During an Iwata Asks session, both Satoru Iwata and Takashi Tezuka had some very interesting things to say about The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Here are some of the highlights:
“We weren’t particularly planning to make a Zelda game for the Game Boy, but we thought we’d try it out to see how it would work. So at first there was no official project. We’d do our regular work during normal work hours, and then work on it sort of like an afterschool club activity.” – Takashi Tezuka
Tezuka then went on to discuss how fun it was experimenting with a Game Boy Zelda concept. He then went on to discuss why he started designing Link’s Awakening.
“I can’t really remember that [his motivations] either, but I think it was because there was a lot left over that we still wanted to do. Maybe I felt that way more than anyone else because I had joined development part of the way through, but I had a strong desire to do more.”
The group continued with a discussion about the Game Boy’s limitations. Tezuka added, “That’s right. It was monochrome. We moved along at quite a good speed in a relatively freewheeling manner. Maybe that’s why we had so much fun making it. It was like we were making a parody of Zelda.”
They then went on to discuss how characters such as Kirby and Chomps were integrated into the title. Iwata later commented that, “Link’s Awakening, which Tezuka-san did whatever he wanted with, had quite an influence over subsequent Zelda games. “
The group continued to discuss how Link’s Awakening changed the flow and story progression of future Zelda titles. Tezuka added, “So when it came to Link’s Awakening, I wanted to make something that, while it would be small enough in scope to easily understand, it would have deep and distinctive characteristics.”
When the group commented on the suspiciousness of the game’s characters, Tezuka noted, “After that, in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, all kinds of suspicious characters appeared. I didn’t tell them to do it that way, but personally, I did find it considerably appealing.”
They later came to the conlusion that Link’s Awakening opened new doors for the Zelda series. In Aonuma’s words, “I’m certain it was a breakthrough element in the series. If we had proceeded from A Link to the Past straight to Ocarina of Time without Link’s Awakening in between, Ocarina would have been different.”
