What made The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time great for you? Was it the graphics? The hot 3D game play? It surely wasn’t the underwater sections [grumble], was it? No, it was probably Epona, Link’s horse. No?
Nintendo’s game designer Eiji Aonuma told Nintendo Power the real story behind Epona in an interview. When Aonuma was asked about how Epona came to be, he gave a very non-technical answer:
If I said we included Epona because Miyamoto likes horses, that would be oversimplifying it, but that was actually the biggest factor. He wanted Ocarina to be unique, and realized that there weren’t any other games that involved riding a horse….
If you’re not counting Barbie’s Horse Adventures, I think they’re right. Shadow of the Colossus wasn’t out yet, but Argo is a worthless animal when compared to Epona anyway.
The interview excerpt at GoNintendo also talks about why Ocarina had such a lasting impact, and there’s even a hint of a new upcoming Zelda adventure.
