Legend of Zelda Wii U ‘change in flavor will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food’

I can already smell your panic

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The Legend of Zelda for Wii U missed its 2015 release and didn’t show up in Nintendo’s 2016 financials forecast either, though current scuttlebutt is guessing Zelda Wii U launches at the end of this year, right with Nintendo’s new “NX” console and an “NX” port of Zelda Wii U (much like Nintendo did with Twilight Princess).

A “busy” Eiji Aonuma joked with Famitsu, as translated by Kotaku, “When we did Skyward Sword for the Wii, at the end stages of development, I was in charge of the characters’ dialogue and the in-game text. And, now as well, it’s like it was then. I had to work on text today, too.

“But, the game has really taken shape, and things have gotten easier. That means things are progressing well.”

Aonuma says the theme for the next Legend of Zelda is “something new” — “like Ocarina of Time was.” And we’ve known that for a while, save details (except that it’ll avoid Skyward Sword tutorial overload). Of course, harking back to OoT is a bit weird when you follow with:

“I think the base of our secret sauce has always been Ocarina of Time. But this time, the change in flavor will be like going from Japanese food to Western style food. Perhaps, players will be surprised.”

Hold on there cowboy. Your base, your curry, your roux, it’s gone all “see those mountains? You can walk to those mountains.” We already expected some “Westernization,” I suppose, from how Aonuma have talked about the game, but this is a bit of a strong, literal explanation of what to expect. Maybe I am just reading too into the food metaphors, but that’s like saying the secret sauce of Japanese curry is tikka masala because, while the British did introduce Indian curry to Japan, Japanese curry is nothing like Indian curry (or even Thai or Chinese curry) and even has a different base. I want my chicken karaage dusted with potato starch, I don’t want Kentucky Fried Chicken. I want tonkatsu broth and Mintia. Not together, gross.

I am hungry.

And I want my meal served in quaint portions of various temperatures with tsukemono, not a god dang Sizzler. Yes I am extrapolating too far, but Aonuma is the one that had to bring food into it. Also I want a banh mi. Not Japanese, but I’ve literally been foiled in banh mi two days in a row and I’m out of bon mots.

If Link tasted like a Denny’s, would you eat him if you two found yourselves in a situation where you had to resort to cannibalism? Let us know in the comments! Also read my “Dream cast” for a theoretical live-action Legend of Zelda, which will probably release before this damn game does.

[Famitsu]


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