Source Code -El Podcast: The Legend of Zelda and its 35 epic years - Rebel Youth - Cuban Youth Diary

see more

The Legend of Zelda turns 35 in this 2021. Author: Juventud Rebelde Published: 02/26/2021 | 09:38 a.m.

You can listen or download this podcast on Picta

If you are interested in a particular topic, you can write to me at codigofuente@juventudrebelde.cu.

Subscribe to the weekly Substack Source Code newsletter!

Podcast transcript:

The passage of time is always cruel. Its course seems different to each person, but no one can stop it. One thing that does not change with time is the memory of your younger days.

This is what Sheik says to Link at the entrance to the Forest Temple in The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, a game that has been considered by many specialists as the best of all time.

The title is part of a franchise that celebrated its 35th anniversary on February 21. Three and a half decades of making us dream, and dream big.

I welcome you to the podcast of Código Fuente, the section of Juventud Rebelde to talk about the internet, new technologies and video games, which is visiting Hyrule this week.

***

The Legend of Zelda is one of Nintendo's seminal franchises, but in 1986, it was far from certain. To think that there was a time when Mario and Zelda were IPs that could have been total flops is almost unimaginable.

Three and a half decades later, however, we can safely say that The Legend of Zelda marked its place in history on February 21, 1986, quickly establishing itself as one of Nintendo's most influential titles.

The first entry in the franchise was developed alongside Super Mario Bros., with Shigeru Miyamoto dividing the concepts into two categories: "Mario ideas" and "Zelda ideas".

According to interviews with Miyamoto, most of the ideas that would find their way into The Legend of Zelda came from Miyamoto's own adventures as a child, exploring his rural hometown of Sonobe, near Kyoto.

That element of exploration has not been lost, with that sense of adventure alive and well in Breath of the Wild, proving that the roots of the series have not been forgotten.

The most amazing part of The Legend of Zelda is just how open the world is for an 8-bit Nintendo title. While some early video games had some narrative, they were linear in nature, so even though a player might not know why they were doing something, they went where the game told them to. But leaving the player in Hyrule with no set destination was a bold move. The introductory text in the game gives the player the ultimate goal: to collect all 8 pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom and defeat Ganon who has stolen the Triforce of Power and kidnapped Princess Zelda.

Moving through Hyrule, Link encounters a number of enemies that would become staples of the Zelda franchise, including Moblins, Lynels, and Zora, among many others.

In fact, almost every enemy seen in The Legend of Zelda has appeared in a future installment of the franchise. The same also applies to the arsenal at Link's disposal. While it has grown since its NES days, many of the pieces that are still here today existed back then. Classics like the boomerang, bow, or bombs can be found, as well as the flute, establishing Link's love of woodwinds early on.

On the other hand, while Hyrule feels pretty open in The Legend of Zelda, its dungeons are claustrophobic by comparison.

Miyamoto has said that the game's maze-like dungeons were inspired by his own home growing up. The sliding doors between the rooms and the complicated layout gave Miyamoto the feeling of being in a maze. I wanted that to translate into the dungeon design of The Legend of Zelda.

Also, the fact that players encounter difficult puzzles in Zelda games to this day shows that this design philosophy hasn't changed since 1986. Much of what is on display in The Legend of Zelda it is still prevalent in newer entries in the franchise. The dynamic between Link and Ganon is one of the biggest protagonist-antagonist relationships in the medium, even as players may feel the series needs to move on.

It's a pivotal dynamic for the franchise, and the way it continues to successfully reinvent itself shows that the original game launched a mythos that could live on. There are so many beats in a Zelda game that feel familiar by now, and many of them trace their origin to the first game in the franchise, one that paved the way for memorable titles.

***

Although it's impossible to talk about all the titles of this franchise in a single podcast, you can't miss the ones I think are essential. Take, for example, A Link to the Past, the first installment on the Super Nintendo, released in 1991.

Link's third adventure not only returned to the essence of the NES classic, but also shaped what we now know as a zeldera experience. A link to the Past was not limited to cementing a saga considered cult, but a type of very specific sensations of adventure, exploration and challenge that are totally timeless for those who discover them, unforgettable for those who have experienced them.

Putting ingenuity (and curiosity) when experimenting with puzzles, courage when wielding our sword and the fascination for discovery, on the same level, A link to the past ponders the values ​​represented by the triforce.

Like the great Legend of Zelda games, its development took much longer than expected. The title was released in Japan as The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods, a year later than Super Mario World, just when the first twelve months of Super Nintendo's life were fulfilled.

About what he did with this game, in an interview Miyamoto said:

“Well, Zelda 1 had a game system that wasn't quite right... I wanted to do the things we weren't able to do.

“There were a lot of things we intended to do, but we were still blocked by hardware restrictions. For example, for the entrance to the Level 7 dungeon, we changed the color of the floor when the water was drained, but we originally intended for the water to disappear.

"Another example is that you can burn small trees, but we intended that you could burn big trees... There were a lot of little things like that, and I wanted A Link to the Past to be more realistic in that way."

At first glance, A Link to the Past had little to do with those games with an avant-garde and transgressive appearance that were already parading through the SNES or the Mega Drive itself.

Not that Super's Zelda looked bad, but its tiny sprites, classic top-down presentation, and pace of exploration went in a different direction than what seemed to prevail on 16-bit systems. The truth is that that was an unbeatable game for the SNES.

Nintendo spared no detail, with multiple layers of gameplay, rotations, and effects that only its 16-bit console technology could deliver, and even a sound system that went beyond Koji Kondo's artistry and talent. There are many details: when entering the dungeons you can hear the ambient sound from outside, which fades as we move away from the entrance, or that some walls are destructible and to discover which ones it will not be enough to see if they are cracked, we will have to listen if they make a hollow sound when hit with the sword.

Much more entrenched player engagement. On the one hand, taking advantage of the largest number of buttons. On the other, establishing actions in which the use of these buttons would go beyond the control itself.

For Miyamoto, discoverability should be essential. Other concepts were entrenched and much more character was given to the puzzles and dungeon design: the real purpose of the game was for the player to feel that they were managing to solve the challenges almost single-handedly, by experimenting and learning.

The amount of elements and innovations not only required the use of all the internal technology of the SNES, but the game would have to arrive in a cartridge with twice the capacity of the games of the time.

The legacy of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is simply overwhelming. Not only was it a before and after in adventure games, but its pixelated art, its progression system, and its experience have been replicated with more or less success by third parties over the following decades.

Of course, where his contributions are most noticeable are in the Zelda series: the foundations laid in A Link to the Past would serve to establish the tone and structure of all the installments that followed, from the very original Links Awakening to the very recent Breath of the Wild.

***

Not only is it one of the best games ever, it's a strong and consistent contender for the best ever. Ultimately, it's the game against which all Zeldas and, by extension, any other adventure title are measured. But what makes it so special?

Originally released in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was set to be the workhorse of Nintendo and the N64. The reality, on the other hand, is that at that time not even the creatives of La Gran N were clear about what the debut of the Hero of Hyrule was going to be like in that 64-bit beast.

What's more, Nintendo was learning as it went, through trial and error, to make games in three-dimensional environments. And they did it so well, that they set the standards for future games, not only for the way they immersed the player in the sensations of adventure, but for what Ocarina of Time left behind in the art and science of video game making.

Above all, Link's fascinating journey from child to adult. Early in the game one sees the world through the eyes of a child, becoming a very different place as one reaches adulthood.

The talent and passion for making Nintendo-style games made the difference in the face of the unknown, which was a lot. Which does not take away, on the other hand, that Miyamoto and his team also wanted to make a swashbuckling Zelda.

Satoru Iwata and Eiji Aonuma, head of The Legend of Zelda, considered that Ocarina of Time was the title that defined what we all have internalized as the essence of Zelda.

About making a game of swashbuckling, he refers to the concept of chanbara, the intense duels between Japanese swordsmen. A recurring idea that several of those involved in previous installments had been trying to implement in the Zelda saga and that, for technical or design reasons, had been discarded at some point in each development.

With that premise, we studied how to return to The Legend of Zelda II, from NES. It is that an adventure in which Link faces all kinds of dangers in phases of side scrolling. For this, not only did they have the approval of Miyamoto, but he was interested in developing the idea. They even thought about developing the game in the first person.

Getting the aiming system together was a challenge. And the idea crystallized when Nintendo's creatives visited some film studios near its headquarters, the Toei Kyoto Studio Park, which includes shows and period sets. There, there was a show in which a group of ninjas surrounded a samurai and one of them attacked him with a kusarigama (a chain sickle). The samurai caught it with his left arm, the chain tightened, and the ninja began to move around the samurai.

The people of Nintendo, seeing that weapon from the samurai era that hooked two fighters together, were inspired by it to create the aiming system of Ocarina of Time, allowing them to create a link between three-dimensional models.

A revolutionary manual aiming that would not take long to prevail among all the games to come. And, at the same time, the key to achieving the long-awaited sword fighting system in The Legend of Zelda.

***

When creating a Legend of Zelda game, the usual creative process is to focus on creating the gameplay first and then the script. One of the first ideas was already on the table, but there were still huge obstacles ahead. Among them, establish the narrative.

With the growing confidence generated by the development of Super Mario 64 and the increasing reinforcement of personnel, the new Zelda began to take shape. And, what is more important, to start adding ideas at a spectacular rate.

Fairy Navy (named after the Fairy Navigation System that would be implemented) solved problems that carried over from Super Mario 64 while also stimulating the imagination of those at Nintendo, so that even the details In the end, smaller ones ended up gaining weight in fields as different as the script, the battle system or the way in which the game itself communicates with the player.

So it was when, in the midst of a gale of ideas and barely a year and a half before launch, Miyamoto (among others) came up with a crazy idea: they wanted to see a child Link in the game. That meant a total rethinking of the game.

Miyamoto says: Link is a boy. In the first game, The Legend of Zelda, I was about 12 years old. In Zelda II: The Adventure of Link he was around 16, but it was never my intention to make him a cool hero out of the ordinary. Until The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link was a childish and playful character.

Because I've worked on every game since the first one, I thought if we made it too cool, it wouldn't be Link anymore. When I saw the adult Link that Koizumi had made I thought it was great, but I said: "I don't want to do without young Link!". Then we tested if we could use both the adult Link and the young Link.

On the other hand, I also wanted Link to be cool in a way, so we decided to include both: both the adult and the youth. Not only does it grow from a stats standpoint, like in an RPG, but it also grows physically. As I did this, all sorts of ideas bubbled up.

Overnight, the entire project had taken on a new dimension. A much more ambitious one that would require very drastic changes in all phases of development. But what's truly unique is that such a big change didn't bring the whole project down. Quite the contrary: at Nintendo they were even more motivated.

On the one hand, the writer, programmers and lead designers had gotten used to this chaos where everything changed from one day to the next. After all, this was a chain, so Osawa, who was responsible for the plot, had to go through all the departments day after day with each change.

On the other hand, the whole team was aware that introducing time travel meant doubling many of the aspects (and effort) until the desired goal was reached. But they were also fascinated with the possibilities.

As would be reflected in the final game, it was not just about changing the appearance of the protagonist or the aesthetics of the settings, but the vision that the player would have of the world around him once he reached maturity. Which opened up new possibilities.

Although many elements would remain in past installments, the three dimensions were perfect for introducing new concepts to the saga. Ideas, like auto-jumping, that blended so naturally into the Legend of Zelda universe that, in retrospect, it seems like they've always been there.

Ocarina of Time not only allowed its creators to carry out all the ideas they couldn't do in Super Mario 64, it was a worthy successor to a cult saga, the maximum evolution of it. However, the secret behind the game was the inexhaustible talent and motivation of its creators.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time marked a before and after in the video game industry. Not only for its innovations, but for the degree of depth and sensations that it was able to transmit through a controller and a console. It was the spirit of adventure. One that is worth playing at least once in a lifetime.

Is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the best game of all time? It is something that everyone has to find out. But it's clear that the best games that came after it still owe a debt to the Hero of Time.

***

You wake up, it's dark, and you're lying in a pool. You don't remember how you got here. You get up, stretch your aching limbs, walk to the exit and out into the bright sunlight. As your eyes adjust to the light, the world slowly comes into focus and it's beautiful.

The green of the open plains contrasts with the inky black of Death Mountain, streaked with orange lava on the far horizon. As the spaciousness of the orchestral soundtrack increases, you realize that you can go anywhere and that this is not like any Zelda you've played before.

Releasing on Wii U and Switch in March 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) is the biggest franchise title ever made. One and a half times the size of open world trailblazer Skyrim, and 12 times the size of Twilight Princess, it provides vast terrain to explore with hardly any restrictions beyond a few hours of subtly closed setup.

For many developers, the thought of making a 100+ hour game that is almost entirely player driven is a terrifying prospect, as the lack of an open structure can be overwhelming and discouraging for the player.

Breath of the Wild, however, employs a variety of silent and clever techniques designed to help players navigate the environment. Instead of an overwhelming and intimidating unknown, the world has many clues to be discovered and followed.

The first example of Nintendo's soft-oriented philosophy is found at the beginning of the game. When you hit the road, you're inside an elevated area called the Great Plateau, from which the rest of the world is inaccessible until you get the paraglider.

Rather than a conventional tutorial mission, this small region is an intricately designed miniature version of the entire map. It has several enemy camps to teach you about combat, different weathers that present you with stat-boosting food and clothing, and four shrines that mirror the four divine beast dungeons, which provide the main body of the challenge later on.

The player is subtly informed about setting waypoints and quest markers, and points towards the ultimate goal: Hyrule Castle. It is not a tutorial, it is the entire experience summarized in a two-hour mini-adventure.

Then, then comes the wild, the hopeful beauty in a world ravaged by calamity. The sadness for the losses, the joy for the reunions.

A soundtrack that transcends, in the midst of a saga that has already left us music for history.

***

On this 35th anniversary of Zelda, many fans are wondering if there are any big plans for the franchise. We are all waiting for Breath of the Wild 2. We know that a remastered version of Skyward Sword is on the way.

The truth is that while all this arrives, we have more than 45 titles of the Zelda brand, stories that transcend because a lot of effort has been put into each of them to make them unique and, at the same time, dialogue with each other.

So take up your master sword, Link, even if the course of time is cruel. If we have more joyful memories in our lives, it is thanks to you, Hero of Hyrule.

Share this news