Dear Reader:
Massive Phantom Hourglass interview
A portion of a huge interview via Nintendo Online Magazine with Eiji Aonuma…
Nintendo Online Magazine: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is controlled with the DS stylus. But wouldn’t it be easier to keep using the + Control Pad?
Eiji Aonuma: “If you haven’t played Phantom Hourglass, you may have the impression that the game has been forcibly adapted just to suit the stylus and Touch Screen controls of the DS. Well, even among the development team there were those who thought the same thing at first, and of course there was a period during development when we re-examined the control method.
“I am fully aware of how well the +Control Pad worked with previous Zelda games, and there were times we thought that it might be easier to control the game using the +Control Pad. It did cross our minds that perhaps we should give up on the stylus control idea altogether.
“The process of making controls exclusively using the stylus and Touch Screen came about during development, once we felt confident that this method of control wouldn’t present any problems.”
“The important thing to stress is that we came to feel that the stylus held more possibilities than the conventional control method - that it was inspiring all sorts of exciting gameplay ideas.
“While the player controls Link with the stylus, they can touch various objects on the Touch Screen and Link will react in a range of different ways. Basically, this method of control feels great to use. It removes the need to consider separately which way to move and then what sort of action to perform.
“We felt liberated from the slightly stilted convention that you had to first move up to any object in question and then press a button to make something happen. And the really interesting thing is that, as we worked on this system, it became a source of inspiration for all sorts of new ideas.
“For instance, when we were considering how best to control the boomerang, opinions would emerge quite naturally such as ‘The player should be able to choose the path it follow when it flies…’, or ‘It would be great if it followed the line you draw on the screen!’
“I feel that while developing this game, we developed as a team as well. It’s not as if from the start we had all known that the game could be totally controlled by the stylus. But in the end, precisely because the stylus was used for manipulating items and solving puzzles, we were able to pack the game with all manner of interesting things.
“I think that even if you are harbouring some doubts about stylus control for Zelda, once you have a go you will soon see how well it works.”
NOM: Can you explain exactly how control using the stylus has added to the gameplay, and will it still have that essential ‘Zelda-esque’ quality?
EA: “While I wasn’t certain about it from the start, developing this title for the DS really brought home to me the fact that a lot of the fun of a Zelda title lies in the complexity of the controls. But working on Majora’s Mask for the Nintendo 64 and then The Wind Waker for the GameCube in succession, I began to worry that, due perhaps to the growing number of buttons necessary to control the game, or the 3D environment, new players might find these games intimidating and avoid them. I felt that there were sure to be many players who thought ‘Zelda looks fun, but there’s no way I can play it’, and give up before even giving it a try. For that reason, ever since then I have been thinking of ways to square this circle: how to make the controls easier without losing any of the unique fun-factor of a Zelda title.
“That’s how we hit upon using the stylus, which makes the game simpler to control without being inferior in any way to using the buttons. Thinking about it, the very first Zelda title for the NES was controlled using only the +Control Pad and the A and B Buttons, and that game was still a lot of fun.
“But this is in no way to suggest that you can trace a direct line between the original NES Zelda and Phantom Hourglass. In the Zelda titles up to now, there have been all sorts of different innovations, such as 3D gameplay; we have looked at these ideas and thought: ‘We can use that!’ Phantom Hourglass is an amalgamation of all these different elements from other titles which we have selected. If the Zelda series from the NES up to the 3D incarnations all form one continuous process of development, then I feel this title is a new development achieved by going back and then setting off again in a different direction.”
“One aspect of what makes a Zelda game is that feeling of satisfaction – when you say: ‘I did it!’ – once you finally work out how to solve a puzzle after a lot of hard thought. To let the player experience that, there need to be all sorts of things the player can try: ‘I wonder if this works…’ But inevitably this means that the controls become complicated.
“If a player hasn’t grasped those complex controls and consequently cannot fully enjoy the game, it’s natural that some of them stop wanting to play the game. But I think there was a period when, without meaning to, we were developing Zelda games like this.
“In a sense, the DS has resolved those problems that had found their way into the games over the course of the development of the series; it has got rid of anything unnecessary, allowing the pure fun of Zelda to shine through. The elements that remain allow both first-time players and experienced players to enjoy the same feeling: the true pleasure of a Zelda title.”
NOM: Is the only thing new about Phantom Hourglass the fact that you control Link with the stylus?