#AonumaQuote
LightNews LightNews
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on remakes, 2013.

Source: Polygon

#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/1ea41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Producer of many Zelda titles, including Ocarina of Time 3D, The Wind Waker HD and, later, Majora’s Mask 3D, Twilight Princess HD, and Link’s Awakening (2019). QUOTE: Aonuma: As a creator, I want to make something new, remakes really aren’t something that get me excited.
May 9, 2025 at 4:11 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on games where players never get lost, 2018.

Source: Zelda Encyclopedia

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/e6aaedfa0594...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 55. Producer of the Zelda series. QUOTE: Aonuma: [In past Zelda games] we would place numerous landmarks so that players could follow them, and so on. We did things like that to ensure players wouldn’t get lost. But thinking critically, making a game in which players never get lost is like the development team saying that it’s actually just linear. When making a Zelda with that structure, and then examining it from a distance, it starts to feel like “Is this really interesting?”
February 1, 2026 at 10:33 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Shikata & Aonuma on the first year of A Link Between Worlds development, 2013.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#ALinkBetweenWorldsQuote
#ShikataQuote, #AonumaQuote, #MouriQuote

iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3...
PEOPLE: - Hiromasa Shikata. A Link Between Worlds Director. - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. A Link Between Worlds Producer. - Shiro Mouri. A Link Between Worlds Sub-Director & Programming Lead. QUOTE: Shikata: When Spirit Tracks was over, much of the staff went to develop Skyward Sword. The only ones left were Mouri-san, another programmer and I. The Nintendo 3DS wasn't out yet, but our goal was to make a Zelda game for the handheld that would follow the Nintendo DS, so for about the first year, we thought a lot about what to do. Iwata: Just the three of you for a whole year? Wasn't that hard? Shikata: Yeah. We anguished over it every day, wondering what we should do. Aonuma: To add to that, it didn't mean that nothing came of it that one year. As we were testing things, that was a period when we hit upon the most distinctive feature of this game.
June 25, 2026 at 11:37 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #2: Weapons
Aonuma on weapon durability as a repeating cycle of play, 2017.

Source: Den-fami Nico Game Magazine

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#AonumaQuote

news.denfaminicogamer.jp/english/1706...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 54. Breath of the Wild Producer. QUOTE: Aonuma: [Breath of the Wild’s item durability system] is a cycle that allows the player to keep playing in such a big world without getting bored. The reason for the repetition of the “taking weapons from the enemy and the weapons gets demolished” is to use it for the cycle. Also, the player has the goal of fighting off the enemies on the plain, instead of just avoiding them.
October 2, 2026 at 5:53 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on making Zelda more independent and involved in Spirit Tracks, 2009.

Source: Kotaku

#Zelda
#SpiritTracksQuote
#AonumaQuote, #IwamotoQuote

www.notion.so/38172f63fa70...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Producer of Spirit Tracks. - Daiki Iwamoto, age 40. Director of Spirit Tracks. QUOTE: Aonuma: We recently received information from a survey conducted in the US that indicated that, among our female characters, users had a preference for those that were more on the independent side, such as Sheik and Tetra. Making Zelda a more integral part of the game was also a goal for our Director, Mr. Iwamoto, so we set out with this element in mind when we started making [Spirit Tracks].
April 27, 2025 at 5:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the first dungeon designed for Ocarina of Time, 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/0e093b226205...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 35. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director. QUOTE: Aonuma: I, personally, really like the Forest Temple. It was the very first dungeon we designed in Ocarina of Time. … At the center of the Forest Temple lies the twisting pathway. When you go through it, you can reach items you couldn’t before. We wouldn’t have been able to make something like that if the game hadn’t been 3D. It’s easy to think ‘wow, the path twists!’ but the designers actually had a lot of trouble with it. I think they spent about a week tormenting themselves over how to make it work.
March 5, 2026 at 5:23 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the difficulties of working within the lore of the Zelda series, 2024.

Source: Ask the Developer

#Zelda
#TheLegendofZeldaSeriesQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/11341fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 61. Producer of the Zelda franchise. Producer or Director of many Zelda titles. QUOTE: Aonuma: It's not easy to touch on the lore of the Legend of Zelda series. When you address the history of the Legend of Zelda, you naturally have to be conscious of how things have been expressed previously in the series. But when we think about a new game, we need to think about new developments while being mindful of the past games in the series, so the scope of what you can do becomes increasingly narrow if you think in the same way every time. On top of that, because the series has been running for a long time, players are interested in its history and lore.
April 20, 2026 at 7:02 AM
jdogtoocool.bsky.social
Aonuma, in 2023, asked about a potential modern remake of Ocarina of Time, and his surprising response!

Source: Game Informer Interview

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#AonumaQuote, #FujibayashiQuote

gameinformer.com/interview/20...
Aonuma And Fujibayashi Talk Tears Of The Kingdom's Reception And Their Approach To The Timeline
We sit down with the producer and director of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to discuss the game's reception and how the series has evolved. - Game Informer
gameinformer.com
September 13, 2026 at 11:26 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how Echoes of Wisdom showed the opportunity for top-down Zelda, 2024.

Source: The BBC

#Zelda
#EchoesofWisdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 61. Producer of Echoes of Wisdom. QUOTE: "Aonuma: I think through [Echoes of Wisdom] we were able to satisfy a lot of players. And so this game made me realize that there's still a lot of possibility for these top-down Zelda games as well. … And so we will also have those dynamic 3D Zeldas as well. But in addition to that, we're also hoping that we can continue with these 2D top-down Zeldas."
January 23, 2025 at 10:32 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on producing a non-Zelda game, 2017.

Source: Nintendo.com

#Zelda
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/30441fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Producer of the Zelda series. QUOTE: Q: What does the future hold for Mr. Aonuma? Can you give us any hints? Aonuma: As I get closer to the retirement age, people ask me if I’m ever going to make anything other than a Zelda game. And so sometimes I think maybe I should. But Zelda games really have everything in them that I would want to make in a game. The way the main character grows and develops. The puzzles and the minigames. I don’t think there’s much point in me making something other than Zelda, if I did it would only end up being something just like it. It’s a problem. So I think I’ll just keep making Zelda games!
February 11, 2026 at 4:35 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on his wife's fateful commentary, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #AonumaQuote

iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director. - Eiji Aonuma, age 48. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director. QUOTE: Koizumi: I changed the character design for Link a lot for Ocarina of Time. At first he had a button-nose. My wife said, "All of Nintendo's characters have funny noses. Don't you have any handsome ones?" I was shocked. Then when we were making Ocarina of Time, I was in charge of Link's character design, so I made him a little better-looking. Aonuma: Huh? So Link is your wife's type? Koizumi: Yes. [firmly] Everyone: [laughs]
September 16, 2026 at 4:07 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on why he wanted to stop directing Zelda games, 2017.

Source: Den-fami Nico Game Magazine

#AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/ccd8776d3b62...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 54. Director of Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, & Twilight Princess. Producer in charge of the Zelda series. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 64. Creator of Zelda. General Manager of Nintendo EAD when The Wind Waker was finished. QUOTE: Aonuma: I told Mr. Miyamoto that I didn’t want to be the [Zelda] director anymore. This thought sprung up right after The Wind Waker was finished … I was tired of the heavy workload, and I was not comfortable conducting promotional interviews with Mr. Miyamoto. He points out every mistake that I make in front of the reporters! … For example, the most [frequent] question [is about the essence of Zelda]. It’s a hard question to answer, even for us. Even Mr. Miyamoto is inconsistent with his answers. … So I would talk about that “Zelda-ness” just as Mr. Miyamoto would describe, only to be interrupted by Mr. Miyamoto himself disagreeing with me saying, “No, that’s different,” in front of all the reporters!
January 12, 2026 at 4:30 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the inspiration to turn Link into a wolf in Twilight Princess, 2016.

Source: Nintendo

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/c7696ae6d0cc...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 52. Director of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Aonuma: One time, when I was sleeping, I had a random dream that I was a wolf and locked in a jail cell. Who knows why I had a dream like that... So when I woke up that morning, I thought it'd be kind of neat to have Link turn into a wolf [in Twilight Princess].
September 20, 2025 at 7:15 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on Miyamoto's overriding direction for Hyrule Warriors, 2014.

Source: Nintendo Life

#Zelda
#HyruleWarriorsQuote
#AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote, #HayashiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/2a741fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 51. Zelda Franchise Supervisor for Hyrule Warriors. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 61. Creator of Zelda, General Manager of Nintendo EAD. - Yosuke Hayashi, age 35. Development Producer for Hyrule Warriors. QUOTE: Aonuma: At first, when Hayashi-san approached me [about Hyrule Warriors], he wanted to make this title closer to a Zelda game than a Dynasty Warriors game—that extended to having boss battles in the dungeons and certain characters in the game. However, Mr. Miyamoto came along and up-ended the tea table, saying, “No, that should not be the case. What we’re doing here is grafting Zelda onto the Dynasty Warriors experience.” It was a reversal of the original proposal from Hayashi-san, which was adding elements of Dynasty Warriors onto the Zelda franchise. It ended up being the other way around based on Miyamoto’s direction.
November 18, 2025 at 12:25 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how Majora's Mask was a challenge to the players, 2015.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/aaab9d927dee...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 51. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. QUOTE: Aonuma: When we talked about Ocarina of Time … we talked about hospitality. But Majora's Mask isn't like that. It's all a challenge to our players. It's like we're saying to them ‘can you clear this?’ It was something like until then you were welcomed with open arms being invited to come in, and now you're being told at the door to go home if you don't have what it takes! [laughs] … We didn't put in any kind of elements where we show people how to play this game. The game was made for those who have played Ocarina of Time, so I felt like there wasn't a need for step-by-step instructions.
September 30, 2025 at 3:13 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on his favorite music and town, 2017.

Source: Nintendo.com

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote, #MajorasMaskQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/30441fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Director of the The Wind Waker. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. Zelda series producer. QUOTE: Q: What is your favorite song from Zelda series? Aonuma: There’s this song from The Wind Waker, the music in the battle in the desert against the sand worm, Molgera. I love that song. It has a kind of Japanese feel to it, with the Taiko drums. Q: Clock Town or Hyrule Castle Town – which is your favorite? Aonuma: Clock Town. Clock Town [in Majora’s Mask] is a whole society and microcosm, and I find that interesting.
February 27, 2026 at 4:05 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on incorporating "adventure" elements into dungeon designs, 2004.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/f87f768d9182...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 41. Dungeon Director of Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Aonuma: In Ocarina of Time, in addition to doing the dungeon design, I also took up the challenge of incorporating adventure elements into dungeons. By which I mean, giving the dungeon some type of theme, such as rescuing trapped Goron or hunting down the Poe sisters.
May 16, 2025 at 4:06 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on why Twilight Princess has a lot of cats, 2005.

Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/19841fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer, and later Director, of Twilight Princess. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 52. General Producer, and later Producer, of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Q: What’s with all the cats [in the early Twilight Princess trailers]? Aonuma: We're thinking about incorporating some ideas where Link can communicate with animals, опе way or another. I can't elaborate on specifically how. [But] the reason you can pick up cats early in the game in Toaru Village, for example, is because we wanted people to understand you can touch the cats, you can play with them. After leaving that impression, it'll become easier for us as developers to have complex ideas afterward, where the players are willing to approach the animals."
March 25, 2025 at 5:07 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the difference between his leadership on console vs handheld Zelda, 2009.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#PhantomHourglassQuote, #TwilightPrincessQuote, #SkywardSwordQuote, #SpiritTracksQuote
#IwataQuote, #AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/d6e65557dce3...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Iwata, age 49. President of Nintendo from 2002-2015. - Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Director of Twilight Princess, Producer of Phantom Hourglass. QUOTE: Iwata: Aonuma-san, you're involved with both [Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass]. Are there any differences in how you work on the two? Aonuma: When I work on the Wii edition, I'm right on-site, and I often do my job from a director's perspective. On the Nintendo DS version, I do proper producer's work. ...That said, when I worked on the previous game, Phantom Hourglass, I was simultaneously making Twilight Princess, so I couldn't keep a very close eye on things right from the beginning. Then, when Twilight Princess was finished and I went to the Nintendo DS version's office, the development was already pretty far along.
January 31, 2026 at 2:33 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on his feelings towards the Spaceworld 2000 Tech Demo, 2013.

Source: IGN

#Zelda
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/30241fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Director of Majora’s Mask, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. Producer for the Zelda series. QUOTE: Aonuma: I saw [the Spaceworld 2000 Zelda tech demo] and I thought, “No, this isn’t Zelda. This isn’t Zelda at all.” I felt like this wasn’t what I imagined Zelda to be. It wasn’t the Zelda I wanted to make. That video clip didn’t actually contain any big surprises. There wasn’t any kind of revelation going on. It was more like a continuation of the previous version. … I wasn’t interested in it at all.
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on The Wind Waker's call to action befitting "a regular little boy", 2002.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerQuote
#AonumaQuote

glitterberri.com/the-wind-wak...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 39. Director of The Wind Waker. QUOTE: Aonuma: When the person he’s closest to runs into trouble, his only thoughts are “I have to do something!” I was thinking of using an event like that to trigger the start of the story, so it was really Link himself that fueled the creation of Aryll [in The Wind Waker]. In past games, the curtain has opened on a variety of mysterious events, such as Link awakening to a strange voice, or suddenly discovering a crest on the back of his hand. This time, I decided to put an end to these strange circumstances and start off with a regular little boy doing his best to save his sister. I wanted to express the power of Link running reckless in order to achieve his goals.
August 18, 2026 at 7:42 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on Twilight Princess' timeline placement, 2005.

Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/19841fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 42. Producer (and later Director) of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Q: Where does [the recently revealed Twilight Princess] fall in the overall timeline? Aonuma: I can’t really go into that, partially because І want to keep it a secret, but also because we haven’t decided yet. There are some kinds of... unstable, uncertain ideas we're working on. Depending on what course we choose in terms of development, the final ending may change.
January 16, 2026 at 4:29 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on why they chose to remake Link's Awakening, 2019.

Source: Kotaku

#Zelda
#LinksAwakeningRemakeQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/f6de8600509f...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 56. Producer of the Link’s Awakening remake. QUOTE: Aonuma: When we were thinking about arranging dungeons, creating a puzzle on your own is always a little bit hard, so we thought, “What’s an easy way to have players be able to arrange things?” We thought maybe room arrangement or a map arrangement would be an easy way, and it’d feel like solving a puzzle. That’s how we landed on the Chamber Dungeons [dungeon maker]. Once we landed on the idea of arranging dungeons, we were thinking, in Link’s Awakening, pretty much every room is about the same size, so we thought this would be a perfect fit for incorporating the Chamber Dungeons, and that’s how this [Link’s Awakening Remake] came about.
March 30, 2026 at 5:26 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how tweaking simulation values can affect things on the other side of the map, 2017.

Source: Nintendo Everything

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#AonumaQuote

nintendoeverything.com/aonuma-on-ze...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 53. Producer of Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Aonuma: [Breath of the Wild’s simulation systems] took a lot of time for a simple reason: when you have a single physics engine to manage all the rules that will apply to a world, if you change even a tiny value at one place, anything can happen on the other side of the map. For example, we had one dungeon designer who wanted to make a puzzle that made you move clay pots with wind, so he changed a slider value so that the wind could carry the pots. When I tested this build of the game, I went to another place where there were supposed to be pots and I couldn’t find them. They had actually been carried by natural gusts and got stuck at the base of a distant mountain.
August 13, 2026 at 1:36 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 7: Undead

Aonuma on never getting a break and his family's feelings about it, 2013.

Source: USgamer

#Zelda
#TheWindWakerHDQuote, #ALinkBetweenWorldsQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/bd8ea2c85ef2...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 50. Franchise Producer for the Zelda series. QUOTE: Aonuma: Even when I get home, I'm getting home late. I want some vacation. I want some time off. Q: How much longer do you have … before you get that time off? A: What we're looking at, really, is a sort of trend. I finish one project and the next one is just overlapping. My family is not happy. Q: But they do like Zelda games, right? A: My son absolutely does like Zelda, and my wife has started playing Zelda as well. So that's great. They understand that I'm making these games, but… They're my family, and the fact that we're not taking vacations together, not going anywhere, it's not making them happy. We're trying to find a balance. It's tough.
October 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM