When it comes to beloved Nintendo games,The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakeris one of the company’s curious cases. When the game was initially released in 2002, it was praised and beloved by critics, but many fans were really harsh on it. A combination of factors had given the game a bad reputation at the start, with some of these fans not really jiving with the game’s cartoony and light-hearted premise, with a graphical style that matched it. Over the years, however, many fans now look back on this game fondly and consider itone of the bestZeldagames of all time.
Fans in particular now rememberThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakerfor being so bright and vibrant, while maintaining the same aspects that made theZeldaseries so memorable. At the time, however, fans were expecting a more realistic and darker art style, building on the success of previous console entriesOcarina of TimeandMajora’s Mask. Series creator Shigeru Miyamoto also had doubts about the game’s art style during development.
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YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming has been digging through old interviews for interesting details about the game’s development for its latest video. One entry in Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream revealed that Miyamoto apparently “cringed” after seeingWind Waker’s now-iconic cel-shaded art style. He wanted to originally make the game more realistic like the aforementioned N64 games, but the art team had proposed Toon Link during the concept phase, and it stuck with the developers.
This however was never mentioned to Miyamoto during development and when he was presented withWind Waker’s cel-shaded art, he doubted that the game would sell. Series producer Eiji Aonuma stated that Miyamoto was clinging to the idea ofa realisticZeldagame, and even said that “it’s not too late to change course” in order to do so. Despite Miyamoto’s hesitance with the game’s direction, he allowedWind Wakerto continue onwards, as it would have apparently taken ten years in order to make a more realistic game with the team they had at the time.
Despite the initial backlash,The Wind Wakerwould go on to be one of the series' most beloved entries, and even got an HD remaster released on the Wii U in 2013. TheZeldaseries would get its more realistic and gritty game in 2006 withTwilight Princess, which also saw an HD remaster for the same console in 2016. Both these games are currently locked to these older consoles, thoughrumors of Switch ports for these HD versionshad circulated earlier this year.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakeris available on GameCube, with an HD version out on the Wii U.
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