Zelda is a cult license that holds an important place in the Nintendoverse. It is made up of many episodes, all different from each other, which have all found their place in the hearts of fans. Nevertheless, it’s always the same comedy: each new opus is called upon to do better than the previous one. This is once more the case with Zelda BOTW 2, Following The Legend of Zelda Breath of The Wildexpected next year on Nintendo Switch. And so it was, also the case of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker when he went out 2003 on GameCube. At that moment, the GameCube was in trouble with the PS2 but fans weren’t too worried, convinced that Nintendo would once once more put everyone in agreement with the new Zelda, as had been the case on N64 with The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time.
However, things will not go quite as planned, because contrary to what a certain technical demo saw at at Spaceworld 2000 (see HERE) had given hope, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker will adopt a unique, totally innovative graphic style: the “Toon Shading“. A bold choice that will unleash the passions and stir up the anger of many fans, not understanding how Nintendo might be so disconnected from their expectations, and transform its star license “into a cartoon” even though the firm had to difficult to get rid of its image of “console for children”.
If at the time Shigeru Miyamoto will not spare its efforts to publicly defend the artistic style of the game, using all the arguments to calm the players and reassure them, asking them to wait to have the game in hand before judging it; it seems that behind the scenes it was a whole different story. In fact, the show Youtube DidYouKnowGaming unearthed old statements from the producer of the series, Eiji Aonuma (from the magazine Nintendo Dream) which seem to show that in reality, Shigeru Miyamoto was not at all thrilled with the “toon shading“. Better still, we discover that the development team hid the style from him for a long time, just like the history of the game, finally putting him before a fait accompli. Only, until the very end of development, Miyamoto will be skeptical, “gnashing of teeth” in front of the visuals and doubting the ability of the game to find its audience. He will also try several times to convince the team to return to a “realistic” style but in the end, he will let the project come to an end as it is, because in view of the team in charge of the game, it would have been necessary almost 10 years to make a “realistic” Zelda.
Ultimately, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is today a classic whose “Toon Shading” protects once morest the ravages of time. As for the players GameCubethey won’t wait ten years to have a Zelda in a “realistic” style since three years later, The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess will come out on GameCube and on Wii. But this is another story…
To find out more, find the episode on this page. And as always, let us know what you think in the comments.
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