The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has established itself as a contender among the most highly-regarded games ever produced, though naturally its final placing in that reckoning will vary depending on an individual's perspective. It's been an impact release nevertheless, and Nintendo is keen to promote the careful thought and work that went into a title that has started to redefine its franchise.
Nintendo has published three 'making of' videos that delve into the making of the game - we suggest finding a hot drink, a comfortable seat and a bit of spare time for these.

Have you been playing Breath of the Wild, or are you planning to get into it in the future? Let us know in the comments.
[source nintendo.co.uk]
Comments 24
I love these kind of videos! But I'll hold off until I've completed the game.
Yeah, do they give anything away/show anything players might want to discover for themselves?
@ThomasBW84
Can someone watch these and tell us if there are any spoilers please?
and props to them for releasing them on youtube for free.
Are they spoiler-free?
They are spoiler free.
I've watched the first video and can confirm that it is definitely spoiler free. It talks mainly about the initial development ideas/breaking Zelda conventions as well as historical influences. The game footage that was used was all from early parts of the game.
One of my student is really Hyped with this game. Before he got Switch, he kept asking me to borrow my smartphone to watch some gameplays of Zelda Breath of the Wild from Youtube. Now he got his dream , also his little brother too.
What did people expect Nintendo to do with promotional videos? Outline the exact location of each shrine and how to beat them? A detailed story breakdown? Tips on how to defeat the bosses? A helicopter tour of Hyrule showing off each and every point of interest? The videos are about how the made the game. Most of the footage shown are things that were cut or improved on for the final game.
Haven't started watching these yet, but I do wonder if the devs ever wanted to express to Nintendo about having to work around such hardware limitations. Imagine BotW running on the PS4 Pro.... drools
Dude, call me crazy, but I think that "2D Zelda Prototype" is evidence that they're working on a "Zelda-maker" for the Switch. Something about that 2D overworld with just a hint of depth, and the way the trees wobble when Link hits them, reminds me of the creation screen and some of the other quirks in Super Mario Maker. And it's not impossible to imagine an overworld/dungeon creator with the three (overhead) graphical styles of LoZ, Link to the Past, and Four Swords or Link Between Worlds.
It just seemed odd when they said they happened to have "2D Zelda character models on hand". Either that's too obvious to be stated (they're Nintendo) or it's weirdly convenient.
Oh look, a DYKG from Nintendo. Neat.
BotW: NES Edition. I want it. It must be mine.
Also, Bokoblin nose pickin's. Neat.
I hope something comes from the 2D Zelda BotW prototype, either a Zelda Maker as another user posted above or a new 8-bit 2D Zelda styled after the original, but with all new world map, weapons, abilities, etc. That would be amazing!
UFO's are an awful idea!
Avoid 3rd video for spoilers as is about the story and characters. I'm only so far into the game as I keep exploring rather than go where the story wants me to. So will keep that one for later...
I love these types of videos! They give a great insight into the process of making a game like BOTW. I am about 5 or so hours into the game and I didn't feel like there were any major spoilers in any of the 3 videos.
What I really want to see is a full documentary on the process of making the Switch, from inception to about 1 year after launch. I would love to be a fly on the wall in some of their creative meetings, to hear the arguments and the collaboration between all these gaming legends.
@BoilerBroJoe - I hope so. It would be great to design your own Zelda dungeon, with later additions like Ice Arrows reworked into the 8-bit style. My vote for styles to choose between would be Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Minish Cap and Four Swords GameCube, which I think is the pinnacle of the 2D style.
Good info, I wish we could have seen more behind the scenes b-roll of people working on the game or presenting ideas though.
@ThomasBW84
This is a tad bit off-topic, but do you know when you'll be able to post final impressions of the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild? I don't want to rush you, especially since it's a long game and you've already gone through it once before, but I was just wondering if you guys were still working on it.
@Mainer82 The UFO section in Majora's Mask was fun.
so hopefully a metroid game has been in development for just as long and almost completed
@Crumpet123,
Lol, one of the videos shows a "Samus Aran" Link, complete with a Metroid. As some people said before: Now they know how to make a proper open-world game, they could give Metroid the same treatment. Ah, that would be soooo awesome. But probably never happens.
Anyway: Great videos (and they showed lovely artwork in it). Hopefully there will be more videos. They should have been on the disc though, but you can't have everything.
@shadow-wolf Yep, hopefully today.
I really don't know why nintendo don't have a tv channel with shows and documentaries like this on
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