Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto talk about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

The latest edition of Iwata Asks sees Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata sit down to chat to legendary games developer Shigeru Miyamoto and talk all about the recently released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.

The discussion covers both the N64 original and 3DS remake and as always includes many interesting titbits of information for fans. Initially Ocarina of Time was just going to be set in Ganon's Castle, with worlds connected from there similar to Super Mario 64. However, Yoshiaki Koizumi created a horse and this urged the team onto making a huge landscape to explore.

One unsuspecting influence on not only Ocarina of Time but also Link's Awakening was the American television show Twin Peaks. Apparently Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Tezuka were both influenced by the show's use of suspicious characters and examining what role they play, rather than exploring their backgrounds, and tried to emanate this in their games. When asked about how much effort gets put into stories Mr. Miyamoto notes that they'd rather focus on game elements instead of story, likening the process to classic cartoons such as Popeye where the characters may have changed roles every time but the enjoyment existed throughout.

Another influence on Ocarina of Time was the Western genre, something both Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Iwata grew up with. They both discuss how they have an "ingrained rhythm" of horses galloping and this was part of the inspiration behind including Epona. Shigeru Miyamoto also notes that originally Ingo was going to be so furious about losing the race with Link, and in turn Epona, that he'd burn the ranch down and Epona would jump out of there against a fiery backdrop. This was dropped when someone reminded Mr. Miyamoto that Link needed to return later.

The conversation also sees Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata discuss the inclusion of autojump, how the title won big during the 1999 E3 Awards and some of the new features in the 3DS version.

At the end of the discussion Mr. Miyamoto and Mr. Iwata discuss the 25th anniversary of the series and how music plays a role. As a bonus a short discussion with Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo about the series' music is included.

Talking to Mr. Yokota and Mr. Kondo Satoru Iwata asks about how the pair decide when orchestral music should be used. Fans of the old Zelda games will be pleased to here that Mr. Yokota confirms several classic Zelda songs have been given the orchestral treatment for the upcoming Skyward Sword.

The Zelda 25th anniversary orchestral concerts are discussed, although unfortunately there are still no set plans for the American and European performances. However, judging from what was said fans can look forward to an enjoyable show featuring their favourite Zelda songs when it comes to Europe later this year.