While The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was developed exclusively for the Switch, the predecessor Breath of the Wild also had to be considered for the Wii U.
And that in turn had an impact on the ideas that Nintendo was able to implement in the predecessor, as if from an official one interview emerges.
Not everything was possible
Ideas for some of the new mechanics in Tears of the Kingdom were already in place, but due to the technical limitations of the Wii U, they couldn’t be realized.
Keep in mind that the following quotes are also about new areas from Tears of the Kingdom, so here’s one spoiler alert!
More news about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
Series producer Eiji mentions an underground cave system. Flying in Breath of the Wild wasn’t initially an option, according to Technical Director Takuhiro Dohta. Since Aonuma wanted a cave system instead, the technically easier option of flying was chosen.
“The previous title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, was originally developed for the Wii U, so there were limitations in development,” explains Dohta.
“There were a lot of ideas that we wanted to implement during development, but we made clear decisions about what we wouldn’t do in this game. For example, we decided that we’re not going to fly. Then Aonuma-san kept coming back said, ‘If flying isn’t an option, I want to go underground’. And we said, ‘Oh no! Please don’t force us to develop that too!'”
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Again, the focus is on exploration, as Art Director Satoru Takizawa explains: “I think that players who find a cave in the cliffs in this game will be like, ‘Is there one over there in the cliffs? ‘ When a place – even an already familiar one – is enriched with something valuable, you start to see the world in a different light.We, the developers of the game, also started to see the landscape in a different way while working on the game I think it’s going to change the way players explore Hyrule as well.”
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be released on May 12, 2023 for Nintendo Switch.
