Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma discusses Skyward Sword, the Wii U and much more.

Nintendo's Eiji Aonuma has worked on the Zelda franchise for many years, working on titles such as Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and the upcoming Skyward Sword. Industry Gamers sat down with Mr. Aonuma to speak all about his work within the company and his future plans.

Eiji Aonuma claims that he has long held a desire to work on something other than Zelda, although whenever he thinks of something new he ultimately reverts back to using it in a Zelda game. He also noted that Shigeru Miyamoto isn't quite the tyrant he accidentally made him out to be, as we reported on a few days ago.

As Skyward Sword is one of the last big titles for the Nintendo Wii, and the last one Shigeru Miyamoto is working on, Industry Gamers asked Mr. Aonuma whether he has been able to push the Wii to its limits. He responds by stating that Skyward Sword isn't about pushing the Wii to the max, although it does make good use of the console's abilities, but rather about the use of motion plus: "we just focused on really expanding with motion plus and doing everything we could with that feature since it was sort of the backbone [of Skyward Sword]".

Speaking about the Wii U Mr. Aonuma states that he has been working on the console in some capacity for the last two years. While his knowledge and insights in general were useful to Nintendo he was often asked about how the Zelda franchise would work with the new console, which resulted in the 'HD experience' version we saw at E3:

"Well, one thing I want to emphasize here, when talking about the Wii U Zelda HD experience, is that we really built it specifically to be an experience. The idea is using Zelda as the backdrop for one of these HD experiences, what kind of representation Zelda can make there. But this is really just to show people what kind of things the console can do. And so, it's not necessarily the case that we would use that graphic style or depiction the same way we would in a new Zelda, when there is a new Zelda for the Wii U. Just like the map functionality that was also implemented in that experience - it's simply us giving an objective look at the kinds of things that can be done with the HD hardware. And Zelda happened to be the filter through which we view it in that experience. So nothing is defined right now as far as how we'll proceed."

The Wii U will also see Nintendo focus on bringing an online experience more in line with the PS3 and 360 according to early reports. Asked if a future Zelda title would utilise online Eiji Aonuma doesn't directly say "yes" or "no" but he does give an insight into the questions Nintendo themselves are asking:

"It does bring up a question that I think we are examining and will continue to examine, which is "Looking at the capabilities that are in our hands, what kinds of gameplay possibilities are out there for a Zelda game that goes online, maybe something that goes multiplayer?" But it's all about, for us, finding a clear direction to take that online functionality, to use that online functionality. Once we have that, I think things will move forward. But, until then, we're in the process of really asking ourselves, "How will this be a natural extension - a natural and enjoyable extension of what makes the series the series?" So that's something for the Zelda team to continue to examine as we move forward.

Industry Gamers addressed the fact that the last few console launches have not seen a Mario or Zelda title launched alongside the console, presumably considering Twilight Princess a GameCube port, and asked whether the Wii U would buck this trend. In response Mr. Aonuma notes that the Mario franchise is not one he works on and the timeline for a Zelda game is usually three years and it is difficult to match up the timeline of developing a Zelda game and that of developing a new console:

But in general, the timeline for new hardware is actually shorter than the timeline for a new Zelda game. And because of that, when they don't line up correctly - and that's often the case - it's extremely hard to coordinate getting that title out as a day one title. But when possible, of course it's something that we understand is great and we like to do it. And, naturally, I realize that it is in some ways a problem that Zelda games take as long as they do. I would like to get them out faster. That's something that I consider a personal challenge and it's something that I look into.