Linktober 8: Triforce
Miyamoto on where Link's name came from, and the original vision for the Triforce, 2012.
Source: Hyrule Interviews (trans. from Gamekult)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.social![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 59. Producer & Co-Director of The Legend of Zelda (1986).
QUOTE:
Q: And where does Link’s name come from?
Miyamoto: It’s not a very well-known story, but back then, when we started designing The Legend of Zelda, we imagined the fragments of the Triforce as electronic chips! It was meant to be a video game that would take place both in the past and the future.
Because the hero was linking together both eras, we called him “Link”, after the English word. But in the end, Link never went to the future and it remained a heroic fantasy game. We can even say there’s absolutely nothing futuristic in the game! [laugh]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreibrksp2csey636gjklaqbutbm4cdi6ejrqnztds4werjbwv7rps2a@jpeg)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialLinktober 8: Triforce
Miyamoto on where Link's name came from, and the original vision for the Triforce, 2012.
Source: Hyrule Interviews (trans. from Gamekult)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialEno & Miyamoto on holding the jump button longer for more distance, 1996.
Source: Shmuplations
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialMiyamoto on how there are still plenty of possibilities in games, 1989.
Source: Shmuplations
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialMiyamoto on “acting like a producer” and relinquishing creative control on Ocarina of Time, 1999.
Source: Shmuplations
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 46. Producer of Ocarina of Time.
QUOTE:
Miyamoto: From the start [of Ocarina of Time development] I tried to act like a producer: “Do whatever you want, as long as it's interesting.” However, midway through the second year, it started to feel like if I wasn't physically there on the floor, they might never wrap things up.
At that point, the different sub-teams … had been working independently and in parallel, so my work was less about adding my own ideas as it was bringing together and consolidating what everyone else had done. Because a game this large is the combined work of a huge number of people, it's not my place to come in and try to exert my own control over everything.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreifjf5b5v35vwxaqlkn2v27lvgcx62wpclvbklbxm6zn3suq2wvjiy@jpeg)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialAonuma on being invited to work on Zelda “for a spell” and the dungeons he designed for Ocarina, 2011.
Source: Iwata Asks
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialAonuma on his advertising ambitions and karakuri dolls, 2003.
Source: GameSpy
![PEOPLE:
- Eiji Aonuma, age 40. Ocarina of Time Dungeon Director
Majora’s Mask & The Wind Waker Game Director.
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Creator of Zelda, Mario, & more.
QUOTE:
Aonuma: Well, Miyamoto-san studied product design, but I majored in global design.
Q: With an eye towards making video games?
Aonuma: Actually, I wanted to design for advertising. Initially, I didn't think about designing games, because back then games weren't as popular as they are now. In the process of my studies I discovered that I was more interested in 3D design, creating something with volume. So, I started creating karakuri ningyo — traditional Japanese wooden dolls of carved wood that have a machine inside that allows the doll to move on its own.
When I interviewed at Nintendo, I brought these and showed them to Miyamoto-san. I think that's why I was hired [laughs].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreihirahtrn743aun2ozcuyrbg23eyqmtlvnr5r2riscjrmri2vaube@jpeg)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.socialMiyamoto on how Ocarina was built to evoke nostalgia, 2003.
Source: Nintendo Prime
![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 50. Producer of The Legend of Zelda (1986) and Ocarina of Time.
QUOTE:
Miyamoto: [When making Ocarina of Time] we thought of how we should translate the fun of the first Zelda game into a 3D environment, so that it made you feel free in this world you’re exploring.
Sometimes you remember a place nostalgically after some years. [laughs] When you grow up and go back to a place you thought was huge as a kid, like a street, you realize there is barely any space for a car to fit in. So, after remembering the time when you were growing up, you realize there was a time when you saw things like that. Thinking it was a good idea to have that inside the game, we had some very narrow places and we included the game mechanic of going back to those spots [as adult Link].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreiavjhxxexwvt3aw6ft57wxxeheo6su6yd4s3ykzg3dnz4ijiplrii@jpeg)
@hyruleinterviews.bsky.social![PEOPLE:
- Shigeru Miyamoto, age 58. Producer of Ocarina of Time, creator of Mario & Zelda.
- Satoru Iwata, age 51. President of Nintendo.
QUOTE:
Miyamoto: I thought of autojump [for Ocarina of Time] on one of my days off. I couldn't wait to get to work on Monday!
Iwata: You couldn't wait to tell everyone. [laughs]
Miyamoto: Right! [laughs] I gathered everyone on Monday morning and said, ‘We're gonna do something called autojump!’ Everyone's response was, “Say what?!” The team that had made Mario games was going to give up the jump button.
… An added benefit was that we could program the pose Link would assume after jumping. We could look at the landform ahead and determine how Link would jump.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreifr4ndnrjdn4dwez3xq464mwhucvv6xywxb7mtphxqbjsz5i63moe@jpeg)
![PEOPLE:
- Yoshiaki Koizumi, age 43. - Ocarina of Time 3D Gameplay Director
- Assistant Director of Super Mario 64
- Director of Majora’s Mask, Super Mario Sunshine, & Super Mario Galaxy.
- Satoru Iwata, age 51. 4th President of Nintendo.
QUOTE:
Koizumi: I do think they [Mario and Zelda] are often made in pairs. They both [Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time] fell into the category of “3D open-world action games.” I didn't really see the difference between them.
Iwata: If you were to state the difference, it would be how [Ocarina of Time] is the one you don't press a button to jump in.
Koizumi: Even when it comes to that, you had to press a button to jump when we first started making Ocarina of Time.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2e7f2uvcguv4d5qxqnyjmk32/bafkreidvohoizrktj2zzgonwrafxqpbvdqsmhrgveqseauvb6mylgeipfu@jpeg)