In the latest Iwata Asks on Nintendo.com, Yoshiaki Koizumi recalled, “First, I talked with Miyamoto-san about how we should make The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo 64 system, and he asked, ‘How about making it so that Link will not show up?’”
According to Koizumi, Miyamoto wanted to make a “first-person game”—something that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata clarified as an FPS.
“In the beginning,” Koizumi continued, “he [Miyamoto]had the image that you are at first walking around in first-person, and when an enemy appeared, the screen would switch, Link would appear, and the battle would unfold from a side perspective.”
Part of this idea appears to be grounded in the difficulty it was to render characters and backgrounds in 3D on the Nintendo 64. Ultimately, the game was developed and released, featuring Link from a third person point-of-view.
“I was making the model for Link, so I couldn’t stand to see my Link not appear,” said Koizumi. “Link is cool, so I wanted to always be able to see him.”
Nintendo did create FPS tests for internal demos, but abandoned the P.O.V. after deciding it wasn’t visually interesting.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D : The Game that Changed Destinies [Iwata Asks via MTV]
Apris
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 7:13 PMFirst Person Adventure maybe but it wouldn’t be a First Person Shooter without the shooting…
Mic
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 8:28 PMNever played it, but from what I hear this idea was revisited for Links Crossbow Training?
Jake
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 11:11 PMThat game was so bad… It could be finished in 28min!
Jake
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 11:12 PMHOTD Overkill is the definitive on rails shooter game for Wii.
Dylan T.
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 4:27 PMIt wasn’t that bad. And you can’t really complain; it CAME with the Wii zapper, and was mainly just an advertising stunt FOR said zapper.
thxultra
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 6:54 AMZelda in 1st-person would be awesome! Would it work? Dont know, though Metroid Prime worked – awsomely!