The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness! One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview. We’ll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of Hobonichi’s nearby tree.

(1-2) Looks Like You Can Use a Horse in This Zelda

Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design): It began with Miyamoto saying “I want to put in a horse.” Originally Miyamoto had thought to create a Zelda game on a smaller scale, but what a thing to say!

He had mentioned that it has to feel amazing, riding a horse. In the beginning we put in so many trees, but they were becoming obstacles so we gradually removed them and in the end the wilderness disappeared. It feels good to grow up and ride a horse through the wide world you discovered as a child.

The map design nearly made me cry. “Just make it big,” we were told! *laughs* We created a variety of systems, and we did what we could with the amount of time we had but there was no way we could have implemented enemies as well.

Miyamoto: It was me who said “I want to put in a horse,” so it was my responsibility to make one. *laughs* On my days off I’d go to a riding club I was acquainted with and they’d give me photographs.

At first, I didn’t know how much we could do with the N64. Making a horse, trying to get it to move, “Ack! It won’t move!”, “How many can we have??”, that sort of thing.

I knew there were many ways it could work and made most of the decisions on the spot. I’d look at something, sleep a night, and then write the specification document the next day. I often scribbled things down like that. The important things I would stick on my monitor with post-it notes!

I also looked at the things (Osaka Broadcasting commercial director) Hakuji Horii had made for inspiration.

I was lazy myself, so I made a minimal effort by talking to the staff there.In a game where you can ride a horse, there has to be horseback archery and horse racing. I gave up on the big Lon Lon Ranch escape and the fight with Ganon this time. *laughs* We were eventually able to do it, though it took half a year. After we created the horse, we needed to think of an outline. We have A, B, and C degrees of difficulty, and up to B can be handled easily. Lets do A+ next time.

Makoto Miyanaga (Field Design): Miyamoto directed us to decrease the obstacles in order to make riding more fun. However, decreasing all the obstacles actually caused more difficulty.

For a long time Hyrule Field had nothing, it was terribly uninteresting. Of course, while you were trudging along in that wide empty plain we had planned to introduce effects such as wind, temperature, and atmosphere. If we had only presented that sort of game, I don’t think it would have been appreciated. We had intended for it to add to the game’s character.

“(1-2) Looks Like You Can Use a Horse in This Zelda” has ended. The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-17-TUE