#KoizumiQuote
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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
Koizumi on sneaking story into the Zelda games, 2007.

Source: Wired

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote, #MajorasMaskQuote, #LinksAwakeningQuote
#KoizumiQuote

www.wired.com/2007/12/inte...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. Writer for Link’s Awakening & A Link to the Past. 3D Gameplay Director for Ocarina of Time. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. QUOTE: Koizumi: I was the one coming up with scenarios, just on my own, ever since the time of Link's Awakening. … I felt like I came up with this entire scenario and a backstory for Link, but nobody really seemed to care. They were always saying “Let's not try to push the story forward too much.” So I would try to find sneaky ways to get it in without them noticing too much. For example, I always liked the idea of you coming upon another character and hearing little bits of conversation that slowly begin to reveal different parts of the story. And that was the way that I tried to work on Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
June 9, 2026 at 3:58 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on the Zelda game he liked working on the most, 2017.

Source: Social Media

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote

www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 49. Worked in various roles on A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and The Wind Waker. QUOTE: Q: Which has been your favorite Zelda game to work on? Koizumi: Ocarina of Time. It was a lot of fun to work on, and perhaps the reason it stayed with me is that we had to start from zero to make that game.
July 13, 2026 at 4:04 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 11: Dream/Nightmare

Koizumi on writing the story for Link's Awakening, 2007.

Source: Wired

#Zelda
#LinksAwakeningQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/adccbdbf92a3...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. Writer for A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. Producer of A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening. QUOTE: Koizumi: Back then, the people who wrote the manuals often became the people who came up with most of the backstory for the entire game. The first real game work that I did was on Link's Awakening. … I came in to write the manual, as I did on [A Link to the Past]. But they had nothing in place. So I ended up making an entire story to go along with the game. The dream, the island, that was all mine. And so that was my first experience doing the kind of work that we would now call "event design." But there were not too many people at the time with expertise in that area, so I really had free reign to do what I wanted, so long as I didn't make Miyamoto angry.
October 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on abstract feedback from Miyamoto, 2007.

Source: Wired

#Nintendo
#KoizumiQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/adccbdbf92a3...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. Link’s Awakening & A Link to the Past writer. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 55. Creator of Zelda & Mario. General Manager of Nintendo EAD. QUOTE: Koizumi: One of the things that makes Miyamoto’s feedback so hard to understand is that none of his sentences have subjects. So you have to rely on context to understand a statement. But more than that, Miyamoto may not know himself what he’s trying to say. Or he may be intentionally vague just to spur thought, just to give people a chance to come up with their own ideas and not limit them in the types of solutions they might be able to find. … My role is to cut down that abstraction by giving examples of different solutions to problems they’re discussing, then sending them over to Miyamoto to see [his reactions]. I’m getting pretty good at it. We’ve been doing it for ten years.
September 6, 2025 at 8:20 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi & Aonuma on the reason for the Kokiri's fairies, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #AonumaQuote, #IwataQuote

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. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. 4th President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Koizumi: The [Kokiri] village [in Ocarina of Time] has lots of trees and lots of people live there, but it was difficult to display them all at once. I came up with the idea of having each person living there followed around by a fairy. That way, even if we just showed the fairies… Iwata: I see. If you see the fairy, you know its owner is there, too. Aonuma: It also led to the scenario surrounding Link not having a fairy at first.
September 14, 2026 at 7:44 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #22: Favorite Character
Aonuma on his favorite. Presented without comment xD

(Couldn't fit alt text, see the description in tumblr post:)
www.tumblr.com/hyruleinterv...

#Zelda
#AonumaQuote, #KoizumiQuote
#TwilightPrincessQuote, #TwilightPrincessHDQuote, #MajorasMaskQuote
#Linktober
Collage of three quotes. I couldn't fit the alt text, but the tumblr version of this post, linked in the post body, has the full text.
October 22, 2024 at 6:12 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on his coffee pour, 2017.

Source: Social Media

#KoizumiQuote

www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 49. Writer for A Link to the Past & Link’s Awakening. 3D Gameplay Director for Ocarina of Time. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. QUOTE: Koizumi: I'm very particular about my coffee. I buy my beans, I grind them. I weigh the grounds and measure the volume of water. The water cannot be too hot [or else] the coffee will become bitter, so I like to pour over with a long stemmed pouring kettle. It has to have a long, narrow pouring spout or too much water will come out at once. The whole thing has become a ritual for me, I really enjoy the good smell of the coffee as I make it.
June 17, 2026 at 7:13 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on repurposing another design for Majora’s Mask, 2000.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/29f994ce55ec...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 47. Majora’s Mask Producer. QUOTE: Koizumi: I had already been busy designing another game. But then, Miyamoto… Miyamoto: Recalled you. Koizumi: I heard the whispers: ‘Zelda… Zelda… Zelda…!’ And my game was canned! ... [Laughs] I’d originally been designing a board game, based around the theme of cops and robbers. I wanted to make it so that you technically had to catch the criminal within a week, but, in reality, you could finish the game in an hour. I figured I’d just throw what I already had into Majora’s Mask.
May 11, 2025 at 7:49 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 12: Obscure Character

Koizumi, Aonuma, & Miyamoto on the Ocarina characters they reused for Majora's Mask, 2000.

Source: The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/Koizumi-Aonu...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Eiji Aonuma, age 37. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 47. Majora’s Mask Producer. QUOTE: Koizumi: Introducing [Ocarina’s Sages] into a different Zelda world might feel out of place. Instead we decided [in Majora’s Mask] to present characters who weren't deeply explored in the previous games. We gave them different backgrounds and settings to capture the feelings of the people who voted for less popular characters [in Nintendo Dream’s popularity poll]. Q: Anju only got 6 points in our magazine’s rating contents, but she has one of the most involved sidequests doesn’t she?  Aonuma: That's the part where Mr. Koizumi put in the most effort [laughs]. Miyamoto: It was a full-power throw [laughs]. Koizumi: Well, um... I personally liked her a lot [laughs].
October 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on how Sunshine's hover jump exists to “resolve ambiguity” in player perception, 2007.

Source: Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS)

#SuperMarioSunshineQuote
#KoizumiQuote

youtu.be/A25Ab7RyUPs
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 39. 3D Gameplay Director of Ocarina of Time. Director of Majora’s Mask and Super Mario Sunshine. QUOTE: Koizumi: “Depth misperception”, “getting lost”, “motion sickness”. These are the key phrases we worry about the most when creating a game in a 3-dimensional world. … With Super Mario Sunshine we implemented a new kind of hover jump. We made it so that the player could shoot water down and make Mario hover in the air during the jump, giving the player more time in the air to resolve any ambiguity in the appearance of distance in a step towards achieving the “ease of play” we hope to achieve.
August 22, 2026 at 4:08 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Some autojump quotes!

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaOfTimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote, #KoizumiQuote
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time, creator of Mario & Zelda. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Miyamoto: I thought of autojump [for Ocarina of Time] on one of my days off. I couldn't wait to get to work on Monday! Iwata: You couldn't wait to tell everyone. [laughs] Miyamoto: Right! [laughs] I gathered everyone on Monday morning and said, ‘We're gonna do something called autojump!’ Everyone's response was, “Say what?!” The team that had made Mario games was going to give up the jump button. … An added benefit was that we could program the pose Link would assume after jumping. We could look at the landform ahead and determine how Link would jump. PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. - Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director - Assistant Director of Super Mario 64 - Director of Majora’s Mask, Super Mario Sunshine, & Super Mario Galaxy. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. 4th President of Nintendo. QUOTE: Koizumi: I do think they [Mario and Zelda] are often made in pairs. They both [Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time] fell into the category of “3D open-world action games.” I didn't really see the difference between them. Iwata: If you were to state the difference, it would be how [Ocarina of Time] is the one you don't press a button to jump in. Koizumi: Even when it comes to that, you had to press a button to jump when we first started making Ocarina of Time.
September 8, 2026 at 9:22 PM
maxnichols.bsky.social
But Koizumi had another side: the side that invented the backstory of the Triforce & the three goddesses; wrote the dreamlike story of Link's Awakening; designed the 3-day system and directed Clocktown & the bomber's notebook quests in MM.

That romantic side of him didn't get to thrive on Mario IMO
PEOPLE: - Takashi Tezuka, age 49. Director of Link’s Awakening. - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 41. Writer for Link’s Awakening. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 57. Producer of Link’s Awakening. QUOTE: Tezuka: It looked like [Koizumi] would be good at creating a story, so we lured him into our afterschool club. Koizumi-san was in charge of the opening movie and main story. He's a romantic, and I think that shows in Link's Awakening. He was in charge of the whole flow of the story. Iwata: What was Miyamoto-san doing [during Link’s Awakening development]? Tezuka: I think he was busy with something and didn't pay us much mind. Aonuma & Yoshiaki on co-directing Majora's Mask, 2000. Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations #Zelda #MajorasMaskQuote #AonumaQuote,#KoizumiQuote https://www.notion.so/29f994ce55ec4439842c50abc3f2fbf2
October 11, 2025 at 6:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #13: Link

Koizumi on his wife’s fateful commentary, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote,#AonumaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/060f5ab25921...
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)"
October 13, 2024 at 4:48 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi & Aonuma on pulling off a 'good betrayal', 2000.

Via The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote,#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/b9f85e0b047f...
January 12, 2024 at 5:43 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Those times the Zelda series could have gone first-person

Via Iwata Asks (2011) and GDC (2007)

#Zelda
#OcarinaOfTimeQuote #TwilightPrincessQuote
#KoizumiQuote, #AonumaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Ocarina of Time Producer. QUOTE: "Koizumi: [Miyamoto] wanted to make [Ocarina of Time] a first-person game. In the beginning, he had the image that you are at first walking around in first-person, and when an enemy appeared, the screen would switch, Link would appear, and the battle would unfold from a side perspective. ... But—while it wasn't very nice of me toward Miyamoto-san—I didn't try a first-person scene even once! I was making the model for Link, so I couldn't stand to see my Link not appear." PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 43. Director of Twilight Princess. QUOTE: "Aonuma: We tried changing the camera perspective [in Twilight Princess] from … third person to … first-person perspective in battle. For this prototype, all we did was change this perspective to the first-person view we currently had. We haven’t tweaked things like the spacing between Link and enemies, so it’s really awkward, but having played this version in first person, we didn’t think this was the most effective way of presenting battles. Link normally has a variety of movements, but when he enters into battle with his enemies, which has come to be known as core scene in Zelda, if that variety is lost, it feels very strange."
February 28, 2025 at 1:23 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
On parallels between Majora's Mask and Earthbound

Via GlitterBerri's Game Translations (2000) and Ask Iwata (Hobonichi, 2019)

#Zelda #Earthbound
#MajorasMaskQuote #EarthBoundQuote
#AonumaQuote #KoizumiQuote #IwataQuote #ItoiQuote
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 37. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. QUOTE: Aonuma: I was responsible for the fairy-tale sections [of Majora’s Mask], and Koizumi was responsible for creating realistic depictions of the lives of the townspeople. I tried to emulate the fantasy atmosphere we had in Ocarina of Time… Koizumi: And I created realistic lives for the characters. Aonuma: You could say that Koizumi slapped his worldview on the whole thing. [Laughs] Koizumi: I put in everything I’ve seen in my 30-something years on this earth. PEOPLE: - Satoru Iwata. EarthBound Program Director, President of Nintendo from 2002-2015. - Shigesato Itoi. Producer, Director, & Writer for Mother 1, 2 & 3. Founder of Ape, Inc., which later became Creatures, Inc. Founder of Hobonichi. My Neighbor Totoro voice actor. Iron Chef judge.. QUOTE: Iwata: What makes the Mother [EarthBound] series so special? I think it has to do with the role that Shigesato Itoi played. Nobody making games today is quite like him, and Mother remains without parallel. … There was a time when Shigesato Itoi was totally obsessed with games, and in that sense he’s truly a gamer at heart. At the same time, he had a variety of experiences that the average game designer hadn’t, and I think these two aspects combined to form a unique individual. … The overall effect is a game unlike almost any other. I think this is the cumulative effect of all the aspects of the gaming experience—the fun parts, sad parts, outlandish parts, and goofy parts.
May 9, 2025 at 10:29 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
Koizumi on Majora's Mask's "bizarre" setting, 2000.

Via The Hyrule Journals.

#Zelda
#Majora'sMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote

www.notion.so/b9f85e0b047f...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. QUOTE: "Koizumi: Rather than horror, [Majora’s Mask is] more about strangeness. The world's setting itself is bizarre. The peculiarities and eerie occurrences in each region give an impression of getting close to unapproachable alien beings. On the other hand, in the towns where ordinary people live, we've depicted the shadows at the level of daily life. Although the elements that might seem strange to children and adults are different, we have made sure to weave both aspects into the game."
March 5, 2024 at 5:28 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on first-person Ocarina of Time, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote

www.notion.so/060f5ab25921...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director. QUOTE: "Koizumi: [Miyamoto] wanted to make it [Ocarina of Time] a first-person game. In the beginning, he had the image that you are at first walking around in first-person, and when an enemy appeared, the screen would switch, Link would appear, and the battle would unfold from a side perspective. ... But—while it wasn't very nice of me toward Miyamoto-san—I didn't try a first-person scene even once! I was making the model for Link, so I couldn't stand to see my Link not appear."
July 30, 2024 at 4:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #14: Fairy

Koizumi & Osawa on Navi's flood of inspiration, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote,#OsawaQuote,#IwataQuote
#Linktober
www.notion.so/060f5ab25921...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director. - Toru Osawa, age 48. Ocarina of Time Script Director. - Satoru Iwata, age 51. 4th President of Nintendo. QUOTE: "Koizumi: I had thought of [Navi] as a system, but… Iwata: Naming it had breathed life into what had been an impersonal marker. Koizumi: Right. I thought, ‘This is Navi,’ and ideas started coming to me one after the other. Like being able to tell by color whether the person you're facing is good or bad, and if Navi talked, she could be an important guide for the story. So naming the system Navi really helped it grow. Osawa: The addition of Navi had merits with regard to the script as well. We were able to expand the story around the idea of meeting and saying good-bye to a fairy."
October 14, 2024 at 5:37 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Linktober #8: Tunic
Koizumi on making Link cool, but not too cool, 2011.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#KoizumiQuote,#AonumaQuote
#Linktober

www.notion.so/060f5ab25921...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. 3D Gameplay Director & Link’s character design for Ocarina of Time. - Eiji Aonuma, age 48. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director. QUOTE: "Koizumi: I cut back on [Ocarina of Time Link’s] sideburns and made his nose a little stronger. And I pierced his ears, making him sort of cool. But it wouldn't suit Nintendo if he were too cool, so he wears that long underwear. Aonuma: Huh? Is that long underwear? [laughs] Koizumi: Yeah. He wears that green tunic and cool gloves, but underneath, it's long underwear. [laughs]"
October 8, 2024 at 4:45 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi on why Majora's Mask isn't set in Hyrule, 2000.
Via The Hyrule Journals.

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote

www.notion.so/b9f85e0b047f...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. QUOTE: "Koizumi: Initially [setting Majora’s Mask in Hyrule] is what we talked about doing. But when we actually started working on it, it turned out that swapping things around was actually easier. The designers have really developed their skills, and their work is much faster. … Even if it is the same grassy field, we wanted to do something different with it… Something like using a more vibrant color palette or making strangely shaped trees. The towns, which were inspired by medieval Europe in Ocarina of Time have more of a Southeast Asian style this time. It wasn't just about the visual design; the goal was to create something that was really different from the previous work."
February 7, 2024 at 4:39 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Koizumi & Aonuma contrast Tatl and Navi’s personalities, 2000.

Source: The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#KoizumiQuote,#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/b9f85e0b047f...
PEOPLE: - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 32. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. - Eiji Aonuma, age 37. Majora’s Mask Co-Director. QUOTE: "Koizumi:  Navi [in Ocarina of Time] was more like a doting wife who does everything, but we decided to make Tatl more like a brusque older sister [in Majora’s Mask]. Doing that actually made it easier to provide hints. Instead of saying something like, ‘What if you tried to do this?’ it is more like ‘Do it this way!!’ Aonuma: The one in charge of the dialog likes straight-talking women [laughs]. Koizumi: Everybody likes them [laughs]. Aonuma: Everybody wants to be scolded a bit [laughs]."
April 3, 2024 at 3:24 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on Koizumi’s condition to co-direct Majora's Mask, 2015.

Source: Iwata Asks

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#AonumaQuote,#KoizumiQuote,#IwataQuote

www.notion.so/aaab9d927dee...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 51. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. - Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 46. Co-Director of Majora’s Mask. - Satoru Iwata, age 55. President of Nintendo. QUOTE: "Aonuma: I rolled and turned thinking what kind of software I should make, and when I met Koizumi-san around that time, I asked for his help. He was working on a plan for a different game at the time, one where you would play in a compact game world over and over again. Coincidentally, Ocarina of Time had a system that controlled the time... Iwata: The sun rose, and there was nightfall. The concept of time existed in that game. Aonuma: Right, so Koizumi-san told me that he would help me out if he could use that system of time passing to make a game where you would be playing the same moments in time over and over again."
September 4, 2024 at 12:27 AM