The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds has been out for some time already, but a few of the game’s key developers shared their thoughts on how they were inspired to create some of its more prominent features in an interview with Famitsu magazine.
Famitsu suggests that A Link Between Worlds’ most unique feature is, without a doubt, Link’s ability to become a painting and part of a wall. They ask how this idea came to be.
“The thought of having link become a drawing on a flat surface seemed interesting to me; an idea that came out of nowhere,” says director Hiromasa Shikata. “However, I thought that simply having him be part of a flat surface would’ve made it no different than a side-scrolling game, so we thought it would be better to have him turn along the corners of the walls, after further consulting with the [other members of staff].”
Shikata goes on to mention that ideas for the game’s puzzles came to him after slipping through the barred windows in A Link Between Worlds. This was actually reminiscent of an experience Shikata felt while playing Super Mario 64 years ago.
“Back when I first played Super Mario 64, I was jumping around the bridge by the castle, and was really surprised when I fell down into the moat,” he shares. “If it were a 2D Mario game with a side-view, you wouldn’t be able to fall down as deep.”
“Just like the sense of amusement the 3D feeling gave me from jumping off the bridge, this time I felt something similar when I was able to slide through the barred window.”
“This may be a spoiler to those who’ve yet to play the game, so I’ll just say that certain items you can find inside walls and becoming a drawing on the wall to dodge enemy attacks, are ideas that came afterwards,” adds lead programmer Shiro Mouri.
Famitsu asks if it was difficult to come up with the unique designs for Link when he becomes a drawing on the wall.
“We got several designers and tried out different things,” says lead designer Koji Takahashi. “The first drawing we did actually had a very avant-garde look to it, and it was strongly opposed by our staff.”
According to the designers, they went through several designs, but ended up settling with what they felt would go best with the players and fans of The Legend of Zelda.
Published: Jan 24, 2014 01:03 pm