The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Champions’ Ballad interview (Part 1)
Yesterday (December 8th), Nintendo released the second DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild… The Champions’ Ballad. The release was announced at the Game Awards, and following that show, Nintendo caught up with Eiji Aonuma (Producer) and Hidemaro Fujibayashi (Director) in order to discuss that DLC.
The interview is currently available only via the News feature on the Nintendo Switch, so for those of you who are interested in it but don’t have access to the console or the internet right now, we transcribed it below.
For more details about the Champions’ Ballad DLC, and more precisely why Link was given an actual motorbike, make sure to also check out this post!
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Champions’ Ballad Interview – Part 2
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Champions’ Ballad Interview – Part 3
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Champions’ Ballad Interview – Part 4
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – The Champions’ Ballad Interview – Part 5
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Nintendo: First of all, thank you for taking time to talk to us. And congratulations on winning Game of the Year for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild!
Aonuma & Fujibayashi: Thank you very much!
Nintendo: Many fans were surprised with Link’s new ride in DLC Pack 2. Could you please give us the background on this vehicle?
Aonuma: I was the one that said, “Let’s put this in the game.” (laughs). Both Mr. Fujibayashi and I have a motorcycle licence. Before riding, I felt that the world felt pretty small just walking and riding trains everywhere. But when I hopped on my motorcycle, I felt the world was drastically more vast by having the freedom to go anywhere. I felt a similar sense of freedom when I first played Breath of the Wild (BotW), so I thought “I want to explore this world riding a motorcycle.” (laughs). The staff were extremely passionate about creating this, especially near the end of development, and I believe they created an amazing ride. So the happiest person about this update was me. (laughs)
Fujibayashi: And I was one of the people that was later asked if developing this was possible. (laughs) As Mr. Aonuma said, the functions of the motorcycle are amazing, so I was wondering if the motorcycle can enter the world of BotW without breaking the game. Around the same time, we were discussing what would make the best reward or item players can get at the end of DLC #2, and this idea clicked perfectly.
Nintendo: Can you talk about the new horse gear in DLC Pack 2. Also, are there any horse gear design or abilities that never made it into the game?
Fujibayashi: There is both an ancient saddle and bridle. The saddle allows the horse to warp to Link’s location when he whistles, as long as it’s in a good location to call them. And the new bridge increases its spurs. They are pretty convenient abilities. And no, this was our main horse gear idea. We design them based on their abilities, so we already knew that we could not add too many abilities. However, aligning with the motorcycle, there was a request to upgrade the horses’ abilities.
Aonuma: After all, it was a producer request to enable the horses to warp. (laughs). We thought warping may be possible with ancient technology. So the design is based on ancient gear.
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More parts from this interview are coming soon, so stay tuned!
Source: News (Nintendo Switch)
