"...to be honest, it was no good at all!"

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword is one of the most highly anticipated Wii games of all time and is receiving incredible review scores from many different sources but it may have turned out very differently had Eiji Aonuma not stepped in as a planner.

In a recent 'Iwata Asks', Eiji Aonuma revealed how Skyward Sword was 'no good' in the beginning and he had to step in as planner to sort things out as seemingly no one else was up for the job.

"Well, thanks to the hard work of the designers, the island in the sky, named Skyloft, gradually came together. This time, Link is going to the Knight Academy and is living in the dormitory. It's a somewhat elaborate setting, so I wasn't sure it would be all right, but when it had come together somewhat, I had Iwamoto-san show me the game from the beginning. And to be honest, it was no good at all!"

Eiji Aonuma wasn't keen on the beginning of the game or the characters involved. It all seemed quite mixed up and nothing was clear.

"Usually, at the beginning, just by talking to the other characters, you imagine the drama that will unfold and get really excited, but that wasn't true at all. And it wasn't clear whether the people who appeared were Link's classmates or what."

By this point the game had been undergoing development for quite some time and everyone was worrying about the arrival of Miyamoto. If things weren't corrected soon then tea tables the world over would be upended which is something Aonuma couldn't quite comprehend.

"I could see that if it hadn't come together to a certain extent by that point, when Miyamoto-san came in, he would be like, "What have you been doing all this time?!" I was worried. So the situation was coming to a boil. But even when I said, "Get on top of that!" there wasn't anyone to do so, so I was like, "Then I'll do it myself!"

There wasn't any rivalry or bitterness about Aonuma taking over though as Skyward Sword Director Hideomaro Hujibayashi was more than happy to welcome him on board as both planner and producer. It seems that had Aonuma not stepped in, the development team were thinking of ways to rope him in anyway!

"We did have to make the beginning grab you, and only someone who really knows The Legend of Zelda can do that" said Hujibayashi, "Actually, before you volunteered, night after night, Iwamoto-san and I had been devising a plan-like, "You know, a certain someone around here really knows The Legend of Zelda..."

Aonuma revealed how the team luckily managed to turn things around and get the project back on track as the actual game world is structurally simple.

"I think we were able to keep such a big project together because the game world this time is structurally simple. We talk about all these "dense" places, but structure-wise there are only four-forest, volcano, desert and sky. Those four worlds were independent, and the goal with regard to each one's volume came into view, so I think we could do it because each staff member had in mind a prediction like "If we work hard in this direction, this Legend of Zelda game will turn out great!"

So it seems that after the initial struggle the team managed to pull it off and create one of the best Zelda's yet.

What do you make of this news? Can you believe Skyward Sword was once in such jeopardy? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below.