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Although it has a top-down perspective, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds has certainly been a title with a focus on utilising the auto-stereoscopic screen of the 3DS. Nintendo has proudly shown off the fact that the title runs at 60fps (frames-per-second) with 3D enabled, and various puzzles and dungeons look set to have a focus on verticality, with impressive results in preview builds seen to date.

Of course, the 3DS isn't on its own any more, with the 2DS joining the 'family' of systems. While Nintendo has never produced a game that fundamentally required 3D, it seems that A Link Between Worlds may have been one title that, initially, was designed to utilise the effect in some detail. Speaking to Gamespot, series producer Eiji Aonuma admitted that with the arrival of the 2DS during development, his team had to make some subtle adjustments to some puzzles; he does feel that those with a 3DS, however, should utilise the screen's capabilities, even if they've found the effect uncomfortable in the past.

It's not that you can't play it with 2D, it's just that it becomes clearer when you have the 3D effect on. We found out about the 2DS during development, not before, and we also made changes so that we were sure that you could still play and solve the puzzles only with 2D. It's definitely still playable in 2D!

...A Link Between Worlds is being developed with 60 frames per second, and previous Zelda titles were about half that, about 30fps. The reason for this is because the 3D effect is much more stable with a higher frame rate, with the 60fps. If it's lower than it's sometimes hard for your eyes to focus on the appropriate image. We think we've created a game that even those who found it difficult previously to see the 3D effect would be able to see it better and enjoy it more with this title.

Aonuma-san was also asked about the game length, as Zelda fans are often accustomed to fairly lengthy adventures. The producer suggested that the core adventure — due to the fact it's relatively easy to play — may feel like it's over quickly, yet there's plenty of optional content.

The game itself is designed so that it's quite easy to play, and quite easy to proceed further and further towards the end of the game. So if you play it all the time directly in a row then it could be that it feels quite quick, and it finishes quickly, but then if you go and do all the sidequests it's quite a long game with a lot of content.

It'll be interesting to see, in future projects, whether the emergence of the 2DS will influence, even in minor ways, development of 3DS games. Let us know what you think of Aonuma-san's comments below.

[source gamespot.com]