Nintendo had a 9-day Zelda "boot camp" with devs "working from morning until night" to figure out what the heck they were going to do with Echoes of Wisdom
Sep. 25, 2024Protecting Hyrule from inconsistency
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You never know when inspiration is going to strike, and forThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomteam, inspiration was found during a nine-day boot camp where, according to director Tomomi Sano, they were “working from morning until night” to get the story right.
As part ofNintendo’s Ask the Developer Vol. 13series producer Eiji Aonuma recounts the difficulty of taking creative liberties within the deeper history of Hyrule. This ultimately led to the aforementioned “boot camp” between him and the rest of the team to really figure the new Zelda game out.
“It’s very difficult to balance how much to add or change,” says Aonuma. “At first, we were intentionally leaving any parts that might delve into Hyrule’s history vague, but partway through, we just couldn’t find a way forward that way… So, around last summer, we decided to hold a boot camp and work out the story there.”
This lengthy excursion centered around the difficulties of touching the existing lore of the franchise and keeping things consistent. If you’ve seen thelatest Legend of Zelda timeline, you should understand why that is a difficult task.
“Because the series has been running for a long time, players are interested in its history and lore,” he continues. “So, when we’ve adopted a game plot that was not in line with the other games in the series because we prioritized the gameplay, we’ve been told by our fans that it didn’t make sense.”
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A Legend of Zelda boot camp might sound like a fan’s biggest dream, but for the team behind the game it sounds like it was more a lesson in keeping the lore consistent the best you can.
If you’re looking for more on the game, check out ourreview of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and why it’s a “refreshing, magic-filled retool of the Link’s Awakening engine.”
Jesse is a freelance games journalist with almost a decade of experience. He was the Associate Editor at Prima Games for three years and then moved into the world of freelancing where you might have seen his work at the likes of Game Informer, Kotaku, Inverse, and a few others. You can find him playing the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV or whatever hot new multiplayer game his friends are playing.
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