Shigeru Miyamoto comments on the 25th anniversary of Zelda and Nintendo's plans to commemorate it.

Two of Nintendo's beloved franchises turn 25 this year, although Nintendo's focus seems to be on The Legend of Zelda rather than Metroid. At this year's E3 conference Nintendo announced that they would be marking the anniversary with a series of concerts around the world and also announced The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures would be given away for free on the eShop.

Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken to Game Informer about the franchise and Nintendo's plans for it. When asked Mr. Miyamoto stated that they hadn't waited until the anniversary to hold concerts but rather when thinking about what to do for the anniversary they came up with the idea.

Moving onto video games Shigeru Miyamoto declared his love for Four Swords Adventures but noted due to requiring cables to play not many people have played the original. However, now that the 3DS offers wireless multiplayer, as did the DS and its numerous iterations before it, Shigeru Miyamoto has been keen to get it into as many gamers hands as they can. The title is due to be available for free on the eShop later his year.

When questioned Shigeru Miyamoto commented on criticisms that the series had not evolved over its 25 year history. He notes that the series has always been about being part of an adventure, solving puzzles and fighting enemies and as a result there may be a tendency for gameplay to feel linear but Nintendo's focus has always been on satisfaction.

Mr. Miyamoto continues to say that the games are designed to encourage gamers to grow and mature as they play and the way in which they encourage that is to have the adventure follow along to the flow and be connected with the story. He also believes with the addition of full 3D worlds, motion controls and the other aspects new technology allows for the series really has evolved. Commenting on what Skyward Sword will offer he states the following:

"The other thing that we did with the Zelda series is we intend to create the game in way that the player has a tremendous amount of freedom in terms of the things that they're able to do. As they explore the world and discover things and try to play the game in different ways, there are little thing sprinkled throughout the world that will reward them for that. I do think that the notion of following a story perhaps pushes people towards that normal progression of the game. What I'll say about Skyward Sword is that there's a tremendous amount of places you can go and things you can do in that game. It's very open world, and I would encourage everyone to go and explore every nook and cranny of that game as well."