Wind Waker HD Faced Internal "Pushback" at Nintendo

StewShearerOld

Geekdad News Writer
Jan 5, 2013
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Wind Waker HD Faced Internal "Pushback" at Nintendo



Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma says Nintendo feared a repeat of "negative reactions" to Wind Waker HD.

Earlier this year Nintendo revealed that it was in the process of creating an <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121662-The-Legend-of-Zelda-The-Wind-Waker-Remake-Headed-to-Wii-U>HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The remake, which will release on the Wii U, stirred excitement in the ranks of Nintendo's fanbase, many of whom hold Wind Waker in high regard. That being the case, it's now been revealed that some in Nintendo weren't altogether keen on investing in Wind Waker HD.

"When we looked at creating a Zelda for Wii U, there were so many possibilities given the HD graphics. But rather than starting from zero, we actually ran a few tests," said Eiji Aonuma, producer of the Zelda franchise for the last decade. According to Aonuma, Nintendo first experimented with high definition versions of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, but wasn't impressed with the results. "Those are semi-realistic representations of the Zelda world so we weren't really surprised with what we got. But with Wind Waker, when we converted that to HD we were really surprised at how great it looked."

Despite the clearer improvements presented by the HD test of Wind Waker, many at Nintendo rejected the idea out of hand. "Internally there was actually a lot of pushback," said Aonuma. "People were saying, 'Oh, that Link. People didn't like that Link.' But in talking to our counterparts in the U.S., that wasn't actually the case, people didn't have that negative reaction maybe anymore to that younger Link." Ultimately, this information helped Aonuma sell Wind Waker HD. That said, he's not surprised that his colleagues at Nintendo had apprehensions. While fans appreciate Wind Waker now, at the time of its release it had no lack for detractors who disliked its less "mature" art style. According to Aonuma, it just took time for people to realize the game's artistic value. "When we introduced Wind Waker in that graphic style, people resisted it because it was so new, but over time, we may have created this environment that 10 years later is ready to embrace that graphic style."

Source: Wired




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Not Lord Atkin

I'm dead inside.
Oct 25, 2008
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I don't know about others but I thought Wind Waker was the most charming and best looking game in the series by far. Although it is true that the first Zelda game I played was Phantom Hourglass so I might be biased.

anyway, what concerns me a bit is that they used SSAO in that one picture. Not a good idea with cell-shading. Hope they get rid of it soon.
 

MrBaskerville

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Mar 15, 2011
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I think WindWaker is the last console Zelda game where Link doesn´t look freakish. He looks so weird in Skyward Sword and Twillight Princess. It´s also the best of the three games by far, and the one with the least amount of padding (except for the sucky final part of the game).
 
Dec 14, 2009
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I wasn't a Nintendo kid growing up, my first Nintendo console was the Gamecube. I got the special addition version of Wind Waker, the one that came with OOT on a disc, so I played both around the same time.


I played the crap out of Wind Waker, never actually completed OOT.

I know, I know, shoot me now.
 

Dragonbums

Indulge in it's whiffy sensation
May 9, 2013
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This makes me sad.

Do the staff at Nintendo REALLY hate toon Link that much?

I think he is the most absolutely adorable Link in the entire series!

And the style choice really lasted. Windwaker today can still hold a candle to other games in terms of aesthetics.

*sigh* I guess just like my favorite Pokemon generation is Black and White, me liking Toon Link will be another thing on the list of opinions only 30% of the fanbase gives a crap about.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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Daystar Clarion said:
I wasn't a Nintendo kid growing up, my first Nintendo console was the Gamecube. I got the special addition version of Wind Waker, the one that came with OOT on a disc, so I played both around the same time.


I played the crap out of Wind Waker, never actually completed OOT.

I know, I know, shoot me now.
I got the same version, and I only played at best 10 minutes of OoT before thinking this looked and played like ass, and went back to Wind Waker.
 

WhiteTigerShiro

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Sep 26, 2008
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Dragonbums said:
Do the staff at Nintendo REALLY hate toon Link that much?
I don't think it's that they hate him per se, but that they've been living under a rock since Wind Waker was released. See, when the cel shaded graphics (and thus "Toon Link") were first revealed, there was a MASSIVE negative response to the whole thing. Massive to the point where Miyamoto and Nintendo basically put the kibosh on releasing any new information or trailers on it until it was released. After it came out, yeah, everyone was all "hey these graphics aren't so bad after-all, and the game itself is pretty good, too". Ever since then, Wind Waker has generally been regarded as one of the better Zelda titles; with only the occasional detractor, usually objecting to the amount of time spent sailing in the game (which is apparently being addressed in WWHD).

So yeah, to repeat, my guess is that whoever it was calling the shots stopped paying attention at some point between Wind Waker's initial announcement and before it was actually released. Though I guess for what it's worth, at least they had SOME reason to feel that "Toon Link" (I never cared for that moniker, myself) is hated in the US.
 

WhiteTigerShiro

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Daystar Clarion said:
I wasn't a Nintendo kid growing up, my first Nintendo console was the Gamecube. I got the special addition version of Wind Waker, the one that came with OOT on a disc, so I played both around the same time.
You mean "edition". "Addition" is when you combine two or more things to create a bigger sum, "edition" is a particular version of a series of prints.


I played the crap out of Wind Waker, never actually completed OOT.

I know, I know, shoot me now.
Eh, don't feel too bad. Ocarina was just a lot of people's first Zelda game. It has a legendary status, but it's honestly kinda bland when compared to a lot of Zelda titles; even some that came before it. Don't get me wrong, it isn't terrible by any means (there are worse Zelda titles), it's just not as great as it's legendary status would imply.
 

Jumwa

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Jun 21, 2010
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WhiteTigerShiro said:
So yeah, to repeat, my guess is that whoever it was calling the shots stopped paying attention at some point between Wind Waker's initial announcement and before it was actually released.
I don't think you can pin this on Nintendo's ignorance. Say what you will about how Wind Waker was eventually accepted for the great game it is, and the beautiful style it has, at the time Nintendo was at a low, saleswise. The Gamecube, though it was packed with many of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, did not sell terribly well and was the object of constant gamer vitriol. The whole "toon Link" hate was another blow at them financially as it prevented the game from reaching as wide of a market as it might've otherwise, or so many believe.

I'm honestly very glad to see a HD Wind Waker remake, and I'll be buying it. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little surprised to see them doing this when the WiiU was struggling.
 

Colt47

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Oct 31, 2012
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Forget the art style, the game itself was one of the best Zelda games to come out in the last decade. It actually beat Ocarina of Time for me, and that isn't a small feat. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the spin off games that came out for the DS. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Train were okay, but they didn't have the same feel.
 

Dragonbums

Indulge in it's whiffy sensation
May 9, 2013
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Colt47 said:
Forget the art style, the game itself was one of the best Zelda games to come out in the last decade. It actually beat Ocarina of Time for me, and that isn't a small feat. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the spin off games that came out for the DS. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Train were okay, but they didn't have the same feel.
I saw those two as more of an expansion on the world more than anything.
Phantom Hourglass was to finally tell you the mystery behind the Ghost Ship and Spirit Tracks was more or less explaining the fate of the Windwaker world much years later.
 

Scribblesense

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Jan 30, 2013
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Wind Waker is my favorite game of all time. I absolutely love the art style, and being able to play it in HD is a dream come true.

I really wish they had created more content for it, but here's hoping that they learn a good deal from developing Wind Waker HD and put those ideas towards the next Wii U Zelda game.
 

AzrealMaximillion

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Jan 20, 2010
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Wind Waker was the best LoZ in the franchise because it didn't try to be a copy clone of Ocarina of Time.

It also didn't follow the usual LoZ snoozefest formula of:
Get 3 jewels
Get Master Sword
Get 6 Medallions
Kill Ganon

It also was mechanically better as a game than Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. That's mostly due to not jamming in a not so accurate motion control scheme into it.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Yeah, I remember when Wind Waker was first announced. People were not happy with the "cartoony" graphics. People came around, though. I can understand what they were thinking, but things have changed since then, thankfully.
 

PoolCleaningRobot

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Mar 18, 2012
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Wind Waker is one of my favorite Zelda's next to Majora's Mask (I like them equally). The remake looks beautiful, if the Wii U ever gets more games that peak my interests I'll have to get the new Wind Waker
 

Hero of Lime

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Jun 3, 2013
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I do like Waker Link a lot, but I think I understand how the staff at Nintendo may be tired of working with the "Toon Link" art style for the games. In the span of about six years(2003-2009) they made five games that had the cel shaded aesthetic, even if the in-game sprites weren't cel shaded, the art emulated Wind Waker and the original Four Swords in some way.

Either way, I'm excited to play this, even if the only thing it's missing for me personally is a higher difficulty setting for the combat.

Dragonbums said:
This makes me sad.

Do the staff at Nintendo REALLY hate toon Link that much?

I think he is the most absolutely adorable Link in the entire series!

And the style choice really lasted. Windwaker today can still hold a candle to other games in terms of aesthetics.

*sigh* I guess just like my favorite Pokemon generation is Black and White, me liking Toon Link will be another thing on the list of opinions only 30% of the fanbase gives a crap about.
I agree that WW Link is one of the best Links because of his emotion and adorableness, but I think the developers want to step away from toon Link for awhile just cause they used him so much in a series that seems to pride itself on changing its art style constantly.

If it helps, I believe Pokemon Black and White are not only the best Pokemon games, but some of the best games ever made.
 

Ashadowpie

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Feb 3, 2012
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when Wind Waker first came out, i was around 12 and i hated the "Toon Link" concept. i commented the style by saying as a youth "its like Ganondork caught him, ripped Link apart and slapped it back together again without a care. though, by playing Minish Cap i have slowly grown fond of the Toon Link, but only for handheld, not consoles. i do want to play Windwaker though but its incredibly hard to find now a days.

i personally like realistic graphics better for human characters at least. i love cell shading in Okami and Sly Cooper.
Okami did have humans in the game of course but the style fit perfectly around everything and everyone in the game.
Zelda game "humans" are starting to get strange though, with the random people are not proportioned comically or some with a giant orange noses for example. it doesn't make sense while Link and Zelda look like completely normal humans.
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
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AzrealMaximillion said:
Wind Waker was the best LoZ in the franchise because it didn't try to be a copy clone of Ocarina of Time.

It also didn't follow the usual LoZ snoozefest formula of:
Get 3 jewels
Get Master Sword
Get 6 Medallions
Kill Ganon

It also was mechanically better as a game than Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. That's mostly due to not jamming in a not so accurate motion control scheme into it.
So yeah:

Get 3 pearls
Get Master Sword
Get 8 Triforce pieces
Kill Ganon

Much better formula.