It’s hard to believe, but the beloved The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom recently celebrated its first anniversary, and to celebrate the occasion, Japanese gaming publication Nintendo Dream caught up with Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi. Nintendo Dream asked the seasoned couple if they had any special messages they wanted to share for the anniversary, and you can read their answers below.
Eiji Aonuma
I heard an incident the other day when a kid excitedly said “I’ve played Tears of the Kingdom for over 1000 hours” and the mother smiled in response, saying “I didn’t know about that!”
Of course, I was shocked that one game could be played so much, but I was also surprised that my mother accepted it.
There are a lot of people around me who are happy to tell me how they played this game for hours and I’m really glad that I made a game that people enjoyed so much.
Zelda is a long running series and I would like to use the experience from this title to create more games for everyone to enjoy in the future, so look forward to that. To all those who have played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, thank you very much.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi
It’s been almost a year since the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. During that time, I watched everyone around the world play it and enjoy it in many different ways, which brought joy to the staff as a whole.
In particular, Ultrahand, one of the new features added that allows you to attach and detach items at will, continued to lead to unique vehicles and creations we couldn’t have imagined; because of that, I feel we’ve been able to implement one of the core concepts we’ve been striving for, which is to make a game that embodies “Can you do it? Yes, you can”, and I’m happy with that too.
That our game is played so much is an irreplaceable source of motivation for our development staff. Thank you very much.
In the end, what I want to say now that a year has passed is that just like its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, this game’s story is structured so that the truth is gradually revealed as you play, leading to surprising moments that make you go, “So, that’s how it was”. It’s designed so that even after clearing it once, playing the game again while you already know the truth allows you to realize things you didn’t notice in your first playthrough, and the same scenes or dialogues can look completely different, so enjoy finding new discoveries and experiences in the second play.
Please continue to support The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Thanks to Greatsong1 for sending the news tip!
