Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Wind Waker director Eiji Aonuma have admitted that the last instalment in the GameCube series wasn't quite up to scratch - promising they'll do a lot better with Twilight Princess.

Aonuma told Swedish magazine Reset that the gameplay in Wind Waker was "dull", admitting that he was in a bit of a hurry when it came to working on the triforce piece hunt.

"At the end of the production we fought against the clock and there were parts that I was forced to approve even though it didn't feel complete," he said.

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"I apologise that we didn't fix the triforce hunt at the end of the game. It was slow and dull."

But lessons have been learned, according to Aonuma: "During the development of Twilight Princess, I refused to repeat the same mistakes.

"It means more responsibility for me, but this time we can't let things go wrong."

Miyamoto echoed Aonuma's comments, telling Reset that he wants Twilight Princess "to contain all sides of what people think of the Legend of Zelda series.

"I have absorbed the criticism we got from The Wind Waker, that the sea was too big and the number of dungeons and caves were too few," he said.

"The new game will have more dungeons. Many more."

As previously suggested Twilight Princess will be a lot darker than previous Zelda games - Link is an adult now, and the storyline is "long, complex and occasionally serious," according to Miyamoto and Aonuma. It's slated for a November release and, as you'll know if you read our first impressions of the game, it's shaping up very nicely indeed.


Eurogamer. =)

Haha. What do you all think? I agree apon the end of the game. =x
It stalled big-time and made my not wanna finish it. =/
A mistake or not? The sea was okay, but we moved through it VERY slow. That was like a major pain in the ass. =/

I guess I did notice a few things toward the end of the game, but it didn't make me not want to finish it. :x
I still liked it, even though moving through the sea got annoying sometimes.
I do have to agree on one part, though. There were way too few dungeons. It kinda got a bit boring since after both temples, there wasn't much left to do. Other than the Triforce Shards, of course.

I kind of liked the way you traveled the ocean it gave you the sense that you were really sailing a huge sea and it was realaxing. I also agree that there were not many temples, which was a step down from Ocarina of Time. The triforce hunt was also very annoying at the end. I really wished they did not put that in there or at least not make it as boring as they did.

Good. I really hope the next game is nothing like Wind Waker. A lot of people liked it, but not me. It wasn't Link, it had nothing to do with Zelda, just nothing like what I was looking for. The instrument sucked too. Who wants to wave around a pixie stick? Not me.

I am very much looking forward to Twilight Princess. Cheers for it being nothing like Wind Waker!

I liked Wind Waker, even with the few dungeons. I liked the idea of crossing a sea and not the usual land. I liked how there were pirates too. Adicted to them. I got an A+ on my speech for doing that but OK. The only thing I didn't feel tres superb was the cost to deschiper a map. I mean, WHO WANTS TO TRAVEL AROUND AND COLLECT RUPEES ALL THE WHILE??? I specifically marked the places to fine the shards on the map (so I wouldn't have to do the whole map collecting thing) and it won't let you if you haven't deschipered the map! THAT WREAKED. I found it a good game overall though.

Three cheers for Zelda!
Three cheers for WW!
Three cheers for TP!
Three cheers for me!

The thing about not having a Fairy stunk too, and Link weasn't THE Link. Just some boy who played with a child with snot hanging from his nose.

I have to agree to a certain extent. Wind Waker had way too few dungeons and the Triforce shards hunt was very tedious and unnecessary. I don't mind the ocean, though. Loved the cell shading

Searching for the Tri Force charts can seem a bit labourous, but it also gives you a good chance to explore Hyrule, as each square on the map has something different and interesting to see; mostly. XD

Anyway, by that part of the game I'd already explored everything, so it was more a case of backtracking, which is never fun.

It does kinda showed that it was rushed... Idea like that isn't very innovative for Nintendo standards, and was just a bit of padding, I felt. But, overall, you can look past these laborious parts as the gameplay and overall feel is still very much Zelda.

The dungeons was too little in number, but many forget how good the dungeons are, and only concentrate on the fact there isn't enough. Love it for what it is, don't hate it for what it isn't. =p

I liked WW. But the hearing as how TP is going to be better makes me so impatient. All I really didn't like about WW was the Triforce shard hunting. Gave me a headache to look at that hand drawn chart made by tingle . I never understood it in the end . So I had to go to the walkthroughs. Then when I finally passed it, the IN-credible chart looked super easy to decipher.

I actually only played WW for about 5 mins. Not because I didn't like it, but because it was my friends. He just bought it, and I played till I had to go to class. I thought it was quite fun for 5 mins haha. I still think that it looked weird to me. I know that TP will top WW by all means. I think TP will be on of the best Zelda games of all time.

All in all, I can't really say if WW was a flop. But its a Zelda game! I mean it couldn't have been a tottal flop. I guess compared to the other zelda games, it could be the worst. don't know for sure. I'm just excited for TP lol

I somewhat enjoyed the game but what got me down was the cartoony graphics. Thats not what zelda should be about. But my friend told me a while back that they're remaking the WW, but this time with good graphics, like those of TP. That might make the game a little more interesting.

i loved it but there werent enough dungeons and i would have loved seeing being able to explore the undersea Hyrule...that would have ROCKED OUT LOUD! seriously! i liked the nautical nature of the game but there were some flaws...like the lack of dungeons and the tedious backtracking that got old afte r awhile

i really liked how big the sea was in ww. sailing around exploring it gave you something to do, since there sure weren't any dungeons to explore. the whole part about fishing for the triforce was tottal garbage. in every other zelda game you actually had to solve puzzles and fight for the peices, not just find a clue, drop a line and hope you get lucky. ww i guess did have it's moment or two but overall i think it was the worst zelda game that nintendo ever relesead (although i've never played any of the gameboy ones though).

as far as twilight princess goes, i don't see any way that this game can possibly dissapoint me. everything i've heard and seen of that one has got me drooling already.

Quite honestly, the game was disappointing. Far too short and simplistic, the Triforce hunt was a royal pain, plus: I LOATHE CEL SHADING! Thank the Nintendo geniuses are dulling that to a very bare minimum in Twilight Princess.

I was pretty hooked on wind waker, and I'm good at not managing to finish games! I've just been playing through ocarina of time on master quest though (just done the fire temple ^^ ) and wind waker definetely does not beat it nor does it beat majoras mask, but I have to say the fighting was definetely improved in wind waker, and the orc like enemies (can't remember the name) were always fun to fight. The main problem with the sea was when you got stuck against the wind, still it's not quite as bad as when this happens in sid meiers pirates! Still I'm happy wind waker is the way it is, as we now get a realistic zelda aswell. =)

I liked the game, but that may be because I am a huge zelda fan (obviously, I wouldn't be on this site if I wasn't)! The cel-shading got me at first but the worry about that quickly dissapeared with the realization that the play-control and music were outstanding. The ocean was big but some of the places were really sweet, like the palace under the ocean. The triforce shard searching did hinder the game's ability to be outstanding, but I beat the game of course Think about it though, even if you tought WW was silly or not up to par, it still kicked 95% of all the other games' butt!!!!

Heh, I own that issue of RESET.

I liked Wind Waker, it had a special feeling of summer to it. The only think I wasn´t perfectly comfortable with was that you were thrown right into the kind of unforgiving dungeon of Forsaken Fortress a little too early in the game.

yo darce! i totaly agree with you. it took me forever to get though the forsaken forest, well not that long but longer than it should have for me about 1-2 hours.
there was too few dungeuns for a zelda game and that made it boring.
usally at when i beat a zelda game i'll still feel like replaying it but for WW i just couldn't bring myself to pick up the controller, and i like to replay games. Oot i replayed about 4-5 times and link to past 3-4 times
i even replayed some of the gameboy ones.

i played a demo of it in eb games. it was ok to me, but it seemed highly overrated, everyone said it was the best one ever, blah blah blah...

i thik alttp and oot were the best. by far.

I kinda thought WW was refreshing, its flaws didn't bother me to much cause not every game can be a gem. There's been so many awsome games in the series that a less than perfect one was bound to show up. I still thought it was a good game and well worth playing.

Well is isn't exactly a "zelda game to remember", but I liked it. The sailing in the sea was pretty mediocre and it took a long time, but the rest of the game was pretty ok.

The sea was way too boring. Thank god for the cyclones. there werent a lot of dungeons and there was a lot of backtracking. I beat it though,and I think it was worth it.

Glad to hear this from the creator himself, sounds like Twilight Princess is going to be what wind waker could have been. I did like WW though. I loved the cel shading and enjoyed exploring the sea quite a bit. Game had a nice feel of freedom to it. However as everyone has said there wasn't nearly enough dungeons and the ending totally felt rushed. It sure sounds like TP is going to bring a breath of life back to a series with a ton of pissed off fans

Well I love zelda games and I liked WW the music, the characters, blah blah..but I admit it..it was a bad game.. it spoiled my dear land of hyrule.. it was just.. the sea.. haha I felt kinda sad..knowing that the land got flooded,link disappeared .. and a new born guy took the name of the hero.. and.. the gorons? they now sell stuff in abandoned islands?and the zoras got wings and now are postmen? and the poor kokiries became talking potatoes! sorry..

This has..nothing to do I guess but, the other day I was looking for a game and saw a big poster of twilight princess.. and I read below and it said.. 1997-2005.. it made me think that MM and WW were only ways to distract ourselves from the real game and maybe that explains why the games were not as we expected.

It's true that Wind Waker was a lot different from the other Zelda titles, but that's its main charm for me. It retain the Zelda feel, but going about it in a different way. Lot of fans weren't happy with the change, but I welcomed it. Sure, I don't like it as much as others in the series, namely OoT and aLttP but I found it was just as enjoyable to play as any other title, minus the TriForce chart hunt of course. >_>

To be honest, I would love to see another Wind Waker style Zelda. Wouldn't be suprise if it there is one for Revolution. =]



Woah, I never seen this poster. Any chance you can show a pic? I hear they did start on Twilight Princess shortly before finish Wind Waker but I didn't know it was being in development THAT long, I mean, that would they start making it around the time of OoT. o_O
Yeah, could I see that poster, if you have it, Rekiem? ^^

sure gonna see if the poster is still there and I'll take a pic of it.

well for me i liked wind waker alout because it didnt have much dungeon i hate it when u go from beating one dungeon and just hop into the next one i like it better if u walk around in a town and tlak to people and the town is under seize and sutff ok i know im kinda off topic

i still haven't finished it et but i love the swordplay in it i have a blast against orca and other enemies ( i still dont understand why my brother wont do anything other than press i especially liket he part that the energy spin blade is now a part of your techniques able to do it quickly and efficiently. the sea isnt that boring i just use the winds requiem or warp to the nearest point to my destination. and personally im a battle junky all the charts that you have to find FUN FUN FUN i love taking on knight after knight or other enemies.

i liked the wind waker even though i didnt get very far im going to start playing it again pretty soon. i like the cellshading for it

i gotta say it was a pretty good game, i liked the cell shading and the story and that you had to travel over seas to go thru the game, but what i didnt like was the triforce hunt, like stated before, it was tedious, and i found it irriating that i had to collect rupees for the deciphering of the maps , and that the main character wasn't link, but i think the overall game was very good and the wind waker thing was pretty cool

im hope they continue their awesome game streak with TP, but i am pretty confident that it will also be a great game

I liked the game but the triforce hunt was boring. The game wouldnt come into my top 10 games list ever but it was an average game IMO.

ww was.... sort of not as good as they could of dun for sher but they tried something new and fell on there faces but at least there still trying i respect that.

wind waker is absolutely amazing, but i hated searching for the triforce shards. should be more temples as well, but these are the only problems. this game has a lot of things you need to do, i love sailing and the music is great, and i thought the game was rather easy. i have beaten it dozens of times actually. some stuff on most zeldas are just way too complicated, but wind waker is quite easy. i dont understand how anyone could ever put down any zelda game, but if you have a negative opinion about it, it saddens me.

i liked the graphics in this game as well, kinda reminds me of a cartoon. but i do prefer OOT or MM graphics, they are more realistic, yet wind waker's are more clear (well, of course, its on a newer system) most people ive talked to dont like the graphics on WW, but i think they rule.

I actually like WW. The graphics, even though they are cartoon-ish, are good in my opinion. I'm still trying to get all those darn figurines that are pointless, yet still somehow addicting to try and get. Sure, it's not as challanging as the Zelda games in the past, like OoT(though I haven't played it, but evidently it's the hardest). I like the old Oracle of Ages/Seasons games for Game Boy Color more if you go for the difficulty level, but I think WW is still a good game even if it wasn't as hard as the others. I liked using the Wind Waker, and I actually didn't mind the triforce hunt, even though it did get dull if you just searched for them without a little variety from the sea scene (hence, the figurines).

I liked WW too. With the acception of the triforce hunt (Which I broke up anyway by exploring in between) and the poor ass final battle. I couldn't believe the anticlimax there. You defeat Puppet Ganon in quite a difficult fight (For a zelda game) then slowly climb the tower, reach the top and after a few more seconds , bang Ganondorf is beaten. It takes like 20 seconds. But otherwise I enjoyed every minute.

The environment in that is not more detailed than OoT. TWW has received tons of criticism from the view of the cel-shaded graphics. That type of art-style is not detailed. Replacing the dark, gritty feel. A new cel-shaded look, which resembled an interactive cartoon at the most part, and didn't show any part of a detailed environment like some people claimed it had.

And even if it was a bit detailed, it wasn't good enough to sustain the feel OoT and MM had.

It's also often complained that the large amount of sailing became tedious. And was no more a revolutionary concept.

I have to disagree, that it can even come close to OoT, and yes MM despite there limitations.