The Legend of Zelda project manager Eiji Aonuma has explained what it would take to make Zelda a playable character in her own games.
Aonuma was interviewed by Vanity Fair upon the launch of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. It was in this context that he was asked precisely this question. This was Aonuma’s answer:
“We feel like what takes most priority is this idea of gameplay. If it turns out that the particular gameplay we’re trying to bring to fruition would be best served by having Zelda take that role, then it’s possible that that could be a direction we could take. With that said, of course, because we are not sure what the next gameplay experience is going to be, we can’t say what Zelda’s next step is going to be.”
Not a new answer, but it is consistent with what Nintendo has always stated in the process that they make their games. Other staffers at Nintendo will say the same thing about the fundamental tenets of their design bible; they come up with a gameplay idea first, and then build a story scenario around it.
This is how they ended up making their most important Mario and Zelda games. Rather than use examples that could fly by most people’s heads, however, to better understand this philosophy, it would be better to look at some newer games.
Splatoon, introduced in 2015, is the youngest of Nintendo’s current pillars. While everyone loves the idea of squid humanoids that spend their days shooting ink at each other, the squid children were not part of the original project pitch.
As explained in this exhaustive Iwata Asks, the idea actually came out of brainstorming the idea of a new game that was not Mario or Zelda, and would leverage the unique features of the Wii U. The first prototype actually used blocks of tofu instead of squids, but the idea of shooting ink was already there, and so was the idea of one screen showing the map and the other screen showing gameplay.
Nearly forty years later, Nintendo hasn’t really come up with an idea that would fit a playable Zelda better than it could be modified for Link. Zelda, of course, has been playable in other games, notably Super Smash Brothers. While this can understandably be a disappointing reason, it’s also the reason that Nintendo continues to be very successful at making popular and influential games.
Personally, I think the raison d’etre for giving us a playable Zelda already exists in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom itself. There is a time gap between the events of the start of the game and when Link finally finds Zelda. While those events are told to us, who’s to say that we can’t experience it ourselves?
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is available now exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
