More to life than Zelda?

Eiji Aonuma has worked on the Zelda series for 15 years now, and has been responsible for some truly amazing entries in this beloved franchise. However, in a recent interview with EDGE magazine, he has revealed that he'd like to try other things before he retires:

I'm 50 now, so I only have about ten more years to make games at Nintendo. I want to try all sorts of new things before it's too late — I don't want to get to the end of my career and only have worked on Zelda. But every time I come up with some good new ideas, they end up being used in a Zelda game! I need a six-month break to get away from the Zelda cycle and focus on something new [laughs]. But I'd probably end up making a game that is similar to Zelda; after all, A Link to the Past was my biggest influence.

Elsewhere in the interview — which also contains details about the upcoming 3DS entry running at 60fps and the proposed use of the console's 3D effect — Aonuma reveals that Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka can't remember much about the development of the original Link to the Past:

I have asked them for advice, but the problem is that they don't remember anything! For instance, Link was originally left-handed, but later became right-handed, and everyone has a different theory as to the reasons why. When I asked Miyamoto about it, he said, 'I forget!'

Finally, Aonuma admits that he has a very close connection with the character of Link, likening him to his own child:

When I first started making Zelda games, I was more interested in the enemy characters than in Link himself. But while I was making Twilight Princess, I was listening to the theme on an iPod while walking hand in hand with my child, and I suddenly burst into tears. I was thinking about all the awful trials Link would have to go through in the new game. I realised that Link really is my other child. I don't inhabit the character so much as watch him from somewhere very close.

You can read the full interview in issue 255 of EDGE magazine.