The Masterminds Behind the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Share the Secret Inspiration Behind the Game’s Creative Features

Nintendo’s latest masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has taken the world by storm, receiving widespread acclaim and positioning itself as one of the top games of the year. Among its many remarkable features, the most innovative aspect introduced in TotK is the Ultra-Hand ability, commonly referred to as building.

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, the creators behind the game, Eiji Aonuma and Hidemaro Fujibayashi, shared their insights and behind-the-scenes stories of the game’s development. When asked about the inspiration behind the new Zonai construction feature, the creators revealed that they found inspiration in something that had been right in front of their eyes all along.

What inspired the building feature in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

60-year-old Eiji Aonuma is the heart of modern Zelda games. After the success of “Ocarina,” Miyamoto passed on stewardship of the series to Aonuma. Under his direction, the Zelda franchise witnessed a lot of ingenuity. Like the repeating gameplay loop of Majora’s Mask, the cartoonlike art style in Wind Waker, and many more. 

For Tears of the Kingdom, Eiji was planning something no one had witnessed before. Hidemaro Fujibayashi, a potential successor to Aonuma, conceived the idea of encouraging creativity using the game’s assets. He demonstrated this concept to Aonuma by constructing a tank using elements from “Breath of the Wild,” including cogwheels, stone slabs, and boat paddles.

Fujibayashi drew inspiration from social media, where he discovered video clips of players utilizing “Breath of the Wild” to construct flying machines and other imaginative contraptions. These fan-made clips planted the seed for the ultra-hand contraptions in Eiji’s mind,  which eventually become a fully-fledged feature in the game, giving it its own identity.

Read More: How To Conquer The Chilly Puzzles And Defeat The Colgera Boss of The Wind Temple In Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 

Following the game’s release, fans enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to create their own extravagant contraptions. Witnessing these new clips, Fujibayashi expressed, “It’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve in ‘Tears,’ and seeing people truly enjoying it gave us confidence that what we’re attempting here is going to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for players.”

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What do you think about the new features in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Will it become  the Game of the Year? Let us know in the comments below!