Zelda franchise director Eiji Aonuma told Kotaku that he had been overzealous in his desire to ensure everyone knew how to play the game.
Aonuma’s eagerness to explain every facet of Skyward Sword forced players, regardless of experience, to slog through an introduction which lasted several hours before being able to experience the main game. He commented:
“When we created Skyward Sword, I really felt the need to make sure that everyone playing the game understood it. But I also understand now, in hindsight, that when you go out and buy a game, you buy the game because you want to play it, and you don’t want to have any obstacles in the way. And I guess it was received as a bit of an obstacle.”
November 2013’s The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds replaced many of the tutorials with hints players could seek out if they wished. Aonuma continued:
“In a game, it’s when you get stuck, when you want that help. And I kinda frontloaded all that in Skyward Sword, and it doesn’t really help to get that information when you don’t know what to do with it. So that was a real learning experience for me. So I’m going to be careful not to do that.”
Zelda for Wii U does not yet have a name or release date but Nintendo showed off the game last week at E3, revealing a large open world and some images of a revised Link.
