STACK #137 Mar 2016

GAMES Q&A

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The TWILIGHT Returns

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is considered not only one of the best launch titles in Nintendo console history, but one of the most notable entries in the entire Zelda franchise.This month it's back, remade for theWii U, and STACK was extremely fortunate to talk with industry and Zelda luminary Eiji Aonuma about the project.

What prompted the decision to remake The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess ? Mr. Aonuma: Before starting development on the new Zelda title for Wii U that we’re currently working on, we tested HD remakes of past Zelda titles in order to consider the Wii U’s graphical power. We worked with Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, and the results of creating HD versions for both titles were good, so we planned to develop them officially. We created the remake and released Wind Waker first, considering the order in which the original title first released. We planned to remake Twilight Princess next, however the Zelda team had already started to develop the new Zelda title for Wii U. Therefore, we looked for a company who could create the remake.

What are some of the biggest challenges in remaking a game like Twilight Princess ? It is, needless to say, that we have to make many programming changes in order for a title to work on different hardware, and in creating a remake HD version, we have to replace the existing artwork with more highly detailed textures. In addition, if we draw in every detail, it might evolve to lose its original qualities, so it’s challenging to create a balance in that regard. Also, we wanted to ensure the feeling of playing could be enjoyed by current players even 10 years after release, so through a process of trial and error we fixed many points. How do you gauge whether there is an audience for a remake of a title like this? Do you poll for feedback or consult forums? Of course, I sometimes check the reactions and feelings of players via the Internet and so on. However, in the case of this remake, we didn’t decide to proceed based on the research of players’ requests, but rather from the perspective of whether we thought it would be worthwhile for Zelda fans. Actually, I am not totally sure if many fans will purchase this title, so I am nervously excited (ha ha).

GAMES

As a result, Tantalus accepted our offer which allowed our dreams for a remake version for this title to come true. When was the decision made to create a HD remake for Twilight Princess ? How long does

a process such as this usually take? The decision was finalised when it was

decided that Tantalus would collaborate for this title, and the project started at the end of 2013 with the verification of technology. The process for such decisions varies depending on the situation and specific project, so unfortunately there’s no solid answer.

MARCH 2016

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