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Hello there! I'm the "elusive" Eiji Aonuma, and I'm so glad to finally star in my own Miiting. I've always wanted to, but someone only ever invited me along for supporting roles! Isn't that so, MariChan?

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That's right. It's one of the reasons I have so many memories and deep feelings attached to the game.

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It's pretty normal to come up with a story and then design the graphics to suit it. However, because we made Link so young and energetic in The Wind Waker and designed such a bright world in the Great Sea, we decided to portray our next version of Link as older and darker. I have a feeling that's why the story turned out to have such a serious atmosphere.

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Well, after all, we're talking about something that happened ten years ago. Games change so much while you're making them that I really don't remember... One thing that I do remember very clearly, though, is that we knew it would come out around the same time as the Wii and were all torn about whether it should be released on GameCube or Wii. It was a huge headache.

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That's exactly right! It wasn't just a simple question of porting the game, so it was a very difficult process. But we'd made a good game and we wanted everyone to be able to enjoy it in their own way, making the most of the specific strengths of each console, whether they decided to play it on GameCube or on the new console that we were releasing.

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I find it quite comfortable.

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Don't ask something like that! Don't you think it's great that people can use the controls in a way that's really comfortable?

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We always want to make the best game we can for our players. On top of that, the map plays a very important role in this game. For these reasons, rather than phrase what we did in a negative way by saying that we removed the Wii Remote controls, I'd prefer to say that we focused on creating a great gameplay experience by making the most of everything that the Wii U GamePad has to offer.

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Well, we had already released Link, Zelda and Ganon amiibo figures in the Super Smash Bros. series, and when we thought about what character best represented The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, it was a pretty easy decision! To tell you the truth, I personally liked the idea of making a Telma amiibo, but that was just me...

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The GamePad was certainly important for improving the controls and realising some new functions that weren't available in the original versions of the game, but, to be honest, the main reason we wanted to make a Wii U version was the picture quality!

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This again! I don't think that improved picture quality really affects the play experience in an action game like Mario that much, but The Legend of Zelda is different! When the picture quality improves and you can see far into the distance, it makes the game seem all the more real, don't you think? And solving puzzles becomes even more fun. That's why we've always wanted to make a remastered version of Twilight Princess with better picture quality.

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As you know, we've got our hands a bit full with making a new Zelda game at the moment, so even though we wanted to make Twilight Princess HD, we didn't think we could. That's when I found out that there was an overseas developer with a great reputation for making HD remasters. I thought it must be fate, so I contacted them right away!

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They certainly did! We wanted to recreate what we felt was the main feel of the graphics in Twilight Princess - that soft, mellow glow - so we took a long time to get the graphics just right. I lost more than a little sleep comparing the versions and worrying about them.

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What took the most time was finding a good balance in terms of working together and considering each other's needs. Once you find that balance, you're working toward the same goals, so things become a lot more streamlined!

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I was very emotionally involved in the project, so I may have been a bit too passionate about some things...

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Thankfully the staff members who did the original art direction were involved in the graphics check, but I was the only person who worked on the whole project for both versions. That's why I sometimes worried that we'd lose the value of the original game if I didn't do a good enough job, that I had a responsibility to honour the great efforts made by the original staff members. I knew it was a remake, but I gave it my all as though it were a completely new game!

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To be honest, when I played it again, I wondered why some things turned out the way they did, and I also discovered some negative things that I didn't notice at the time. I got quite down about it. I'm really happy that we were able to fix those things in the HD remaster, but I also felt overcome with the need to apologise to the people who bought the original versions of the game, even though I was so confident when we released it ten years ago... I want to go back in time and tell myself not to look quite so smug...

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Thank you, that means a lot! But I really do think that this series has grown in so many ways.

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No matter what else, Link is consistently a sincere and earnest kind of fellow. For me, that's true whether he's a kid or a more grown-up version of Link like we see in Twilight Princess. However, we wanted the Link in Twilight Princess to seem like he was pushing his limits, like he was a bit of a rascal, so we made him show off in some ways. How he spins his sword around before he sheaths it, to give one example.

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When you put it that way, I have to say that it doesn't feel like much of a compliment!

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To tell you the truth, once when I had to go overseas for work I randomly had this dream that I was a wolf shut up inside a jail cell. While I was pondering why on earth I'd been a wolf in my dream, I got the urge to try putting it in a game. That's why I never really gave any thought to the idea of Link turning into another animal.

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That's what you took away from that, huh? I thought the wolf topic might come up, so I brought some of the images we created while we were figuring out Wolf Link's design.

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Here's one of our first ideas about what Wolf Link might look like.

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At this time Midna's design was already pretty much decided on, so we were thinking of colours and forms that would go well with her. But since it was still Link, just changed into a wolf, we also wanted to retain some of Link's design and his heroic air. We added a bit of Link's trademark green, made his body more angular and heroic-looking and also gave his eyes the same sort of feel they had when he was a human. We changed many little details like that and eventually ended up with the design you see today.

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Midna sure is a popular character, so of course I brought some design images of her, too!

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We wanted a character that could guide Link when he turned into a wolf, so we planned an "imp" character and made it intentionally unclear whether she was a friend or an enemy. Then we asked ourselves "why would this character want to help Link?" and the conclusion we came up with was "because there's something that she wants to resolve through helping him", which led us to decide that she was the princess of the Twilight Realm who was exiled and cursed with a changed form. She gets banished from the Twilight Realm and is forced to wander through the light world, so she ends up seeing enemies in every shadow. That's why she doesn't open her heart to Link when they first meet.

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You must be talking about Zant, right? I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to see how many of you asked about him!

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Ten years later, the time has finally come to reveal the truth...

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The truth is...

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To be honest, I'm not sure, either! It was a mystery to most of the staff, too...

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The leader of the team that created that scene was well known for being a bit of a lone wolf when it came to making cutscenes. We wanted to make the best of those qualities in him, so we had him make all of the cutscenes for Twilight Princess. When he made that one, I couldn't help thinking "The neck! The neck!" but I had immense faith in him. Anything he made must be art. I remember thinking that I just didn't get it, so I didn't say anything at the time.

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That's right! So when I saw everyone's questions on Miiverse, I immediately knew how they felt.

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I really enjoyed Rollgoal. Even though it doesn’t actually have anything to do with the main story...

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Here we go again! Another negative question! But, to be honest, there was one game… Well, it's not that I have any doubts about whether the game is fun in general, but I had to play the Balloon Popping Game so many times to test the performance of the Wii Remote that in the end I got pretty tired of it.

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I'd definitely have to say the fact that my wife played it! She'd never tried to play one of the games that I'd made before. Once, when we were making Ocarina of Time, she saw a Goron from behind and said that it looked like some sort of beetle! You can imagine how that made me feel. So when she played Twilight Princess without me even asking her to I felt really happy. What's more, she managed to make it all the way to the end of the game without even knowing that she could lock on to enemies and things! I don't even think I could do that...

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I have lots of memories about Twilight Princess, but that's what made me the happiest. We worked hard and made it the game with the biggest map in the history of the Zelda series, you know. It was pretty tough to finish it all, it kept our staff buzzing away like busy little bees for a long time... My projects are infamous for being difficult! I think our staff members have come to dread them a bit.

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Well, I can't deny it... I might be a difficult person who does nothing but make unreasonable demands, but I do have unlimited gratitude for my staff because they all work so hard. I'm always the one who is most blown away when we finish a project.

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When you're making a remastered version of a game, it's always easy to worry about whether people who played the original version ten years ago will want to play the new version. We tried hard to make sure that there are things that feel fresh about Twilight Princess HD even for people who are very familiar with the original version, and it makes me happy that the responses we've gotten so far have been positive in that regard. Some people who wanted to buy the original game but never got around to it have played the HD remaster and said that it was hard to believe that at heart it's a ten-year-old game. I'm still reflecting on the significance of making Twilight Princess HD, so I'd like to extend this invitation to all of you on Miiverse - please continue to post and tell me about your impressions of the game! I can't wait to read your answers.