Yesterday, we found out that Nintendo was gearing up to share a three-part documentary about the making of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The teaser trailer showed clips of concept art and Nintendo developers discussing the game, so naturally, we were intrigued. Well, today is today, and the videos are out. The 10-minute videos cover the basics and are subtitled “The Beginning,” “Story and Characters,” and “Open-Air Concept.” Watch the first one above, and the other two below.
Nintendo was very ambitious with the newest Zelda game, and some wild ideas were thrown around during development. For example, the idea of having “UFOs [that] could invade from space and abduct cattle” was heavily considered for the game, to the point where concept art was made. Fans of that 2D prototype Nintendo used to test ideas will be pleased, since the first video features a lot of gameplay footage from it. If anything, aside from all the insights this first-hand commentary provides, these videos are also treasure troves of concept art that really lets us track the development of settings, characters, and gameplay mechanics.
Another point the clips emphasize that what makes Breath of the Wild different from other Zelda games is the huge open-world concept. That seems obvious, but the team behind the game reveals it came to be this way because previous technologies forced Zelda games to consist of connected smaller areas, and then that became how the series was made. They rethought that process this time around, however, and that is what lead to the giant environment we have today.
There are so many interesting tidbits in the videos, too many for us to succinctly write about in this space, so check them out above and below.
What do you think of the videos? Let us know!
Featured image: Nintendo
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