The text on this page is taken from pages 34 and 35 of the Zelda Box guidebook, released in Japan in 2002. The sketches are taken from The Wind Waker section of Hyrule Historia, preserved in a gallery of official Wind Waker art maintained by History of Hyrule.

The Developers Discuss the Tingle Brothers

Takano: When we were making Majora’s Mask, we were discussing how we wanted to make a minigame that incorporated balloons. That’s when Tingle’s design appeared on the table, and I ended up creating aspects such as his tone of voice. His appearance was rather …unique, so I figured he should have an strange personality to match. [Laughs] The image that came to mind was an otaku-type guy who went on and on and never stopped talking, but also someone who had a really pure heart, considering how naive he was. For some reason, players grew to like this oddball, which is why he was a top pick for inclusion in The Wind Waker.

Aonuma: We never intended to give him this big of a role, though. [Laughs]

Takano: To tell you the truth, Tingle was only ever intended to appear in Majora’s Mask, and that’s it. But he began to take on a life of his own. [Laughs] Even in my own mind, his role in the series was complete, so I left everything to Suzuki (Toshiaki Suzuki. See page 14.), who was in charge of the Tingle Tuner on the GBA. I didn’t really ever step in to make any adjustments, I just told him he could do what he liked… What’s interesting is that it seems like now fans who are attached to the character are putting up a fuss, saying things like “Tingle doesn’t talk that way!”, and there are suddenly a variety of Tingle figurines. [Laughs] By the way, there’s also a Tingle Brother named David Jr., who isn’t related to them. He’s kind of the gag character of the family. [Laughs] I figured it would be boring if all 4 were siblings, so I thought it might be funny to make one of them a complete stranger, and give him a name that doesn’t follow the existing pattern. [Laughs]

The Developers Discuss Zephos & Cyclos

Aonuma: These two are modeled after the god of wind and the god of thunder. The theme of The Wind Waker is wind, so we borrowed their Japanese names, Fuuchin and Raichin, from the gods that govern the weather. The reason they look like frogs is, well…

Haruhana: This goes back to early development, but we were originally discussing the inclusion of a guide character like Ocarina of Time’s Navi in The Wind Waker. I drew up a bunch of ideas, including a cat and an acorn with a face, and one of them was a frog riding a cloud. Eventually, the Navi idea fizzled out, but after awhile, we ended up needing a pair of characters named Zephos and Cyclos, and…

Aonuma: …I thought back to that picture of the frog. I was like “Didn’t we have a frog lying around somewhere? Let’s use that.” A lot of good ideas come from sketches that were done by people in their spare time. But then we forget about them when development really kicks off. [Laughs]

Haruhana: When I have even a little time on my hands, I stock up by drawing a ton of characters with strange faces. Even though they don’t have any particular raison d’être at the time. [Laughs]