Nintendo is continuing its Ask the Developer series of published interviews with game development leads, this time on The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. In parts 1 and 2 of this interview, the company reveals a number of tidbits about Echoes of Wisdom, including Grezzo as the elusive co-development studio behind the project and Tomomi Sano as the game's director, and first-ever female director on The Legend of Zelda series.You can read the full interviews yourself, but here are some highlights. First off, Sano has a rich history in the industry, earning her first credit in 1998 for editing stage textures on Tekken 3. She began working with Nintendo in 2004 as a coordinator on Mario Party 6, and over time was involved in a number of Nintendo-published and supported projects. Her first Zelda credit was in 2011 on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D as a coordinator, and she followed it up with the same role on Majora's Mask 3D a few years later. Tomomi Sano is Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's director. Image credit: NintendoIn 2016, Sano served as assistant director on Twilight Princess HD, and was also assistant director on Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions and Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. Most recently, she was a project coordinator on the Switch version of Link's Awakening in 2019. According to the interviews, Aonuma apparently "almost always" asks Sano to be involved with Legend of Zelda projects at Grezzo.
The origins of Echoes of Wisdom
Grezzo and Nintendo co-developed Echoes of Wisdom, but in the interview, series producer Eiji Aonuma says that Grezzo had an even greater role than usual on the game. Apparently, Nintendo wanted Grezzo's take on Link's Awakening to serve as a blueprint for top-down Zelda games this generation, but didn't just want to only do remakes. So the team asked Grezzo to pitch ideas internally for a new Legend of Zelda game, marking the first time the studio was challenged to participate in a Zelda project from the conceptual state. According to Aonuma, everyone in the studio participated across disciplines, pitching ideas to Aonuma, and it took Nintendo three days to review all the proposals.Ultimately, the idea that won wasn't exactly what Echoes is now, though it was kind of close. The winner was a "copy-and-paste" gameplay style combining the "top-down and side-view" gameplay styles seen in Link's Awakening."These were the two basic elements, and from there, I asked them to think of ways to add some freedom," Aonuma says. "Having worked on games in the Legend of Zelda series over the years, we started to feel that fans may not continue playing this franchise unless they can think independently and try various things freely on their own, rather than following a set path. Even when it comes to solving puzzles – in a game in the Legend of Zelda series, having the excitement of solving puzzles in your own unique way makes the game 'Legend of Zelda-like.' Hence, we need to increase the degree of freedom to achieve that. With this in mind, I asked Grezzo to use those two elements as a foundation for the gameplay and add freedom on top of it."
