#BreathOfTheWildQuote
LightNews LightNews
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
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
Miyakawa on her approach to Sidon’s design, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#MiyakawaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Yuko Miyakawa. Breath of the Wild Character Designer. QUOTE: "Miyakawa: I was asked to make Sidon a passionate, dignified, and powerful character with a stronger physique than other Zora. I decided to base him on a hammerhead shark, and, as a result of his design, they ended up giving him a fan club in the game, which was a surprise. His outfit is princely, with elements of military wear, and I imagine that the whistle on his chest would be used when he takes command. Sidon was gray right up until the end of development, but, in the end, we made him red to make him stand out more onscreen and to make him resemble his older sister Mipha."
February 19, 2025 at 4:46 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Kiuchi on designing the Bokoblins in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#KiuchiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Takafumi Kiuchi. Lead Enemy Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Kiuchi: I designed the Bokoblins first and worked hard to design each of the monsters [in Breath of the Wild] to be kind of charming. Rather than making them eerie and off-putting, I wanted them to have an element of cuteness and humor. I thought building in this kind of charm would make people want to play the game more. I applied this way of thinking to their behavior and reactions as well. They snore while they sleep. They devour meat. They look up at the sky when it rains. I tried really hard to create details that would keep players engaged.
February 9, 2026 at 11:48 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 17: Korok
Yonezu on the design of the Deku Tree in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#YonezuQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Makoto Yonezu. Senior Lead Landscape Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Yonezu: I wanted to put a cherry blossom tree somewhere in the Hyrule of [Breath of the Wild]. I think that giving the Great Deku Tree a slightly Japanese aesthetic allows the player to imagine a different view of this world.
October 18, 2025 at 1:42 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takehara on beautiful nature after the calamity, 2019.

Source: Hyrule Interviews

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakeharaQuote, #YonezuQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Translation-...
PEOPLE: - Manabu Takehara. Breath of the Wild Lead Architecture Artist. - Makoto Yonezu. Breath of the Wild Lead Landscape Artist. QUOTE: Takehara: Something the terrain lead told me when the Breath of the Wild team met together: … “The grass fluttering with the wind”, “The feeling of adventure as you push your way through the grass”, these experiences create presence. He thought that they would help establish the worldview that even after the calamity, “Beautiful nature remains regardless of human life”. He then asked the programmers to “Grow a lot of grass in the game!”, and the end result was a volume of moving grass far past his imagination, resulting in him crying from joy.
August 16, 2026 at 1:11 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Shinoda on the design of the Rito in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#ShinodaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Hirohito Shinoda. Lead NPC Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Shinoda: The Rito first appeared in The Wind Waker, but their appearance has changed dramatically since then. The biggest reason for that is that I wanted to emphasize their bird-like silhouette and have their unique characteristics stand out more as a race. As they are based mainly on birds of prey, I tried to present them as dignified and stout.
April 15, 2025 at 4:59 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on being inspired by Minecraft & Terraria when making Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: GamesMaster Magazine

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/f5c48fb4baf1...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 44. Breath of the Wild Game Director. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: [For Breath of the Wild] I was rather inspired by playing Minecraft and Terraria. I was able to learn from the gameplay and possibilities found in [them]. I could learn from the sense of adventure, exploration, and how it inspired curiosity.
August 30, 2025 at 10:14 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takehara on the design of Gerudo Town in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakeharaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Manabu Takehara. Lead Structural Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Takehere: The royal palace [of Gerudo Town in Breath of the Wild] is both symbolically and literally a landmark. In terms of game design, having this visual landmark and enclosing the town within walls was necessary to differentiate it from the surrounding desert. Water was a key design element. Controlling the source of the water in the desert is symbolic of authority. We thought about the relationship between the city's layout and its water, which led to deciding to place the water source, which was likely discovered by the ancestors of the Gerudo, behind the throne and have it flow into the city as a symbol of the ruler's authority.
June 23, 2025 at 11:35 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on the chance to tell the backstories that didn't fit, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote, #CreatingaChampionQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 45. Director of Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: If you look up Akkala Citadel [in Creating a Champion], it talks about the position of the cannons and the direction they face, as well as why the citadel was strong against attacks from behind. It explains why the citadel, protected by a group of trained professionals, fell, and why Fort Hateno, guarded by amateurs, was able to withstand assault. There were backstories for particular settings during development but they were very complex, so we couldn't explain them in [Breath of the Wild]. This book allows us the opportunity to tell those stories, which makes the development team and me very happy."
January 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Wada on his thinking when illustrating the Breath of the Wild key art, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#WadaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Takumi Wada, age 34. Illustrator for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Wada: When I drew the official box art and E3 illustration, I wanted to give the sense that Link was confronting the world. My first sketch portrayed Link looking out over Hyrule with his back to the viewer. I then experimented with several other compositions that more prominently featured Link, but eventually settled on the direction of my initial idea. I felt that the world itself, not just the characters, had a leading role in [Breath of the Wild]. I also wanted to convey that this was the beginning of a new Zelda, so I drew the sky at daybreak.
January 28, 2026 at 2:30 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on transforming walls from boundaries into optional paths in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/febaddf2a123...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 44. Breath of the Wild Game Director. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: Our first approach was to remove those impassable walls, which were a convention of Zelda, by transforming the walls and allowing the user to climb them in our experimental game field [Breath of the Wild prototype]. By transforming walls … into another optional path, it's as if the entire landscape that lays before the user opens open up, asking them 'So, which path are you going to take?' It was at this point that I realized this was the kind of game design I was striving for.
April 14, 2026 at 6:29 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takizawa on the possibility of inspiring kids with development materials, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote,#CreatingaChampionQuote
#TakizawaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 45. Breath of the Wild Art Director. QUOTE: "Takizawa: I am glad that our fans will be able to look at this material [in Creating a Champion] and see how [Breath of the Wild] was made. I believe there is significance in making so much development material available, especially if a child sees this book and thinks that they’d like to do this too someday. The truth is, that's what happened to me. When I was in elementary school, I read an art book that contained a collection of design materials, got really excited, and decided I wanted to do work where I could create things. That's why I ended up joining Nintendo and making games. If this book could have that sort of significance for someone else, I'd be thrilled."
December 15, 2024 at 12:18 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Takizawa on simulating all the senses through visuals in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakizawaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 45. Breath of the Wild Art Director. QUOTE: Takizawa: In the real world, there is a very specific smell right before it rains. I wanted to create the illusion of that smell with the visuals in [Breath of the Wild]. … If we could simulate senses like smell and touch through visual information, the world would truly feel alive, and that was one of our big goals. We focused a lot on the air itself. The tropical rainforest is very humid, with particulates in the air. The sunlight is strong in the desert. The amount of dust in the air changes depending on what the wind is doing. The game adjusts light and air quality to more clearly express the differences in weather across regions.
March 17, 2026 at 10:42 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 18: Dance

Takizawa on dancing foodstuffs and art style choices in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakizawaQuote

www.notion.so/febaddf2a123...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 44. Breath of the Wild Art Director. QUOTE: Takizawa: You hit the log with your axe and 'poof!' In an instant you have bundles of firewood. They're even conveniently tied up with rope. ... Here's Link running around with some ingredients. If I had to make that look realistic I'm not sure what I would have done, that's one needle I would not have been able to thread. And here's Link cooking. The ingredients are tossed into the pot, where they do a little dance and become something delicious. ... If you imagine these actions in the real world, what we've presented might be considered impermissibly comedic. When all the poofs and dancing foodstuffs were implemented, I didn't feel the absurdity of it, but rather the fun of it.
October 19, 2025 at 5:31 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Yonezu on the design of the stables in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#YonezuQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Makoto Yonezu. Senior Lead Landscape Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Yonezu: I wanted to design a building that would stand out so that the stables [in Breath of the Wild] would be visible from far away, even while running across the plains. I personally felt that they served a similar purpose to the Postman character who has appeared throughout the series, so I decided to make them completely over the top, placing a giant replica of a horse's head on top of the building. When the staff involved said that they liked it and told me that it was easy to understand, I went ahead with the design.
September 28, 2025 at 7:44 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Usui on how she approached the design of the dragons in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#UsuiQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Satomi Usui. Enemy Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: "Usui: The spring servants [in Breath of the Wild] were designed to be ancient dragons who have lived in Hyrule since the distant past. They were to fly through the sky and possess a mysterious yet calm aura, so I gave them a design that would feel a little strange. I played around with a number of ideas that would be recognizable as a dragon but also different from what you would expect. So I made the face and body mammalian, like a dog or a goat, and their arms contain elements of both birds and human hands. I very much hope that these dragons evoke a romantic feeling as they soar through the sky."
January 12, 2025 at 6:22 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
Fujibayashi on asking Zelda's voice actor about her experience, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote, #ShimamuraQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 45. Director of Breath of the Wild. - Yu Shimamura, age 32. Japanese voice actor for Zelda in Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: The voice actor for Princess Zelda said she could feel the weight of one hundred years when she played. She was playing as Link from Breath of the Wild's present but had already performed as Zelda from one hundred years prior to that. She was experiencing the game differently from the average player, who would find out about the past from the perspective of the present. She was playing in the game's present from the perspective of someone who was informed about the past. We had paid particular attention to the flow of time, so it was fascinating to be able to ask the only person in the world who played the game from that particular perspective what it was like.
May 15, 2025 at 5:22 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on how they wanted to include tiny people in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Nintendo Youtube Channel

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Cs...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 44. Director of Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: We had this idea of including tiny people [in Breath of the Wild]. Since this is a 3D game, we could have all these tiny-sized towns, and Link himself could shrink. We thought it'd be super fun if we had all these tiny characters all over the place... but with all these other characters that stand out, we thought it would be difficult for these little guys to be able to live out their own place in the game. So we really wanted to have them in there for the gameplay, but sadly had to give up on the idea.
June 14, 2026 at 7:31 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on Skyward Sword feedback and breaking free of expectations with Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote, #SkywardSwordQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 54. Producer of Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Aonuma: With Skyward Sword, the player descended from the sky to specific points on the surface map, and we received a lot of comments from players saying that they wanted to explore the space between the different areas. That gave us an opportunity. We had always aimed to create worlds in the Zelda games that you could play in endlessly, yet, at some point, we became constrained by expectations. So I told the [Breath of the Wild] staff, ‘This time, let's build the game without shying away from anything. Let's stop thinking about what Zelda has been up until now.’ … I wanted to play in this big, expansive world, but I was completely at a loss when it came to what sort of play that might be.
August 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how Breath of the Wild development reminded him of Ocarina of Time, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote, #OcarinaofTimeQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Creating-a-C...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 54. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director. Producer of Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Aonuma: Watching everyone [during Breath of the Wild development], I remembered what it was like making Ocarina of Time all those years ago. When Zelda first went 3D there were no rules on how to make 3D games in the way there are now, and it was my first time making a Zelda game, so, in a real sense, I had no idea how to properly create a 3D Zelda game. We had a blank slate. We would think of something, try it, and if it didn't work, do it over. Breath of the Wild was similar. It was a type of game that didn't have defined guidelines for development and which none of us had experienced before. It felt like Ocarina all over again. … I’m very happy we were able to reach such heights once again.
September 18, 2026 at 6:21 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the two ways to get lost in a game, and the essence of Breath of the Wild, 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: There are two ways for you to get lost in a game: because you don’t know where to go, or because you feel like checking out other places out of curiosity. While the former isn’t remotely interesting in terms of gameplay, the latter is something I look forward to making the players experience. That’s why the game mechanics encourage you to explore. From the beginning of the adventure, Link is able to climb high enough to allow you … to observe the landscape and head for the place that caught your eye using the paraglider. This loop made of climbing, contemplating and gliding is the essence of exploration in this Zelda, and I really wanted to make getting lost in this world a pleasure.
August 1, 2026 at 6:01 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on showing Miyamoto a Breath of the Wild prototype, 2017.

Source: Kotaku

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/a0043791f215...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 44. Breath of the Wild Game Director. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: When we first presented this [Breath of the Wild prototype] to Mr. Miyamoto, he spent about an hour just climbing trees. We left little treats like rupees on the trees, but we also left other things in other places we thought he might go. But he just kept climbing trees. Up and down. And so we got to the point where we go, “Do you want to look at other stuff?” But he just kept on going. Once [he] got out of the Shrine of Resurrection, he spent an hour just within a 25-50 meter radius outside of that cave just climbing trees.
May 19, 2025 at 11:20 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on polishing the Breath of the Wild world based on testers’ paths, 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: [During Breath of the Wild development] I asked the team to create a tool displaying a map on which the movements of a hundred players would be drawn in real time, with a marking point every hour. [If I saw] that many people were going to the same place at one time, I asked them why they had gone there. … Often, it was something I’d never thought about or seen in this angle during development, but sounded very funny. It also allowed us to detect locations no one was going to because it wasn’t very practical, in order to modify or add a path, change the topography, make a place more attractive… It was instructive to observe and allowed us to do statistics and make every portion of the world interesting.
August 4, 2026 at 8:59 PM