I Don't Always Agree With Shigeru Miyamoto On The Essence Of Zelda, Admits Eiji Aonuma

I too find myself disagreeing with Miyamoto. Especially over Star Fox Zero. I can't wait to try out this physics engine, it looks like it has a tonne of possibilities.

Differing opinions are always a healthy thing. I'm glad this happens. It would be be a bad thing if one unilaterally makes choices without input from others . Take a look at paper mario......

I spoke to someone over the weekend who had a chance to try it out and he said it is incredible so I guess whatever they did worked.

Who would disagree with him really? Miyamoto has been aggressively streamlining his game ideas as of late. He presently aims for more homogeneous, formulated structures rather than the ambitious. Examples of course being Star Fox Zero and the last two Paper Marios. Thankfully, he seems to be allowing new developers to reign free for Super Mario Odyssey. So that's a good sign.

Aonuma-san seems to be one who will ever challenge Miyamoto. I wish more Nintendo devs would do this.

People have differing opinions?

GASP!

No-one is to throw a single stone, even, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do disagree with Miyamoto.

@BensonUii

Of course you've omitted the third option regarding the gamepad, that is to utlise it well.

Please stop saying bat poop crazy.

I'm so excited for all the Nintendo goodness we have coming up !
Switch - Mobile Games - new hardware - Nintendophone, Social Ecosystem - Splatoon tournaments. . .

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy

Whilst not astounding, regular instances of an employee disagreeing with a superior (in terms of reputation or position) in a Japanese company operating in Japan is worthy of note. In particular for a company steeped in Kyoto culture.

I don't always agree wih Miyamoto, but when I do, you'll get a male Zelda named Zeldan to pair with Linkle.

😱who would have thought they'd have different opinions

This is good so it's not always the exact same thing

Creative Differences is good.

not being in agreement is actually a good thing, becouse the fans are also disagreeing with eachother what defines Zelda.
Lol maybe that is why the multiple endings are in the game lol.

@BensonUii Choices are always great. People wouldn't be complaining about those things so much if Nintendo let the players decide how they want to play the game.

Discussing ideas and not always being in agreement is good - the best way to get feedback on an idea and make it better is exactly that.

Nice to see there are different opinions. So the best of both worlds stays in and the bad ideas are thrown out.

This is part of the reason I'm glad Anouma was left in charge of the series over Miyamoto. I've found myself disagreeing with Shigsy more and more as time goes on. As others have stated, Paper Mario is a casualty of this.

@MegaMari0 And that's why a team of yes-men is always a bad thing in the creative industries. Hopefully, someone in Nintendo's management takes notice and either trains them to avoid that can of thinking or if worse comes to worse starts replacing people at IS.

Well I guess there must be a certain amount of trust between Miyamoto and his students too for them to have such debates.

Interesting. Good for Aonuma not giving into Miyamoto just because he is Miyamoto.

Hm... I wonder about another Nintendo games like Animal Crossing. Does Animal Crossing also got influenced by Shigeru Miyamoto or other artist ?
Who's idea to make crappy HHD and Amiibo Festival ?

So which one made the decision to have Fi confirming that you did a thing each and every time you did a thing in Skyward Sword, for which the thing-doing statistics reach into the thousands?

Eiji Aonuma has kinda ruined the series for me. The only games I like that he's produced has been the Wind Waker and Link Between Worlds. It's not a popular opinion to have on this site but OoT and prior are stellar titles, then Aonuma takes over and things start to get really weird. The series would be better off if they gave the reins to someone else.

I'd be curious how each of them generally defines what Zelda is? Miyamoto hasn't had much direct involvement in the games in a while but according to Aonuma, the team is always in a mindset of "what would Miyamoto do?" Miyamoto gave us Zelda 1 (fully open world, not objective based), Zelda 2 (truly weird Zelda RPG, but even more open world than the first in some ways, very experimental), Link to the Past (the benchmark for what has been Zelda formula ever since), and more or less Ocarina (Aonuma was just starting out at the time, so it's safe to assume Miyamoto was still running most of the show at that point in time) that brought the ALttP formula into 3D.

Aonuma then gave us Majora as his own project, then the controversial WW, then TP. And Tingle, of course.

Miyamoto actually seemed to be the most experimental on the series and mostly fixated on open worlds with the flaw they can be generic, where Aonuma seems to be the one more interested in streamlining it into a honed formula with distinct and memorable scenes.

In a way, the irony is, if so, that means Miyamoto approaches Zelda with a more Western mindset, while Aonuma has been making it "more Japanese", possibly intentionally within the company to make it more popular there, as Other M was for Metroid (though that backfired.)

Link Between Worlds was, however fantastic no matter who's influence reigned and I don't want to see 2D zelda put to rest. Since it was a modernization of Link to the Past, though, I'm guessing that's primarily a Miyamoto-based game.

@Franklin what do you mean about Kyoto?

@Solid_Stannis Something tells me that might have been Iwata and neither of these two, since it was the Wii and he was very much into "making things accessible to the new non-gaming audience" as a strategy at that time. I still love Fi, annoying as she was. The character had a lot of unwritten depth. I wanted to run her through with the Master Sword half the game, but was sad when she left.

@Anti-Matter Nah, I don't think Miyamoto touches Animal Crossing (well, now he does since he oversees all software, but he didn't before.) I think the terrible AC games were corporate board decisions relating to the failure of WiiU and expense of development more than creative decisions.

@Franklin Why shouldn't he say that? It's the truth! And I can say that because I have experience from Nintendo Life's comment sections...

I believe the whole reason why we dont have a new F-zero or a proper star fox is because these high fan demand series shiggy has no idea or intrest in taking the game into a new decade.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out for the switch, as far as I'm aware his new role removes him from game creation, making way for young fresh creators. Leaving him in a sort of sign off position.
This could work out well for Nintendo as the young blood will give us new Ips, fresh content, along with the inclusion of online content due to the subscription.

Everything I hear from this game sound amazing. March 3----SWITCH! Snaps fingers*

@BensonUii "Nintendo can't win."

No, Nintendo forgot how to win. Big difference.

That's the problem! Eiji Aonuma shouldn't be involved with Zelda!

@BensonUii yep. Nintendo is the DC of superheroes. No matter what they will never win.

@Mattiac You are crazy. That's easily the worst thing I've read all month.

@gatorboi352 or u forgot how to have fun when u started watching Digital Foundry videos. PS4 Pro: "same games but look at that sunset is so beautiful, buy me just $400 bucks". Scorpio: "I am a PC but I have no exclusive but if u want Forza 14, Halo 17 and Gears of War 11 buy me".

At least Nintendo tries to do something different.

How brave his soul is to challenge Shiggy senpai!

I can't believe the negativity towards Miyamoto in some of the comments here.

He ruined Paper Mario? How? He wasn't even one of the developers!
He did give them the hint that story probably isn't important for the series, if you mean that. But the developers did make a survey after that which confirmed that barely anyone liked the story of the past games.
And because of all that Miyamoto ruined Paper Mario? Please...

And then there is Star Fox Zero, which is arguably not a good game, yes.
It should be noted though that there are still quite a few people who didn't find that game as bad and the same holds true with Paper Mario.

On the contrary Miyamoto made Pikmin 3 in recent years and that was a great game.
Anything else I have missed? I mean he didn't even make many games for a while now.

This is not about Miyamoto being a god, he is human and as such he does make mistakes (like Star Fox Zero). But be it Miyamoto or anyone else, this is just unfair argumentation.

"I Don't Always Agree With Shigeru Miyamoto On The Essence Of Zelda, Admits Eiji Aonuma"

Of course! 2 different people, 2 different views. That's natural.
Personally I think the conversation years ago went like this: Miyamoto Senpai we HAVE to give the players freedom, or the franchise is dead. We can't give the people another super-lineair Zelda, they would go insane!!

@Kirgo he did ruin Paper Mario and Star Fox. He gaves us Zero and Sticker Stars.

@Jessica286 Did you even read what I wrote?

@Jessica286 lol wait wut? Look I know you're one of the more extreme defenders of Nintendo around here but that reply was way out of left field.

Whatever it is Nintendo is doing anymore, it's resinating with fewer fans than ever before (this fact is backed up by their sales numbers). So, yeah, I'd say they've forgotten how to win. So much so that they make silly claims like "we're not actually competing with Sony and MS". Um, yeah ya are Nintendo. See, I don't recall them saying that stuff back when they were industry leaders.

All sounds good to me. I'm looking forward to it on launch day.

@gatorboi352 Fewer fans? You are basing that on one single system alone: The Wii U.

Is it really so hard for you to just wait and see what will happen with the Switch? What is it that you hope to gain with all your doom talk?
Your whole behavior in that regard can really only be explained with you being a troll.

@Interneto

Kyoto is generally more traditionally Japanese, and Nintendo embodies this with qualities such as humility (at least the appearance of), reserve, and a resistance to change.

Indicative of this is the fact that Nintendo HQ is still in Kyoto, and looks to be merely an office in a fairly modest looking location. Moreover visitors are not allowed inside at all. If in the centre of Tokyo this would seem even more peculiar.

Tokyo is more western, in it's way, as is Nagasaki. Osaka not so much.

I don't know the inner workings of Sony for example, but the outward appearance they give is more global in outlook.

Nintendo is of course a globally successful company, to say the least, but this serves as a reminder of how staying true to oneself can yield great success, however maddening this may at times be to Nintendo fans such as myself.

@jswhitfield8 Fantasy settings require strong ties to reality to work, otherwise it devolves into the "a wizard did it" trope.

@LinkSword NO! OneBagTravel agrees with me.

Miyamoto is an utter legend, and I say this with all respect to him: Nintendo will be better off the sooner he stops trying to influence the direction the company is going. His ideas are too conservative and old-fashioned for modern Nintendo.

@Grawlog Indeed. Everyone seems to feel knowledgeable criticizing Miyamoto's decisions, but not many realize how difficult it must be to have such control and responsibility over such iconic characters. It's bad if the games are the same, it's bad if the games are different, it's bad if there are too any games, it's bad if there are not enough, and they are all expected to be masterpieces.

I for one am glad he's still around, and Nintendo is the only company that truly keeps gaming alive for me, warts and all.

@Ralizah I'm not sure I entirely agree. I guess my question is, what about Miyamoto and/or Nintendo and how they've operated would you call conservative or old fashioned? If anything, most of the criticism I've seen about them (probably since the Wii) is that they are too focused on innovating and paradigm shifting and not giving gamers what they want: the same experiences as the other two companies. So which is it?

@UmbreonsPapa
I agree very much with this. You posted while I was replying to Ralizah below, but you've said much of what I was thinking. The internet rages with this "Miyamoto needs to go, he ruins everything by being behind the times" concept, and I never get why. The most vocal complaints are about how experimental he is and "Sticker Star. Because reasons." The funny thing is we don't even know if it's Miyamoto that ruined sticker star. We know he told them to not do an RPG because M&L already fills that space, and we know he told them to make a more stage based design featuring Mushroom Kingdom characters, but that's a VERY broad directive. It's Intelligent Systems that took that set of criteria and turned it into the travesty it became. And I'm not sure I'd call that card/sticker based battle system "conservative."

@Ralizah I don't think Miyamoto's really "old fashioned". I think Miyamoto's a contrarian. He seems to buck whatever trend is the status quo simply for the sake of doing so and seeing what happens (and that's evidenced in his famous/infamous "upending the tea table" cycle.) Right now experimentalism is the status quo in the industry, therefore he goes contrary and experiments with streamlining everything to its most distilled concepts. Though he's now gone BACK to experimentalism.

OTOH, I'm not entirely certain from this exchange that Miyamoto is the one that's been streamlining Zelda. It became more closed in after Aonuma took over and was broader in scope when Miyamoto ran it. So in this case it might actually be Aonuma who's the old fashioned one and Miyamoto that wants to go on a limb. And Aonuma tells detailed stories with detailed characters in his Zelda's where Miyamoto is all about the exploration (the founding idea of the series) without fixations on characters. BotW feels more from the Miyamoto school than the Aonuma school. It might be definitive proof that Miyamoto's "still got it", honestly.

Every time anyone complains about Miyamoto, it always comes down to Paper Mario and Starfox 0, but the two are extreme opposites. Paper Mario he whittled down to such a bare essence that it stopped being interesting. Starfox he went out of the norm on such an experimental and unconventional setup that everyone's upset that he wasn't conservative and old fashioned

@OneBagTravel I kind of agree, but I'd swap WW for TP. Both are ok games, but WW feels rushed and incomplete, largely because it was rushed and is incomplete. TP I had a really hard time getting into at first. I don't think the graphics style was well suited for the Wii with that odd "blur" everything seemed to have, and I stopped playing at the water temple back then because I could. not. stand. the. waggle. It was an exercise in frustration to play. Actually stopping the play of a Zelda game for someone who's been playing since the first, is a pretty bad testament.

Having recently come back to it with TP:HD, and getting a graphics level that actually suits the art style, and ditching the RSI inducing waggle, it has rapidly become one of my favorite of the whole series. IMO it's the only one of the 3D games to capture the mood and sense of self that Link to the Past had. And the varying dungeon designs are very unique and likable. But I tend to agree, I love Aonuma, but his tenure on Zelda has left some pretty weird turns. Even the weird "you have no way to know this subquest is supposed to exist unless you do things exactly right" constructs. It all goes with making Zelda appeal more to Japanese players, but I imagine that isn't Aonuma's doing but a company decision. BotW seems to go back to the "very Western design" roots of the series, the Miyamoto really started it out with (and is why it never caught on in Japan.)

@Franklin Gah! I just realized who your avatar pic is!

Creators need to be challenged. They need someone who can say, "George, this 'Jar Jar' character, he's a bad idea."

@Kirgo yes I did which is why I don't understand how can u defend him base of his recent results.

@gatorboi352 states Nintendo has fewer fans than ever before. Ignores the combine sells of 75m between 3DS and WiiU. Ok whatever suits u and no I do not defend Nintendo on everything is just that ur statement is plain wrong.

@Ralizah thanks u actually get it. The new team give us Splatoon. Miyamoto is a legend but he is also stuck in the past. Nintendo needs new talent and new ideas for their old IPs while also bringing new ones.

Well, you can't expect them to agree on everything. I think different ideas, when properly weighed, can be used to improve things (not just games) for the good of the whole.

@gatorboi352 Actually Nintendo did say they weren't competing with Sony and Microsoft back in the 7th gen. They also still are the industry leader with 75 million 8th gen system sales as of September 2016(in a year where they've reported the 3DS is up year on year) which is above both Sony and Microsoft, the latter having next to no chance of beating.

@OneBagTravel i agree completely if you look at OoT, A link to the past and Links awakening you ll see huge gap of quality and between those and the games aonuma produced

So what did they actually disagree on? Isn't clear.

@Jessica286 Then you know already that Miyamoto didn't "give us" Paper Mario as he didn't make the game....

So which failures besides Star Fox are you talking about?

@Dr_Lugae The 3DS doesn't count. A bit like last gen the Wii was just "lightning in a bottle" and the 360 won because graphics.

I know that Aonuma has being the Director/Producer of the series for about 10 years or so, but I think he's getting a bit carried away with making the series "his". For starters, his obsession with using cell shaded animation as supposed to realistic graphics. I remember an interview with him after the Wind Wakes came out in which he wondered why people didn't like the art style. Then Skyward Sword with adding even more RPG elements to the gear and potions. Now he's breaking the "Zelda conventions" and removing Zelda staples like the hearts in favor of a good preparation system.

One of the things I loved about the LoZ when I first started playing 20 years ago, is that it was an adventure game with RPG elements. Now, since Aonuma took over, LoZ is becoming more an RPG/Adventure game. If I wanted to play an RPG game, I would grab pokemon or Mass Effect.

Aonuma needs to remember that, even though he is the current series director/producer, he was not the creator and ultimately the creator, most likely (sarcasm) has a better understanding of what Zelda is about.

And don't get me started with the stupid triple timeline!!!!! (another Aonuma creation)

@OneBagTravel Same here. He's trying so hard to make the series his, that he is ruining the essence of what Zelda is about, and adventure game with RPG elements in which the player can become immerse in the adventure and imagine he/she is the main protagonist.

Everything from Toon Link, to the Minish Cap, to Demise, to the Triple Timeline; are crazy ideas that distort the series, not only aesthetically, but in story as well.

@Dark-Link73 The cell shading was really just WW. Skyward Sword was supposed to look like a watercolor painting. It's just that Wii hardware made it look like cell shading all over again. BotW, I was at first disappointed in seeing it again, but he did say it was going for an Anime look like the original game's printed manuals....and it does technically have that going for it. Since it's a direct reference to the very first game, I can forgive that effort.

However I agree about the RPG elements. Miyamoto, famously, dislikes RPGs in general (thus Paper Mario), and probably would steer away from that. On the other hand, we can't forget Miyamoto's Zelda II on NES was a full-on RPG with a handful of adventure aspects. So to be fair the series has been back and forth with that from the start (though Miyamoto also dislikes that game now.)

I have a feeling though (again the Japanification of the game) a lot of these elements are not so much Aonumas' but a business intent to include more and more Monster Hunter-like elements into the game to increase its popularity at home. Might not all be creative intent from Aonuma but meeting assigned business checklists.

The timelines I think are really the result of Aonuma TRYING to make a timeline out of what little there was due to Miyamoto not actually caring about timelines. Aonuma went for the coherent story continuum, where Miyamoto cast it off as "it's all hand-me down legends and the details are never right." Minish cap and especially Demise, though, absolutely distort the series. Toon Link...I don't have a problem with the storybook format for the story and the visuals that go with it. I do dislike the triple timeline part of that though! (and the idea that ALttP Link is just "alternate Link from dying in Ocarina.")

@Kirgo remember, having a difference of opinion does not equal troll.

Tell me, what have you seen about the Switch up to this point to suggest it's going to be some resounding success and have a wildly different end result than Wii U?

@Kirgo Actually story was very important to the Paper Mario series before the advent of Sticker Star. I've played the original Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64 and Super Paper Mario on the Wii, although different in gameplay, they still provide very good stories. However I've never played TTYD, but I seeing that has large (and very vocal fanbase) I can conclude that must have a good story as well.

The series backbone is it's story, it always should be. That's why a lot of people don't really care for Sticker Star and Color Splash, they didn't really have a story or at least a story that could keep us awake (Plus dull gameplay to boot). Color Splash's story is a bit of a step in the right direction, but it pales in comparison to the first 3.

@gatorboi352 "Having a different opinion does not equal troll"

Yes, I completely agree with that and I don't criticize you for that.
In fact, I would have called you out for that a long time ago if that was the way I am thinking.
But you are just going on and on about how bad Nintendo has become on this site for a long time now. Even on news where there really is barely any context to Nintendo being bad or not like this one. I really don't see why you would do that, just because you have a different opinion than others here.
This looks more like you want to convince everyone of your opinion.

@TreasureFan I've personally not played any Paper Mario, I have only seen a part of Sticker Star and it looked fun to me.

Now, of course you might be right about the older Paper Mario games being better because of the story. Many say that and I have no way of knowing.
What I just don't like is that Miyamoto is being given the entire fault here by some, even though he didn't even directly work on those games. Pointing fingers at him is the easiest way, since he is the person everyone knows...
Now, it was his idea that Paper Mario might not need a story but like I wrote, the developers basically confirmed this through a survey, as I remember.
Furthermore we don't have any information on him having anything to do with gameplay changes. (At least no that I have ever heard of)

Giving Miyamoto all the blame for "ruining Paper Mario" just feels like making him be the scapegoat.

Thats at least no reason to talk down on anyone like that.

@Kirgo Because attacking Miyamoto is the in thing to do on the always negative internet. Just like attacking Iwata was.

I found it interesting that the Color Splash director never said Miyamoto told them they can't include other characters etc. She said that Miyamoto has said that he believes Mario games should feature the mushroom kingdom, and she didn't feel they should go against the wishes of the character's creator. Also that they learned from Sticker Star some of what didn't work and that they didn't want 2 RPGs in the Mario world which makes sense.

I think everyone blames Miyamoto because they're looking to blame SOMEONE for Sticker Star, and since he's well known and had a specific involvement in changing it's direction in one place, he gets the blame rather than the reality that Intelligent Systems made some odd design choices after he "upended their tea table" and instead of it improving the result it diminished it. The same Intelligent Systems that everybody hates/loves with recent Fire Emblems.

I'm just going to drop my two cents and say that I really, sorely miss the influence that Yoshiaki Koizumi had on the series (the main presenter for the Switch event, guy demonstrating the HD rumbles features of the Joy con).

He drafted the stories/mood of my two favourite games in the series (Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask) and though I am pretty certain he is now working with the Mario team, I will miss the otherworldly/existential style and slightly more "adult" take on the series. Not "adult" like Twilight Princess, but like the aforementioned.

@jobunker Koizumi (Mr. Joycon Magician) was actually pretty involved in Twilight Princess too. I wish Majora didn't have the gaping gameplay flaws it has. I love that game world, but just can't get into the constant resetting gameplay. That's probably Aonuma's oversight, of course, and was the first full Zelda he ran.

Still, Koizumi is stretched pretty thin between Mario and apparently heavily involved in the Switch itself. Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't at all involved in BotW since he's been focused on Odyssey and Switch launch.

@Kirgo I agree with you, that Miyamoto had nothing to do with how the franchise is now. People usually throw the blame at him, since he's one of the hire up's at Nintendo.

However I wouldn't believe that people would say that they disliked the story within Paper Mario in a survey, unless those people we're trolling or it was rigged (IDK), since the first 3 are considered the best by fans. Either way Miyamoto shouldn't be blamed for it, instead Intelligent Systems should be blamed for their incompetence within the franchise or lack of faith in it.

Shigeru Miyamoto is a god but remember he wanted ocarina of time to originally be inside ganons castle
I'm glad Eiji Aonuma is there too he's been doing great

That's a great way of describing the "essence" of Zelda. I've never actually thought about it that way even though it's obvious. I've always thought of it as destiny in that the hero is reincarnated to repeat the legend again and again. I love the steps this new game is taking and I'm so excited for the gameplay AND the story!

And thank god that Aonuma did, elsewise we would have eleven throwaway "New Super Ocarina of Time"s.

..so its basically a case of...

@Kirgo he influence Sticky Star don't lie to yourself. I remember an article that stated that the team approach him with something similar to TTYD and he ditch it because it wasn't fun and it was a repetition of the Game Cube and because of that we got Sticky Star. If that isn't being Miyamoto's fault I don't know what is.

I'm surprised Miyamoto didn't push for only having enemies from Zelda 1, or having a 'custom' control scheme. Aonuma, keep that man in check!

Seriously though, Breath of the Wild is looking amazing. Despite everything I'm still excited about the possibility of having Wolf Link as a pet on the journey. I'm a dog person.

"the essence of The Legend of Zelda is an environment where Link evolves and gains power, which the players will directly feel through the actions they can take as the story goes on."

The above could be said for any game Mr. Aunoma. I think Miyamoto just pulled a Homer Simpson explanation and got away with it.

Ahh lets agree to disagree.. we are all winners here. Especially me

@Jessica286 Yes, he influenced it. Thats what i have been saying.

Let me quote some of the things Tanabe said during the Iwata asks where all this "Miyamoto ruined Paper Mario" seems to originate from:

"Aside from wanting us to change the atmosphere a lot, there were two main things that Miyamoto-san said from the start of the project—"It's fine without a story, so do we really need one?" and "As much as possible, complete it with only characters from the Super Mario world.""

"Yeah. With regard to the story, we did a survey over the Super Paper Mario game in Club Nintendo, and not even 1% said the story was interesting. A lot of people said that the Flip move for switching between the 3D and 2D dimensions was fun."

"I originally saw it in a way that's similar to Miyamoto-san. Personally I think all we need is to have an objective to win the boss battle at the end of the game. I didn't think we necessarily needed a lengthy story like in an RPG. Instead, we looked at the characteristics of a portable game that can be played little by little in small pieces and packed in lots of little episodes and ideas. I always did like putting in little ideas, so I actually enjoyed it."

There are several facts contributing to this other than just Miyamoto questioning whether Paper Mario even needs a story.
No reason for me to give him all the blame.

@TreasureFan So Miyamoto is the one supervising and approving but he is not to blame? Lol ok.

@Kirgo see comment #90.

@Jessica286 I know I sound like a fanboy, but I know Miyamoto isn't a saint when it comes to making great decisions in games. (Starfox 2 on SNES and Dinosaur Plant on N64 would of have been great send offs for those respective systems, if he hadn't had them either cancelled or reworked.) But I doubt he was the main reason why Sticker Star is the way it is. It was probably Intelligent Systems covering themselves after the backlash they got from Sticker Star, so they probably just said Miyamoto told them to, since many fanboys will agree with him on any decision whether it's good or not. I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist here, but even "IF" he did tell them to get rid of the story in Paper Mario, it's predominately Intelligent Systems fault for agreeing to such a foolish idea. Since you know? They thought it was a good idea to release it in the first place. And then it backfired on them.

What would have been interesting is to know what they both consider to be the definition of a Zelda game. And since which game the "Aonuma's era" is sign of changes and free roaming ? I thought this man simply brought some tweaks to the third Zelda formula (plus the relatively heavy story element).

@Henmii Did you ever play the Zelda games Miyamoto made from scratch?

@Rei,

Of course, and they where good. However, I feel he has totally lost his connection with gamers over the years. Ocarina of time was awesome, and still the best 3D Zelda. But I found Tp very lineair. And Skyward sword was even more lineair, with lots of handholding. I am soooo happy that we finally get freedom again with little handholding, and I am pretty sure we have Aonuma to thank for it!

@Henmii I see. With "from scratch", I meant the very early ones by opposition to the post Ocarina ones. I know it was under him that the SNES and first N64 games were made, but after that (with the exception of the 2nd N64 and water Zelda) they were even more about being guided from a point to another one. AZnd those episodes were supposedly mostly due to Aonuma. (and about hand holding, look also at what he did to his "first" Zelda with the 3DS version)