Spielinfo Bilder Videos

4Players: How do you feel now that the Zelda series is celebrating its 25^th anniversary?

Aonuma: I myself have been working on the Zelda series for 13 years now. So for me it's a great honor and also a great joy to be able to release Skyward Sword as one of the games that I created for the 25^th anniversary.

4Players: What special ideas did you have for Skyward Sword in connection with this celebration?

Aonuma: Actually when we were working on the game we didn't really think of the 25^th anniversary. What we really tried to implement this time is Wii Motion Plus and the sword fight using motion control. This was really the big thing and this is why also the story revolves around the Master Sword and you will learn how it came to be. And basically the sword of Skyward Sword is about the beginning of the history of Legend of Zelda.

Eiji Aonuma has been working on the Zelda series for 13 years now. Nevertheless he isn't tired of it at all.

So it is really by pure chance that this coincides with the 25^th anniversary. I think it's a very lucky coincidence that actually for the 25^th anniversary the story of the game turned out to be about the beginnings of Zelda. I'm really amazed at how this came to be.

4Players: What do both of you in general think about what makes the Zelda series so special?

Kondo: For me the key is the puzzle solving and the feeling of satisfaction when you've solved a puzzle and mastered all kind of challenging situations. That's the key point for me.

Aonuma: For me it's the uniqueness of Zelda. It doesn't really compare or is similar to any other title. Of course with Skyward Sword the sword is very important but the whole concept of the game is quite unique and I think all of the Zelda games have always been very unique. They didn't belong to a certain genre or were taking things from other genres.

4Players: How important is music in the game for you as producer and you as composer?

Aonuma: For me – as for others – it is unthinkable without music. It's a critical element and I really want people to have the music on when they play the game. I think it has to be on. And it has a very important function in the game, because usually when you enter a new scene or a situation changes, the first thing that will change is the music. And then the visuals will change. It's never that visuals change and new

Koji Kondo wants his melodies to stay in people's memories.

music starts. Actually the music prepares you and the soundtrack is working like that for us. It's actually creating music in a way that it will kind of lead you or allow you to emotionally transition to the new scene. And I think it has this very important feature which really allows players to get really immersed in the game. They really become part of this world also due to the music. And I think for that reason it's really critical to have the music and to play the game with the music on.

Kondo: First of all for me it's special that there are so many different worlds and we've really tried to create the music in a way that it fits all these different areas, environments and situations. I want the melodies to stay in people's memories and that maybe at one point they are not playing they are kind of thinking of that song and that will maybe inspire them to pick up the game again and continue playing. Another important thing is that in many of the Zelda games we have instrument items, which the player can play. And this I think is also something very unique and something very important to the series.

4Players: Do you really aim for this connection between music and gameplay right at the concept stage of a game? Because when I think of Ocarina of time the music was a crucial gameplay element...

Aonuma: No, I think it's not that we have a concept and then we just pull through. Would be very nice if we could do that. But actually it's more a process where we bounce ideas back and forth along the way. And things develope and evolve as we discuss them and come up with ideas. So it's not that we have an idea at the beginning and we just follow that.
It's really a mutual process where maybe at a first step a visual, then the music is created. And then the people doing the visuals listen to the music and say: 'Well, if the music is like this, then maybe we should do the visuals like this and then maybe the music is modified again. So it's really a mutual cooperation and then in the end we have something that really works in terms both of the graphics and the music. It's not something we have from the beginning.