When it comes to beloved Nintendo games, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker It is one of the curious cases of the company. When the game was released in 2002, it was praised and loved by critics, but many fans were very harsh on it.
A combination of factors gave it a bad reputation at first, as some of these fans did not agree with the game’s cartoonish premise, with a similar graphic style. However, over the years, many fans fondly remember this game and consider it to be one of the best Zelda games of all time.
Fans, in particular, now remember The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for being so bright and vibrant while keeping the same aspects that made the Zelda series so memorable. However, at that time fans expected a artistic style more realistic and dark, based on the success of the previous installments for console, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.
Now, the creator of the series, Shigeru Miyamoto, also had doubts about the art style of the game during its development and the YouTube channel, DidYouKnowGaming, has scoured old interviews for interesting details about the game’s development for its latest video. An article published in the Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream reveals that, apparently, Miyamoto “felt sorry for others” when seeing the art style of Wind Wakerwhich is now iconic, with cell shading.
Originally, I wanted the game to be more realistic, like the aforementioned N64 games, but the art team had proposed Toon Link during the concept phase, and he stayed with the developers. However, this was never mentioned to Miyamoto during development, and when introduced to the cel-shaded art of Wind Wakerdoubted that the game would sell.
Series producer Eiji Aonuma stated that Miyamoto he clung to the idea of a realistic Zelda game, even saying that “it’s not too late to change course” to achieve it. Despite Miyamoto’s misgivings about the game’s direction, he allowed Wind Waker to go ahead, as it would have taken ten years to make a more realistic game with the team they had at the time, it seemed.
Despite the initial reaction, The Wind Waker it would remain one of the most beloved entries in the series, and even had an HD remaster released on the Wii U in 2013. The Zelda series would have its most realistic and gritty gameplay in 2006 with Twilight Princess, which also saw an HD remaster. for the same console in 2016. Both games are no longer available for these older consoles, though rumors of Switch ports continue to circulate.