Zelda Producer Reflects on Spirit Tracks

[Skeithex]

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks may be out in America (we liked it a lot, by the way), but in Japan it's not hitting stores until December 23, which goes to show that being an American JRPG-ran has its advantages. (Yes, we know Zelda isn't technically a JRPG. Bear with us here.)

To commemorate the Japan release, Famitsu magazine sat down with series producer Eiji Aonuma to ask him a few questions about the game. Some of the highlights:

- How did the project get started? "First, let me talk about Phantom Hourglass," Aonuma began. "I've been making 3D Zelda games ever since I worked on Ocarina of Time, but really, I hadn't been able to change the core of the game at all in any project. There have been new gimmicks and ways of presenting it, but I couldn't fundamentally change the way the game was played. With the Nintendo DS and its new features, though, I could make a really 'new Zelda' with the hardware.

"You could say as a result that Phantom Hourglass was a dream come true for me," he continued. "It was extremely fulfilling for me to make, but I did also have some things in my mind I had to leave behind for that project. The previous game had Wi-Fi battles where you drew lines to move Phantom Guardians around, and it was pretty fun -- I figured that having that gameplay be part of the main story would result in another 'new Zelda,' and that's where Spirit Tracks began."

- Where did the idea of adventuring along with Princess Zelda herself come from? "I thought the idea of working together with the Phantom Guardians in your adventure was pretty fun," Aonuma said. "But they're enemies, after all, so we had to think up some kind of motive for them to be your friends. At the same time, though, I liked how the Phantoms were a sort of 'unbeatable enemy' in the last game and I didn't want to change that. That's how we began to think about some way to use Princess Zelda."

- Was it hard for her to make the jump, so to speak? "People on the staff have wanted to have Zelda in the game for ages, but if we did that, then her skirt becomes an issue," Aonuma revealed. "Having girls in dresses in an action game is kind of hard to deal with. That's how we got the idea of having her body stolen and her soul going inside Phantom Guardians."

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I'm just happy that they finally put zelda into the game and have her doing a lot more and, wait. it's not in japan?