link would first become a hero in the Light World and defeat the first boss. From that point is when his battle to defeat the real enemy, Ganon, in the Dark World begins.
May 8, 2026 at 4:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
His NEXT role was as a Script Writer for A Link to the Past.

#TanabeQuote
#ALinkToThePastQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Luigi-s-Mans...
PEOPLE: - Kensuke Tanabe, age 57. A Link to the Past Script Writer. QUOTE: Tanabe: There are many instances in game development where at first, things don’t turn out the way you speculate. When that happens, I try not to cling to that initial idea too much. For example, this is when I was working on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. At first, we were thinking about structuring the game with numerous parallel worlds. However, in order to establish the gameplay in the end, we decided that it would be better to narrow it down to two worlds: Light and Dark. I think game development involves much work where you never know unless you actually test it out.
January 22, 2026 at 4:41 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on one of his goals for the new SNES Zelda's world, 1990.

Via Shmuplations.

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote,#HoriiQuote

www.notion.so/3953864db4d7...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Creator of Zelda & Mario, Producer of A Link to the Past. - Yuji Horii, age 36. Creator and writer of Dragon Quest. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: One of my goals for the new Super Famicom Zelda [A Link to the Past] is to make the environment so attractive that players will enjoy just running around in it. My basic policy is: if it will make the game fun, I’ll try anything. Maybe I’ll ask Horii here to write the scenario. [laughs] Horii: I have always wanted to try writing an action RPG scenario."
March 12, 2024 at 4:27 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #6: Sacred

Koizumi on manual art and writing for A Link to the Past, 2007.

Source: Wired

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#KoizumiQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/adccbdbf92a3...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. A Link to the Past Manual Author & Illustrator. QUOTE: "Koizumi: My first assignment [at Nintendo] was to do the art and layout and eventually the writing for the manual for The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. What was funny was that at the time, it didn't seem like they'd really figured out what most of the game elements meant. So it was up to me to come up with story and things while I was working on the manual. So, for example, the design of the goddesses as well as the star sign associated with them."
October 6, 2024 at 8:34 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #27: Rest

Miyamoto’s attitude on crunch during development of A Link to the Past, 1991.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote
www.notion.so/d2adec2b72c5...
Note: Us sharing a quote is not an endorsement of the content of the quote!
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: I always ensured that I get 8 hours of sleep a day so my brain doesn’t get tired [while working on A Link to the Past]. I also made sure that the programmers were taking time off to sleep. Work never progresses if you don’t get any sleep. But, while it’s important to get some rest, it’s also not good to have people saying ‘Well, it’s time to go home, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.’ If someone prances out the door because the day is over when everyone’s still hard at work, their reaction will be ‘Who is this guy?’ [laughs]"
October 28, 2024 at 1:43 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #15: Sword

Tezuka and the rise of the hero in A Link to the Past, 2017.
Source: Retro Gamer Magazine

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#TezukaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/80c7fe972be2...
PEOPLE: - Takashi Tezuka, age 56. A Link to the Past Game Director. QUOTE: "Tezuka: In the midst of a forest … the sword stood waiting for someone worthy of wielding it to arrive. Link draws the sword out as the light trickles through the leaves. ... Our main aim was to show the birth of a hero in a scene fitting of The Legend Of Zelda, and overlap this with a sense of achievement for the player that they have been recognized as a hero after having overcome many challenges. What we had decided on from the start was that Link would first become a hero in the Light World and defeat the first boss. From that point is when his battle to defeat the real enemy, Ganon, in the Dark World begins."
October 16, 2024 at 4:09 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Some Miyamoto quotes on the RPG genre and whether Zelda games are RPGs (1990, 1992, 2003).

Sources: Shmuplations, Nintendo Prime

#Zelda
#MiyamotoQuote
#ALinkToThePastQuote

(see below for links to sources)
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past, co-creator of Zelda. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: The theme for [A Link to the Past] is a ’real-time action-adventure game.’ Q: I noticed you didn’t say ‘RPG’. Miyamoto: The Zelda series has never used the word ‘RPG’. The way I see it, there are some light RPG elements to Zelda—like the fact that your character grows in power as the game progresses—but that’s it. If we expanded on those elements, my sense is that it would be taking the game in the wrong direction. … In the Zelda series, Link does get stronger as you progress through the game, but that was done in order to to help players who are bad at action games. We wanted the game to get easier as Link gets stronger." PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 39. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: That’s why when I’m asked what direction RPGs as a whole are headed in, I feel like I can only respond ‘I don’t know.’ There’s games, for example, like Final Fantasy, which emphasize presentation and graphics… which are clearly different from what Dragon Quest and Zelda are doing. If you ask me about specific individual cases, I might be able to give some kind of an answer. … Ultimately, whether you’re looking at Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, I don’t think you can talk about these games as if there’s a single process. And that’s also why I sense a danger in trying to fix a definition to the term RPG." PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer and Co-Director of The Legend of Zelda (1986). QUOTE: "Miyamoto: Back when [Zelda] was born, I was… [thinks] Influenced by games like Black Onyx and Ultima. The ideal would be not to have any influences at all. But I wanted to take the interesting parts of those games. It makes me feel proud that those people think that my characters are strong. That was something interesting. That was the foundation. But thinking of what was fun, I thought the character’s process of gaining strength was fun, but I didn’t think the way of playing them was fun. [laughs]"
February 7, 2025 at 7:35 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober Day 25: Fairy
Miyamoto on a very different vision for the 3rd Zelda game.

Via GlitterBerri's Game Translations, 1989.

#Zelda
#ALinkToThePastQuote, #AdventureOfLinkQuote
#MiyamotoQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Discussion-B...
People in quote: Shigeru Miyamoto, age 37. Producer of The Legend of Zelda (1986), Adventure of Link (1987), and the upcoming A Link to the Past (1991). Quote: "Miyamoto: Ever since I started making the first game in the series, I’ve been saying that the 3rd Zelda [A Link to the Past] will feature a party, one that consists of the protagonist, who’s a mix between an elf and a fighter, a magic user, and a girl. The fairy that appeared in Adventure of Link was actually a party member designed for Zelda 3. A girl who looked a little like a fairy and whose role consisted of reconnaissance. Like the characters in action games that don’t engage enemies in combat but rather go and scout out the surroundings and return to you safely. It’s also fun when an action adventure game lets you choose who to send out. "
October 25, 2023 at 8:00 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober Day 18: Boss
Imamura on his contributions to A Link to the Past.

Via IGN, 2021.

#Zelda
#ALinkToThePastQuote
#ImamuraQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/The-Man-Who-...
People in quote: -Takaya Imamura, age 55. Object Designer on A Link to the Past. Quote: "Imamura: I designed all the bosses [in A Link to the Past] except for the last one and one other. It was not just the art; I also designed the mechanics together with one of the programmers. For some bosses, we came up with the mechanics just with the two of us, while for others we first received instructions from planners on what kind of enemy they wanted. I also designed the game’s [Japanese] title logo and dungeon maps. Designing dungeon maps is a harsh job, as the dungeons consist of multiple floors and their structure kept changing over the course of development."
October 19, 2023 at 12:46 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Owsen on where the English name "A Link to the Past" came from, 2001.

Via Zelda.com.

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#OwsenQuote

www.notion.so/e5e89985aa82...
PEOPLE: - Dan Owsen. English writer & translator for A Link to the Past. QUOTE: "Owsen: ‘A Link to the Past’ was chosen because it sounds cool, and because this game theoretically took place in the past of the previously released games. I say theoretically because, as has been discussed in this forum, the timeline is open for discussion."
January 29, 2024 at 4:53 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober day 30: Favorite Game
Aonuma on what Miyamoto told him after he made Marvelous.

Via Spike TV, 2013.

#Zelda
#ALinkToThePastQuote, #OcarinaOfTimeQuote
#AonumaQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/A-Look-At-Th...
PEOPLE: -Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of Marvelous, Dungeon Director of Ocarina of Time. -Shigeru Miyamoto, age 60. Producer of Ocarina of Time, co-creator of Zelda. QUOTE: "Aonuma: Playing [A Link To The Past] was actually the start of not only my involvement with the Zelda series, but also just the first game that made me want to make games. Before I had just been working as a designer [artist] at Nintendo, but when I played this, this was what made me think, 'Oh, I might want to make games.' … The game I made after that was called Marvelous, which actually never came out in North America, but Mr. Miyamoto actually saw that game and he was like, 'If you really want to make a Zelda game that bad, why don’t you just actually make a Zelda game.' And that's what led me to work on Ocarina of Time."
October 30, 2023 at 4:08 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Tanabe on the decision to have just two worlds in A Link to the Past, 2020.

Via Kotaku.

#Zelda
#ALinktothePastQuote
#TanabeQuote

www.notion.so/f7df147a388a...
PEOPLE: - Kensuke Tanabe, age 57. A Link to the Past Script Writer. QUOTE: "Tanabe: There are many instances in game development where at first, things don’t turn out the way you speculate. When that happens, I try not to cling to that initial idea too much. For example, this is when I was working on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. At first, we were thinking about structuring the game with numerous parallel worlds. However, in order to establish the gameplay in the end, we decided that it would be better to narrow it down to two worlds: Light and Dark. I think game development involves much work where you never know unless you actually test it out."
February 12, 2024 at 8:14 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on the theme of A Link to the Past and whether it is an RPG.

Via Shmuplations, 1990.

#Zelda
#ALinkToThePastQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Shigeru-Miya...
PEOPLE: Shigeru Miyamoto, Age 38. Producer of A Link to the Past, co-creator of Zelda. QUOTE: "Miyamoto: The theme for [A Link to the Past] is a ’real-time action-adventure game.’ Q: I noticed you didn’t say ‘RPG’. Miyamoto: The Zelda series has never used the word ‘RPG’. The way I see it, there are some light RPG elements to Zelda—like the fact that your character grows in power as the game progresses—but that’s it. If we expanded on those elements, my sense is that it would be taking the game in the wrong direction. … In the Zelda series, Link does get stronger as you progress through the game, but that was done in order to to help players who are bad at action games. We wanted the game to get easier as Link gets stronger."
November 3, 2023 at 4:06 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober Day 9: Deity
Koizumi on manual art and writing for A Link to the Past.

Via Wired, 2007.

#Zelda
#ALinkToThePastQuote
#KoizumiQuote
#Linktober

hyruleinterviews.notion.site/Super-Mario-...
People in quote: Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. A Link to the Past Manual Author & Illustrator. Quote: "Koizumi: My first assignment [at Nintendo] was to do the art and layout and eventually the writing for the manual for The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. What was funny was that at the time, it didn't seem like they'd really figured out what most of the game elements meant. So it was up to me to come up with story and things while I was working on the manual. So, for example, the design of the goddesses as well as the star sign associated with them."
October 9, 2023 at 7:25 PM