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Our question: Are there any chances that a classic Legend of Zelda title could be remade into a 3D environment, say “The Adventure of Link” …maybe?

What can you tell us about the so far only official artwork from Legend of Zelda Wii?
The image plays a big role in the handling. You’ll see what I mean by that at E3. But honestly speaking, you won’t know how much fun it is before you’ve tried it yourself. So just wait it out, until the time when you can play it yourself.

How extensive will the additions in The Legend of Zelda be?
For us, two things are important. Meeting the expectations and surprising the audience. How we’ll do it this time I won’t say. Normally we first develop the video sequences, and these sequences are expanded into the final product. But this time we’ve started with the gameplay. And after that we did the video sequences. So this time it was reversed. That is why we couldn’t show a lot of the game yet. But just before we finish, we’ll show a lot of stuff.

For us it is important to optimize the gameplay and to simplify the controls. We’re doing our best to make the controls user friendly, because “Zelda” has become complicated.

Miyamoto had this to say about the Zelda artwork shown at last year’s E3:

“This image plays an important role in the plot. At E3 you will see what I mean. But honestly said you will only remember the games, such as makes the joke much. So you wait until you play it yourself.”

Miyamoto on how many changes there will be in Zelda Wii:

“For us, two things are important: to meet expectations and to surprise people. How we do it this time, I will not reveal. Normally, we create the video sequences, and these sequences are expanded. But this time we started with the game structure. And then with the video sequences. So this time it was reversed. Therefore, we have had little so far from the game to show. But will publish a lot close to the game’s completion. For us, it is important [for us] to optimize gameplay and make the controls easier. We do our best.”

As a side note, Nintendo has confirmed their E3 conference for June 15th at 9:00 AM at the Nokia theatre. That’s only a month away, so get excited!

In an exclusive interview with Now Gamer, Shigeru Miyamoto spoke about the prospect of incorporating the Wii Vitality Sensor into a game like Zelda. The interview is after the break.

Speaking before his acceptence of the BAFTA Fellowship on Friday, Miyamoto said, “Whenever we are going to use any new device it is possible to expand the appeal to those who are new to the videogaming world. At the same time, however, it is also fun to think of ways in which we might apply that new technology to exisiting forms of gameplay – just like the way we are working on the new Legend Of Zelda together with Wii Motion Plus.”

“So maybe you might like to ask me to incorporate the Vitality Sensor into Zelda so that as you become more scared, the enemies become even tougher.”

I personally would take this news with a huge grain of salt. It could very well just be Miyamoto toying with the possibility in an interview, as it seems impossible a game could use the Nunchuck, Wii MotionPlus, and the Wii Vitality Sensor all at once. But, perhaps all will be clear at E3 (June 15th!).

1) The development team is having a positive responee towards MotionPlus controls.
2) The game’s structure has been significantly changed.
3) Aonuma hopes it can be shown at next year’s E3.
4) A graphical style has not been set in stone yet, although the cel-shading style is not likely to return.
5) Aonuma has been playing Monster Hunter Tri to figure out what appeals to gamers.

Shigeru Miyamoto also mentioned about how they approach each new Zelda title (but of course not revealing anything on Zelda Wii).

Edge: What sort of innovation do you think Nintendo is bringing to gaming now?

SM: Our basic principle is very clear: we’re always trying to be different from everybody else. Many other companies might try to do the same things as someone else who’s already been successful in a certain area: they think in terms of the competition, and they think in terms of how they can be better than their predecessor in any established arena. But Nintendo always tries to be unique instead. We always try to be different all the time. Even when we’re working on those so-called ‘serious’ titles, when we’re hard at work on a Zelda or Super Mario Bros., amongst ourselves in the same development team, the way we discuss the game is to ask: “What’s new? What’s fresh about this title?” That kind of focus on trying to be new, to be unique every time, of trying to create something different every time, will be carried on and on and on, so that even when we are working on several other titles, our spirit of trying to be different is always there in the background somewhere.

Read the rest of this interview here!

And now the site related updates…

The first thing I would like to mention is that Zelda Chronicles is now fully accepting affiliation. Not that we were not before, but I would now like to partner up with any deserving site out there. Whether you’re brand new to the community or you own a long lasting respected site, we are taking requests from anyone that shows any interest. Unlike before, we will not be categorizing affiliates (for example : Allies/Top/Regular). I’d also like to point out that the current position of our affiliates will be in a more respected area once the new layout launches.

To apply, just simply visit our contact page and provide us with the following details.

Subject : Affiliation

• Website Title…
• Website URL…
• And just a brief description of your website.

I will then look over your website and e-mail you back when and if you are accepted.

APPLY FOR AFFILIATION

The next site related update I would like to mention is our next layout. The next layout will be bringing some changes for the site, but nothing any of you ZC veterans will be surprised with. I won’t say much now except that we will be covering the following again :

• Game Guides
• More Media
• Exclusive Content
• Fan Related Content

I will also say the layout itself will be a breath of fresh air for ZC and will have more interactivity. I have displayed a preview for certain members of the community. If you wish to see the progress, give me a PM via the forums.

On a last note, it has been brought to my attention that some of you wish to become part of the ZC team (as Zelda news writers). I have thought about this and will be willing to accept some experienced writers once the new layout launches. More details will be available then.

Shigeru Miyamoto

Popular Mechanics published their recent interview with Shigeru Miyamoto today. They talk about the Legend of Zelda series as a whole and a bit about Zelda Wii. Read part of that interview below.

PM: A lot of your characters started out as villainous in earlier games, such as Bowser and Donkey Kong and Wario, and in later games they became more sympathetic and almost goofy. Is there a conscience effort to “de-villainize” evil characters in later games?

SM: One thing I’m not really good at is creating truly heroic characters or truly villainous characters, with the one exception being maybe the Zelda series, where I think we did a pretty good job of defining the roles in that series. I think we never really see anything all that serious come about in the Mario series, and then we have games that fall somewhere in between the two.

PM: Speaking of Zelda games, they’re obviously very popular in lots of parts of the world, and they have almost a mythological story, that resembles Greek or any old epic you look at. Was there anything particular from Japanese culture or mythology that was put into the story that might go over the heads of Americans?

SM: I don’t really consciously do things like that or consciously sense those types of differences. Partly it may be because, even in Japan, we see lots of different types of movies from America where they have the types of armor and clothing that you see in a game like that. We also see a lot of Chinese movies, and Chinese armor. Ocarina, I think, maybe the visual style drifts more towards a Western fantasy style and art design, but I don’t intentionally ever try to replicate a particular cultural element from a particular country.

PM: Do you create background stories to the characters that maybe aren’t known to the public or presented in the games?

SM: For the most part we don’t create very in-depth back stories for the characters. I think the Zelda games and Ocarina of Time, in particular, may be somewhat different in that, although I don’t write the relationships myself when we created the game, but when we created Ocarina in particular, we did think heavily about who the characters are, their relationships to one another, and how that plays out in the story. But taking a game like the Super Mario Bros. games in particular, typically when we design a character it’s based on their function within the interactive gameplay world. So for example characters that have spikes are characters you cannot jump on. In that sense it’s not so much designing a character as it is designing their function within the world.

PM: What’s your dream type of game that takes advantage of the Wii-mote?

SM: Right now I’m focusing on creating the next Zelda game.

PM: Can you tell me anything about it?

SM: Not today!

Do you think the Super Guide is a form of cheating, and do you think it can be applied to any game?

Obviously people will buy a game and if they can play through to the end they’ll do that. Some will buy a strategy guide, some will go online for hints, and all we’ve done is incorporate it in some way inside the game itself. We were able to create it for this game because we set out to make it specifically for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and I think it depends on the priorities for other titles whether it may or may not make it in those games. We can’t really promise that it’ll be in every game from now forward, but at the same time there are some types of gameplay that are suited to a system like this. We’ll evaluate the titles on a case-by-case basis. Let’s use Zelda as an example, introducing it opens up a Pandora’s Box: do we solve the puzzles, do we show how to solve it in order to make them understand it, do we show the whole solution? It can be a difficult system, but we do see some value in it.

Is it possible that this “Super Guide” will be present in the upcoming Zelda title? Miyamoto sure does seem to hint towards that.