After Zelda fans theorized wildly on the source of this Breath of the Wild Nintendo DS demake, the original creator has come forward: "it's so funny seeing people speculate about this"
Oct. 21, 2024“It’s simply just something we made several years ago”
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Sorry to break the news, but if you’ve been wildly speculating on the origins of a certainLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilddemake that made rounds on Reddit and Twitter recently, the mystery has a far less juicy culprit.
“It seems an old ROM of a project I was working on with friends leaked online,” creator Ermelber quote replied onTwitterin response to aGBATemparticle. “It’s so funny seeing people speculate about this as some sort of obscure piece of media by a mysterious Chinese dev, while it’s simply just something we made several years ago. LMAO.”
YouTuber JustJasen posted a detailed deep-dive into the demake, linked above, where he speculates the creator as being based in China. This could have made sense, given how both AliExpress and BilliBilli are Chinese-based companies and that BilliBilli is relatively unknown to Western audiences. When Ermelber, an Italian modder and game developer, claimed the ROM as his own person project made with friends, JustJasen’s theory turned out to be false – though the two’s friendly interactions onTwitterreassure me that there are no hard feelings here.
It’s certainly been a wild ride for all involved in the speculation, though sadly, nothing super conspiracy theory-worthy after all. It doesn’t take away from Ermelber’s work in recreating a low-rez Hyrule being an impressive feat in itself, even if he didn’t intend for the world to see it.
After playing Breath of the Wild for 14 hours straight on a long haul flight, I now appreciate the thing I found most challenging about Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
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