It’s not uncommon for games to be compared to each other, especially if they have similar gameplay elements. This was no different with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, to the extent that Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma commented on the matter in an interview with RTL Nieuws translated by Nintendo Everything.
Aonuma revealed that the team was so busy developing the game that they really didn’t have a chance to play other games, such as Elden Ring. The game is often compared to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but Aonuma says they only heard about the game. So they weren’t inspired by the Elden Ring at all.
Aonuma continued, saying that “of course there are situations where you make something that’s similar to an existing game, but I would never try to put other people’s ideas into my game. I’m too proud for that. I am always looking for original ideas. When I made Link Between Worlds, you had a 3D system when you jumped that made it look like Link was going straight at you. When I showed this to former Nintendo president (Satoru) Iwata, he said he ‘didn’t know this was possible’. I was very happy to hear that, because to me that’s the essence of game development: figuring out things that no one else has thought of.
