#ocarinaoftimequote

[hyruleinterviews]

Koizumi on sneaking story into the Zelda games, 2007.

Source: Wired

https://www.wired.com/2007/12/interview-super/

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.

[hyruleinterviews]

Zelda Dev Highlight: Satomi Asakawa, Character Designer

Trying something new today! In (mostly) her own words, Asakawa's game dev career from start to end! Apologies to screen reader users-- these images are too big and full for me to summarize in alt text. A normal blog post version will be coming soon, you should be able to enjoy then! Full image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ywWD2SxVPfcDqTlzYgbjC7XmI35Cs5Oj/view

[hyruleinterviews]

Mori on the first take of Ganondorf's voice in Ocarina of Time, 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

https://www.hyruleinterviews.com/0e093b22620540768a1681ec5a80d336

PEOPLE:

Naoki Mori. Ocarina of Time Cinema Scene Director.

Takashi Nagasako. Voice of Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time.

QUOTE: Mori: In [Ocarina of Time] there are bits of voice acting here and there, but the voice actor in charge of playing Ganondorf in the first cutscene you see really made him seem like a devil, somehow awful and evil.

Afterwards I took the actor aside and asked him not to play a demon, but cool and dangerous at the same time. A voice like cheap wine.

[hyruleinterviews]

Aonuma on the first dungeon designed for Ocarina of Time, 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

https://www.hyruleinterviews.com/0e093b22620540768a1681ec5a80d336

PEOPLE:

Eiji Aonuma, age 35. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director.

QUOTE: Aonuma: I, personally, really like the Forest Temple. It was the very first dungeon we designed in Ocarina of Time. …

At the center of the Forest Temple lies the twisting pathway. When you go through it, you can reach items you couldn’t before. We wouldn’t have been able to make something like that if the game hadn’t been 3D. It’s easy to think ‘wow, the path twists!’ but the designers actually had a lot of trouble with it. I think they spent about a week tormenting themselves over how to make it work.

[hyruleinterviews]

In honor of David Lynch (1946-2025)

In honor of David Lynch (1946-2025), some quotes about how his work on Twin Peaks influenced the Zelda series.

Quote 1:

PEOPLE:

Kensuke Tanabe, age 35. Link’s Awakening Writer.

Takashi Tezuka, age 38. Link’s Awakening Game Director.

Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 30. Link’s Awakening Writer.

QUOTE: "Tanabe: When I started [on Link’s Awakening] I was given a list of requirements by the director, Mr. Tezuka, such as no Triforce, no Princess Zelda, no Hyrule, and a closed field. …

Mr. Tezuka requested a world full of strange characters like in Twin Peaks, which was a popular show back then. I then wrote a script that fit my vision of an egg hatching on a mountaintop ending the world with Koizumi’s ‘Your dream? Or someone else’s dream?’ Koizumi worked on the main thread of the story and I did the odd characters. "

Quote #2:

PEOPLE:

Takashi Tezuka, age 49. Director of Link’s Awakening.

Eiji Aonuma, age 46. Director or Producer of various Zelda games.

Satoru Iwata, age 49. 4th President of NIntendo.

QUOTE: "Tezuka: Oh, right, about Twin Peaks…

Aonuma: Whoa, here we go. [laughs] Iwata-san, do you know about Twin Peaks?

Iwata: No. Bring me up to speed. [laughs]

Tezuka: We were talking about this before you arrived. I was talking about fashioning The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening with a feel that's somewhat like Twin Peaks. At the time, Twin Peaks was rather popular. The drama was all about a small number of characters in a small town.

Iwata: Okay…

Tezuka: So when it came to Link's Awakening, I wanted to make something that, while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics."

Quote #3:

PEOPLE:

Mark Frost, age 70. Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Twin Peaks.

QUOTE: "Q: [Interviewer asks about his meeting with Nintendo developers, who were reportedly inspired by Twin Peaks for Link’s Awakening]

Frost: They were talking to me about a Twin Peaks game, and they mentioned Zelda at the time. They said, ‘One of the things we love about your show [Twin Peaks] is how there’s all sorts of sideways associations that can drive the story forward.’ They asked me about that as they were thinking about expanding the Zelda universe.

… I’d played lots of Dungeons & Dragons when I was young, so I was familiar with the kind of story they were thinking about. I think I said, ‘Don’t be afraid to use dreamlike, Jungian symbolism. Things can connect thematically without having to connect concretely.’ It was things like that that I was urging them [to consider]."

Quote #4:

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time.

QUOTE: "Miyamoto: I didn't want to tell a story [in Ocarina of Time] so much as I wanted to have a lot of people appear around the main character and portray their relationships. Some years back, a television show called Twin Peaks was popular. When I saw that, the most interesting thing wasn't the ins and outs of the story, but what kinds of characters appeared.

… I think those suspicious and odd characters alone are interesting. I'm more interested in their presence than who is whose cousin and whose parents were sworn enemies way back when. … What's important is what role that person plays and how they contribute to portraying the main character."

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on Ocarina of Time’s planned elemental magic system, 1997.

Source: IGN

https://www.ign.com/articles/1997/11/27/the-z-files-4

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 45. Producer of Ocarina of Time.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: There are six types of magic [in Ocarina of Time], including fire, wind, darkness, and light. I'm thinking about mixing the different types of magic. Truthfully, you can use magic in conjunction with Link's bow and arrow. Since you can use magic missiles, it's important that you can use magic on arrows.

[hyruleinterviews]

Mori on what Ocarina's ending reminds him of and other media he’s watching, 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

https://www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/1101-interviews/

PEOPLE:

Naoki Mori. Ocarina of Time Cinema Scene Director.

QUOTE: Mori: [Ocarina of Time’s] ending reminds me of Star Wars. It also sort of references Dark Crystal. More than figuring out where the scene cuts should be, we were worrying about how to project that atmosphere.

I definitely watch anime a lot. So much so that I’m called Captain Anime. [laughs] Anime I consider interesting I show people with reckless abandon. “This is great!” I say. Recently I’ve been enjoying Perfect Blue which is a psycho thriller. It’s not because we used it as a reference for the games, but the transitions of scenes were interesting.

[hyruleinterviews]

Miyamoto on what it means to be "Zelda-esque", 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

https://www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/1101-interviews/

PEOPLE:

Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.

QUOTE: Miyamoto: It’s often said that something or another is ‘Zelda-esque’, but when you ask “What exactly is that?” you’ll always find opposition.

There are numerous staff members who’ve been playing Zelda for a long time, so when there are two options to choose from they know which better conveys the image we’ve chosen for Zelda.