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Hyrule Interviews
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
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A database of interviews with the Zelda team. Our goal is to preserve that legacy, share it here, and build a safe community for our followers!

By @maxnichols.bsky.social

www.hyruleinterviews.com
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hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Shigeru Miyamoto turns 73 today!

Miyamoto on how long he wants to be involved in game development, 1999.

Source: The Hyrule Journals ( @javedlsterritt.bsky.social )

#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/24441fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more. Producer of Nintendo EAD’s Software Development Department. QUOTE: [Answers to a “yes” or “no” survey in Nintendo Dream] Q: “I want to be involved in game development until I die.” Miyamoto: Yes. Q: “I want my children to enter the game industry in the future.” Miyamoto: Either yes or no is fine. Q: “I would like to be the president of Nintendo at least once.” Miyamoto: I don't want to do it even if you ask me. You're not going to ask me, are you? [laughs]
November 16, 2025 at 4:30 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on why Metroid Prime is 1st-person, 2002.

Source: IGN

#MetroidPrimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/5899f3beec61...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 49. Producer on Metroid Prime. QUOTE: Miyamoto: People kind of have this tendency to call [Metroid Prime] a first-person shooter because of the perspective, but really we think of Metroid as an exploration game—particularly Samus exploring really tight tunnels and passageways and whatnot. When you get into really tight places like that, the third-person camera can be difficult and that's why we went with the first-person camera.
November 14, 2025 at 9:30 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Mori on the first take of Ganondorf's voice in Ocarina of Time, 1998.

Source: GlitterBerri's Game Translations

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#MoriQuote, #NagasakoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/0e093b226205...
PEOPLE: - Naoki Mori. Ocarina of Time Cinema Scene Director. - Takashi Nagasako. Voice of Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Mori: In [Ocarina of Time] there are bits of voice acting here and there, but the voice actor in charge of playing Ganondorf in the first cutscene you see really made him seem like a devil, somehow awful and evil. Afterwards I took the actor aside and asked him not to play a demon, but cool and dangerous at the same time. A voice like cheap wine.
November 12, 2025 at 8:03 PM
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Aonuma on playing a Musou crossover before Hyrule Warriors, 2014.

Source: Nintendo Life

#Zelda
#HyruleWarriorsQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/2a741fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 51. Zelda Franchise supervisor for Hyrule Warriors. QUOTE: Q: You happened to be playing a Musou game when Koei Tecmo approached you [about making Hyrule Warriors]. Did that affect how you approached the game you were playing at the time? Aonuma: At the time I was playing a Musou collaboration game called One Piece: Pirate Warrior. In this game, you are fighting a battle where there are many bases on the battlefield, and you have to figure out what order you take the bases in—and also the timing in which certain things occur. This is not something that had been in previous Zelda games, and so it was a very exciting idea for me to connect with.
November 10, 2025 at 11:44 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on a reason why Tears of the Kingdom has the Depths, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: We created the sky [in Tears of the Kingdom] first. But then we thought, ”There’s not enough in terms of distance.” So then we thought, ”Maybe we can look to the ground to provide more distance.” When you’re talking about the sky, there’s just the idea of skydiving down to the surface. But if we were to, say, have a chasm, you can dive even further, and have even more fun doing that. On top of that, there’s also the idea of expanding the amount of exploration and the amount of discovery that you can have within the game. The Depths, as this place to explore and expand—not only in the sense of adventure, but also in terms of distance—really suited the game.
November 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
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Nakago & Miyamoto on collaborating as director and programmer in the 80s, 2025.

Source: Nintendo Museum

#SuperMarioBrosQuote
#MiyamotoQuote, #NakagoQuote, #TezukaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/29a41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 72. Producer and Director of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. - Toshihiko Nakago, age 68. Lead Programmer of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. - Takashi Tezuka, age 64. Assistant Director of Super Mario Bros., Director of The Legend of Zelda. QUOTE: Miyamoto: Though Nakago-san is a programmer, I invited him to planning meetings [for Super Mario Bros.] with us. Aside from the music, it was the three of us for the most part. We did anything and everything we could. Nakago: When working on the programming, I even brought in Miyamoto-san and the others to devise how to structure the game data. We've always been involved in all sorts of things. Miyamoto: … It was my job to present game ideas that can be conveyed to programmers, and even before Super Marlo Bros., Nakago-san would get mad at me. It felt like he was my editor or something, saying, “If you continue doing this, it’s never gonna get done!” [Laughs]
November 9, 2025 at 4:44 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Miyamoto on Super Mario Galaxy music, 2025.

Source: Nintendo Museum

#SuperMarioGalaxyQuote
#MiyamotoQuote, #KondoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/29a41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 72. Creator of Zelda & Mario, Producer of Super Mario Galaxy. - Koji Kondo, age 64. Original composer for Zelda & Mario, and Super Mario Galaxy. QUOTE: Miyamoto: For Super Mario Galaxy, we had other team members make the music. And the music was good, but there were times where I felt it wasn’t “Mario” enough. And when Kondo-san composed the music for the observatory where Rosalina is, I felt like, “Oh, now THAT’S Mario.” No one else seemed to get it though. It makes you wonder. Kondo: At the time, you didn’t come out and say, like, “That’s bad,” or anything, Miyamoto-san, but I don’t remember getting praise. Today, though, you’re really laying it on. Miyamoto: I’m the type of person who gets better when he gets praise, but I think I haven’t given much praise. [Laughs]
November 7, 2025 at 11:42 PM
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Matsushita on the challenge of writing Princess Zelda in Age of Calamity, 2020.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#HyruleWarriorsAgeofCalamityQuote
#MatsushitaQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/20041fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Ryota Matsushita. Director of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. QUOTE: Which character was the most challenging to design or write [for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity]? Matsushita: I think it’s Princess Zelda. While she also serves as the most important representation of the Zelda series as a whole, her character always has to have a sense of delicacy in all of her scenes. It was a difficult challenge for us to figure out a way to get that character to do Warriors-style action sequences.
November 7, 2025 at 1:49 AM
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Hayashi on shared memories creating a common language, 2025.

Source: Creator's Voice

#HayashiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/1f941fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Yosuke Hayashi, age 46. Producer for Hyrule Warriors, Age of Calamity, and Age of Imprisonment. QUOTE: Hayashi: Games are kind of like tools for sharing memories in that there are common experiences players have. For example, in the Legend of Zelda games, there are mechanics like "here's what you do if you find a cracked wall" or "do this when Ganondorf summons a ball of energy." These experiences are shared by everyone as a common language, and that's what makes them so appealing.
November 5, 2025 at 5:04 AM
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Hirono & Kobayashi on Zelda's design in Skyward Sword, 2013.

Source: Hyrule Historia

#Zelda
#SkywardSwordQuote
#KobayashiQuote, #HironoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/29a41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Ryūji Kobayashi. Player Design Lead in Skyward Sword. - Akiko Hirono. NPC Designer in Skyward Sword. QUOTE: Hirono/Kobayashi*: [In Skyward Sword, Zelda] isn’t a princess, So the first thing we did was remove any sort of regal ornamentation from her head. Afterward, her look was much too simple... We wanted her to look like a typical village girl, but we also wanted to establish her as a heroine at the same time, so this is what we decided upon. Her outfit is a pretty sky blue, and compared to previous iterations, we went with a dress that was more red than purple. We had a director who requested Goddess Zelda be dressed “simply, and in white.” *It’s unclear who is speaking
November 4, 2025 at 4:24 AM
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Miyamoto on playing unspoiled being more "Zelda-like", 1998.

Source: The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/1a541fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 45. Producer of Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Miyamoto: Zelda is a game series that is fun to play because of the puzzle solving elements—at least for me. I think that in this way, if you watch other people play the game or follow a strategy guide while playing you reduce the amount of “Zelda-like fun”. I think you would maximize the fun of the game by playing with a subjective feeling, almost as if you yourself were Link. Therefore, I think players will find the most satisfaction when playing [Ocarina of Time] with this mindset and saying things like “The game is fun because I'm playing it!”. I’d honestly be over the moon if players experienced our game in this way.
November 3, 2025 at 4:48 AM
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Miyamoto on the "interesting misunderstanding" of Kakariko Village, 1999.

Source: The Hyrule Journals ( @javedlsterritt.bsky.social )

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/24441fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Producer of Ocarina of Time. QUOTE: Miyamoto: [We had] been working in the flat world of the Famicom, so we tend to think about the flat layout of the area first, but real villages are different. When I watch TV programs or actually visit villages, I often see that many of them are located on slopes. There are fields, houses, and mountains in the background. So, in [Ocarina of Time], we decided to create a village with ups and downs. The image I had in mind was terraced fields, a waterwheel, and a winding path leading down to a well at the bottom, but what actually ended up being built resembled the form of a staircase [laughs]. But I thought, “This is good too,” and the designer made it on their own, which led to an interesting misunderstanding.
November 1, 2025 at 5:13 PM
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Miyamoto on plans for the Zelda 64 Disk Drive expansion, 1998.

Source: The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeMasterQuestQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/1a541fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 45. Producer of Ocarina of Time and Ocarina of Time: Master Quest. QUOTE: Miyamoto: We are planning to combine the [N64 Disk Drive] and the cartridge versions of [Ocarina of Time] so that when you enter a dungeon in the base game the Disk Drive data is read and loaded giving access to a new dungeon. Of course, the Disk Drive has not been released as of yet, so I can’t say anything else about it. I think that Zelda obviously has its roots in strong puzzle solving gameplay elements, with different mazes and items used differently in various locations which allows for lots of fun ways to play the game. If we are able to link with the Disk Drive this allows us in a sense to expand the puzzle solving possibilities within the game world.
October 31, 2025 at 10:33 PM
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#Linktober 30: Wild/Untamed

Takehara on beautiful nature after the calamity, 2019.

Source: Hyrule Interviews

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakeharaQuote, #YonezuQuote

www.notion.so/7323c6d27865...
PEOPLE: - Manabu Takehara. Breath of the Wild Lead Architecture Artist. - Makoto Yonezu. Breath of the Wild Lead Landscape Artist. QUOTE: Takehara: Something the terrain lead told me when the Breath of the Wild team met together: … “The grass fluttering with the wind”, “The feeling of adventure as you push your way through the grass”, these experiences create presence. He thought that they would help establish the worldview that even after the calamity, “Beautiful nature remains regardless of human life”. He then asked the programmers to “Grow a lot of grass in the game!”, and the end result was a volume of moving grass far past his imagination, resulting in him crying from joy.
October 30, 2025 at 10:44 PM
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#Linktober 29: Link & Epona
Miyamoto on unintended parallels between Ocarina and Mononoke, 1998.

Source: The Hyrule Journals

#Zelda
#OcarinaofTimeQuote, #PrincessMononokeQuote
#MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/1a541fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 45. Producer of Ocarina of Time. - Hayao Miyazaki, age 57. Director of Princess Mononoke. QUOTE: Miyamoto: During development [of Ocarina of Time] some staff argued about making it a unicorn or a moose, but we ended up going with a horse. The game was certainly influenced by Mr. Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke. Both were roughly in development around the same time and when [I saw the film] I was surprised at the similarities. Scenes of Link firing the bow and arrow while riding Epona or the Giant Goron walking behind the mountain stirred thoughts like “Oh that’s Ashitaka!” or “That looks like the Nightwalker.” We really struggled with the similarities. However, in the end we decided that building up Hyrule as a country was enough to differentiate it.
October 30, 2025 at 3:20 AM
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#Linktober 28: Mask

Imamura on his task as Majora's Mask art director, 2021.

Source: IGN

#Zelda
#MajorasMaskQuote
#ImamuraQuote

www.notion.so/52576cb68c30...
PEOPLE: - Takaya Imamura, age 55. Majora’s Mask Art Director. Designer of Majora’s Mask, the Moon, and Tingle. QUOTE: Imamura: We had to develop Majora’s Mask in just one year, so it was a very short development window. When I saw a prototype of the game, I thought it looked too similar to Ocarina of Time, so it became my task to change the look of the game over a short period.
October 28, 2025 at 10:40 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 27: Species/Race
Shinoda on how he approached designing the Zora in Breath of the Wild, 2017.

Source: Creating a Champion

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#ShinodaQuote

www.notion.so/13c41fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Hirohito Shinoda. Lead NPC Artist for Breath of the Wild. QUOTE: Shinoda: I wanted to make the Zora [of Breath of the Wild] look really cool while still being faithful to the Zora of past titles. Rather than restricting myself to fish, I drew inspiration from dolphins and other mammals as well. Also, the concept for them in this game was to have them know Link, so they ended up being long lived. In order to give more variation to the race, I made Zora of all sorts of colors, not just one. King Dorephan was the final leader of a race that I designed. I made sure to give him a unique appearance that wouldn't overlap with the other leaders. The reason that I used a whale motif for him is purely because the king of the sea should be a whale!
October 27, 2025 at 10:21 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 26: Zelda

Takizawa on the design of Zelda's eyebrows in Breath of the Wild, 2018.

Source: Hyrule Interviews

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote
#TakizawaQuote

www.notion.so/a3003f9854bc...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 46. Breath of the Wild Art Director. QUOTE: Q: When [Breath of the Wild’s] Princess Zelda was first revealed to the public, there was a lot of talk about her thick eyebrows. Takizawa: That was really surprising. I didn't expect it to become such a hot topic. The eyebrows are thicker than usual because it makes it easier to give her facial expressions. Princess Zelda has a lot of emotional expression this time around, so I think the design suits her well.
October 26, 2025 at 11:40 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Here's even more, and this still isn't all of it!
Concept art for Midna. She's wearing a cattle skull and you can just barely see her glowing white eyes peeking out from inside it's mouth. Her hair is red and green. Concept art for Midna. She looks much more devilish, with deep red skin, a skull hanging at her waist, and an even wider grin than her final design had. Concept art for Midna. She's got deep red skin and deep black sclothing (or perhaps still skin) above. She's wearing a skull mask that looks kinda like the Skull Mask from Majora's Mask. Concept art for Midna. In this one she has a more human-proportioned form, but with huge ears. She's wearing lipstick and eyeshadow. Her mouth is small like a human's.
October 26, 2025 at 3:47 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
We got to see a LOT of concept art for Midna in the Arts & Artifacts book.

Image credit: @historyofhyrule.com 's Twilight Princess archive:
www.flickr.com/photos/histo...
A concept design for Midna. She has white hair and black+grey skin, glowing red eyes, and a half-moon mask. A concept design for Midna and Wolf Link. She looks more slender and has a much smaller mouth, with her hair short and pointed A concept design for Midna and Wolf Link. She has pupil-less white eyes, a sort of poncho-looking outfit, and is wearing a living squid or octopus creature as a hat. A concept design for Midna. She looks more goblin-like than imp-like here, wears a fur outfit, and on her left hand the arm and fingers extend like tentacles.
October 26, 2025 at 3:42 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 25: Twilight
Takizawa on recycling Midna’s design from an abandoned project, 2017.

Source: Nintendo Website

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#TakizawaQuote

www.notion.so/e71648749d01...
PEOPLE: - Satoru Takizawa, age 45. Twilight Princess Art Director. QUOTE: Takizawa: There was a secret project we were considering working on before Twilight Princess, and Midna inherited the character profile for the ‘goblin/devilkin’ character that would have been featured in that project. Looking back at the development notes from that time, there are some descriptions left on the notes clearly reminiscent of Midna, including ‘the appearance looks like a monster or a child,’ ‘can't tell if she's enemy or ally,’ ‘can't really tell what she's thinking,’ ‘sometimes selfish, but sometimes cute and naïve.’ That's why initial design sketches for Midna looked a lot like this ‘goblin’ character.
October 26, 2025 at 3:34 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 24: Science/Tech
Morita on programming microphone gameplay for the first Zelda, 2006.

Source: Nintendo Power

#Zelda
#TheLegendofZeldaQuote
#MoritaQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/1f232f3eecc9...
PEOPLE: - Kazuaki Morita, age 40. Programmer on The Legend of Zelda & Super Mario Bros. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 53. Producer & Co-Director of The Legend of Zelda & Super Mario Bros. QUOTE: Morita: Right after I finished work on Super Mario Bros. for the NES, I dove right into development of the very first Legend of Zelda game. Some of Mr. Miyamoto's early direction explored some features of the game using a microphone to do things like beating enemies by making sounds into the mic. Though we ultimately didn't employ mic control in the game, working with the possibility opened my mind.
October 24, 2025 at 11:42 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 23: Echo

Sano on her direction that making echoes should have an immediate effect, 2024.

Source: Ask the Developer

#Zelda
#EchoesofWisdomQuote
#SanoQuote

www.notion.so/11341fe961fd...
PEOPLE: - Tomomi Sano. Co-Director of Echoes of Wisdom. QUOTE: Sano: Princess Zelda doesn't have a way of attacking directly initially, so there was a tendency for the gameplay using the echoes to just end up being a situation where you watched the things you copied do the work. It felt like they were doing everything for you and you were being made to wait... So we asked Grezzo to adjust it so that players would feel an immediate sense of accomplishment like, ‘I did it!’ For example, if you made an echo of a monster, that echo would immediately attack an enemy, just like you swinging a sword. Or if you wanted to light a fire, you could use an echo with that ability, and it would light the fire straight away.
October 23, 2025 at 10:14 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 22: Snow/Cold/Frozen

Nishimori on doing some motion-capture of his own for Twilight Princess, 2005.

Source: Nintendo Power

#Zelda
#TwilightPrincessQuote
#NishimoriQuote

www.notion.so/810c9b5aa295...
PEOPLE: - Keisuke Nishimori. Lead Modeller & Animator for Link, Wolf Link & Midna and the horse in Twilight Princess. QUOTE: Nishimori: Back when I was in school, I played a lot of basketball and practiced kendo. Actually, when we were working on the sword-fighting motion capture, I wore the motion-capture suit and unleashed some of my kendo moves! Hopefully, my own moves will be in the final version of Twilight Princess. Though I've also become interested in snowboarding, don't think that I have a secret plan to have Link use some kind of snowboarding moves in the game!
October 22, 2025 at 10:51 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
#Linktober 21: Music
Kondo & Miyamoto on Ravel’s Bolero and 'The Copyright Incident', 2016.

Source: Nintendo.com

#Zelda
#TheLegendofZeldaQuote
#KondoQuote, #MiyamotoQuote

www.notion.so/469330b1cf92...
PEOPLE: - Koji Kondo, age 55. The Legend of Zelda (1986) Composer. - Shigeru Miyamoto, age 63. The Legend of Zelda (1986) Producer & Co-Director. QUOTE: Kondo: The Legend of Zelda has an opening crawl, so I wondered about what should play during that too. Tezuka-san's written request simply says, ‘title music.’ [laughs] For quite a while, it just played Ravel's Bolero. It really matched the opening crawl! Miyamoto: You rearranged it for the NES, right? Kondo: Right. But immediately before finishing The Legend of Zelda, we learned it was still under copyright. Miyamoto: Oh, I remember that! (laughs) The Copyright Incident! … Kondo: So I pulled an all-nighter to compose the opening song.
October 21, 2025 at 11:23 PM