GamesActionThe Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomZelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a “dungeon creation” game until Eiji Aonuma flipped the table a year in – “I was right next to them thinking of something different"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesActionThe Legend of ZeldaThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomZelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a “dungeon creation” game until Eiji Aonuma flipped the table a year in – “I was right next to them thinking of something different"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Nintendo has revealed thatThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomwas originally meant to let you create your own dungeons until series producer Eiji Aonuma decided on a change of direction a year into development.
Nintendo asked Grezzo, the same studio which previously developed the Link’s Awakening remake, to have its developers pitch their ideas for a new Legend of Zelda game, as Aonuma explains in the latestAsk the Developer interview. “More specifically,” Aonuma says, “we asked Grezzo, ‘If you were to make the next new game, what kind of game would you like it to be?’ We had the opportunity to hear ideas from members of Grezzo, which they came up with freely and proposed.”
The idea that ended up taking off in the early stages was one that let you make your own dungeons. In this version, “Link could copy and paste various objects, such as doors and candlesticks, to create original dungeons,” Satoshi Terada, the game’s director at Grezzo, explains. “During this exploration phase, this idea was called an ‘edit dungeon’ because players could create their own Legend of Zelda gameplay.”
A pretty similar concept was first introduced in the Link’s Awakening remake, which had its own rudimentary dungeon creation tools. Fans have been demanding something like a ‘Zelda Maker’ for ages, but it doesn’t sound like this concept would’ve been much like the creation- and sharing-focused Super Mario Maker.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom â Overview Trailer â Nintendo Switch - YouTubeWatch On
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom â Overview Trailer â Nintendo Switch - YouTube
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom â Overview Trailer â Nintendo Switch - YouTube
Instead, it sounds like the customizable dungeons would’ve been part of a more traditional Zelda adventure. “The ‘edit dungeon’ concept involved copying various things during your adventure out on the game field, then bringing them back to create a dungeon in a dedicated place,“Tomomi Sano, the game’s director at Nintendo, explains.
“They showed it to me and told me to give it a try,” Aonuma says. “As I played, I started thinking that while it’s fun to create your own dungeon and let other people play it, it’s also not so bad to place items that can be copied and pasted in the game field, and create gameplay where they can be used to fight enemies.” That’s how echoes - objects and creatures you can summon at will - came to be the focus of the final game.
But it took around a year for Aonuma to suggest pivoting away from the dungeon-making concept. “Everyone else was developing the game with dungeon creation in mind, but I was right next to them thinking of something different. (Laughs) But there’s a reason it took a year to upend the tea table,” evoking Shigeru Miyamoto’snow-infamoushabit of demanding big changes to a game in the middle of development.
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“After all, you can’t really see the potential for ideas to develop into solid gameplay until you can verify features and their feel, so I wanted them to try making it first,” Aonuma explains. “I felt that the ‘edit dungeon’ feature they showed me had significant potential to be developed into a new way of playing the Legend of Zelda games if the gameplay was changed to use ‘echoes’ instead. So, I thought it would be good to expand in that direction and could be even more interesting that way.”
“Of course, creating dungeons was fun,” Sano says, “but being able to copy various objects and use them in different places was even more fun.”
Zelda games that can “fly in the face” of game design theory look like the future: Eiji Aonuma worried Echoes of Wisdom had “too much freedom,” then added more freedom.
CATEGORIESNintendo SwitchPlatformsNintendo
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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5Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”