Games Radar has been digging through the archives and has come across Eiji Aonuma’s Game Developers Conference 2007 talk during which he revealed that the team were working on a sequel to the beautiful The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Sadly the project was scrapped due to the reception of the original Wind Waker in North America where people wanted a more realistic looking Zelda game. The game turned out to be The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Here’s what was said:
On Wind Waker’s Reception in North America
“At one point, I had heard that even Wind Waker, which had reached the million mark in sales, was quickly losing steam, and that things were sluggish even in North America, where the market was much healthier than in Japan,” Aonuma said. “I asked [Nintendo of America] why this was. What I was told was that the toon-shading technique was in fact giving the impression that this Zelda was for a younger audience, and that for this reason, it alienated the upper-teen audience that had represented the typical Zelda player.”
On Wind Waker 2
“The proposed setting for The Wind Waker 2 was not on sea, but on land,” according to an interview with Twilight Princess art director Satoru Takizawa, printed in the book The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts.
“The desire to depict Toon Link on a horse riding around the great plains was great; however, with his small stature and short arms and legs, it would have been difficult to make him look good on a horse,” Takizawa continued. “It wasn’t like we could create an adult version of Toon Link. And that was about the time we heard that people were waiting on a realistic-looking Zelda game again.”
When Twilight Princess rolled around
“Four months later, development had progressed to a point where Link could swing his sword in battle against enemies while riding on his horse in a realistic-looking world,” Aonuma explained. “When it was announced with a surprise trailer at the 2004 E3, it received a standing ovation by the media audience. This was a very exciting moment for us, but we were still very much in the early stages of converting the game into something more realistic. We knew that we had to create a Zelda game that would live up to the expectations of fans in North America, and that if we didn’t, it could mean the end of the franchise. But I also trusted the ability of the team, which was able to bring the game so far in just four short months.”
I’m not mad about this, since Twilight Princess was an absolute banger. I prefer it to WW, personally. We also got two sequels in the form of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks which were quite good. Now that Nintendo seems to be running out of Zelda ideas with the OOT remake, I guess it makes sense to create a true sequel to WW.
I wouldnt say there running out of ideas just beacuse they decided to remake oot
How do you get to the conclusion that “they’re running out of ideas” just because the next Zelda game is a remake? By your logic BOTW wouldn’t have happened because Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remakes came out just before it. Weird mindset.
Usually Zelda remakes are to fill gaps between new entries of mainline Zelda games. I bet we will see the next mainline Zelda game in 2027-2028. I honestly love the idea of an ocarina remake. I want to play the game again, but I don’t want to touch my 2ds. That thing sucks to hold at times.
I think late 2027/mid-2028 reveal and possible release for Spring 2029 at the absolute latest. I think we’ll probably get 1 or 2 big holiday titles before a brand new 3D Zelda, but it’s a bit of a toss-up considering the Zelda Movie, so we might hear from the team on an announcement earlier to build hype lol
low iq
I never understood the hate Wind Waker got for its art style – its visuals by far hold up the best of any 3D Zelda game pre BotW. However, in terms of the actual game, I’m much more of a Twilight Princess person than a Wind Waker person, in fact Twilight Princess might just be my favourite Zelda of all time. So no regrets for how it all turned out!
They were too cartoony and, together with Four Swords and Minish Cap, made an impression that Nintendo was going to turn Zelda into an outright cartoony series. Also people were tired of Zelda games experimenting too much (Majora’s Mask included) and wanted something more “Zelda-esque” and, to compound the issues, people weren’t keen on the whole “let’s discard Hyrule because change is inherently good and people who dislike change are stubborn fools living in the past”.
And, since Zelda was way more popular in the West than in the East….
“people weren’t keen on the whole “let’s discard Hyrule because change is inherently good and people who dislike change are stubborn fools living in the past”.
Feeling called out, are we? :)
if i had a dollar for everytime someone said the japanese themed cell shaded cartoon games aged, id be rich.
bruh early 2000s were all about edge and realism…its that simple
People wanted “realistic” graphics and a dark Zelda game. That was the main issue people had. And they definitely got it with TP. Unfortunately, it was also dark in appearance, too. Muted colors & all.
WW, in spite of the cartoony graphics, was probably the darkest Zelda up to that point without sapping all of the color from it. A flood that washes away an entire kingdom is pretty damn dark.
Just started playing phantom hourglass since my first playthru at launch. There were parts that grated on me back then and I’m uncertain if I’ll keep playing for long. I enjoyed the sailing more in PH than WW
Back in the 2000’s Sony and Microsoft Stand harrashed Nintendo fans everywhere in the state because we didnt get games like GTA and God of War. They called Nintendo a Baby Console and that Nintendo games were all Baby games due to the srt styles and tones. People looked st how bright, colorful, cartoonish, and innocent Wind Waker looked and just attacked it. Most hated Nintendo games back then without even trying them out or giving a real chance. casuals also hated that you had to read dialogue in most Nintendo Games and that Nintendo games were lame and for nerds or people with mental disabilities. Even when the Wii was still new and dominating. I got made fun of in School, by my family, and more for liking Nintendo games. Hopefully times have changed since then. To bad investors, share holders, evil companies, and rich people are destroying the gaming landscape for everyone these days. Sony, Microsoft, so on.
Loved Windwaker the moment it was revealed, however divisive.
I really appreciate that Nintendo uses the Zelda IP to always experiment on art directions.
Guys, those are nice theories, but here’s what actually happened. Everyone was expecting a better more realistic looking game because we just had OOT 5 years earlier and that seemed like the direction the idustry was going in. Majora Mask was seen as Nintendo just being weird because MM was creepy, OOS and OOA were seen as the technical limitations of the DS. Wind Waker was shocking because it wasn’t what anyone in America was thinking the next Zelda game on a home console would look like. Mr. Miyamoto did a video explaining that WW had always been his vision of what he wanted The Legend of Zelda to look like and most people got on board with that. So the real reason there were so many complaints is because it didn’t match our much hyped up expectations of what the next Zelda would like on a home console. I know because I lived it.
It got canned because back then a bunch of crybabies were crying about Zelda not being realistic. It’s true that TP was great but a sequel to WW would be great but as I said crybabies from the past crying about Zelda not being to THEIR standards.
Before Wind Waker came out, I wasn’t happy with the artstyle. I still had my mom preorder it, so I could at least get the OoT Master Quest pre-order bonus. I then watched the trailer for WW on it and immediately fell in love because that opening music in the trailer was, well, music to my ears. I couldn’t wait til it released months later, so I could finally play it. Then years later, TP came out. I enjoyed it but the lack of color to make it look “darker” bugged me once the honeymoon phase ended with it. Ever since, I have never complained about an artstyle. In fact, WW’s my #1 favorite LoZelda game. Nothing has been able to top it. Maybe the OoT remake will finally knock it off my mental pedestal. We shall see.
I’ll even take a stick figure artstyle of a Zelda game if the story, gameplay, & music is good. Zero fucks given about the artstyle.
I would have loved a sequel, maybe they might but I think it’s too late. Lol.
Does phantom hourglass count as a sequel? They play very differently, but both have the same artstyle in a similar location.
Phantom Hourglass takes place almost directly after Wind waker Vageta!
I didn’t like Skyward Sword’s art style originally which is ironic because I loved Wind Waker’s. When Skyward Sword was ported to Switch though, the bump in graphics improved a lot for me though it hot rid of the paint like effect. I wish it controlled normally but I still was able to enjoy it on Switch, I played with the Pro Controller.
Wait. The paint effect is gone!? 🫤 I didn’t notice with what little I played of it. I’ll probably notice it more once I’m below the clouds.
If they made a windwaker sequel with toon link grown up I’d play it but from what I read on different sites any new Zelda will be a hyrule warriors style game
Well at least we got the live action movie coming that realistic enough I’m down to rip a few bong hits and play grown up toon link tho shooting some arrows off a horse in slo mo
Honestly this tracks with everything that came out around Twilight Princess development – the backlash to Wind Waker’s art style at the 2001 Spaceworld reveal clearly spooked them. The funny part is that Wind Waker aged better visually than almost anything else on GameCube, so scrapping a direct sequel for realism looks like the wrong call in hindsight. Phantom Hourglass sort of filled the gap but it never had the same scale. I make short game clips for fun with Ravvi and Wind Waker footage still looks incredible next to 2003 contemporaries. Good find.
Zelda Wind Waker 2 was reportedly canceled in favor of developing a more realistic-looking Zelda game for the series. https://freecineapks.net/
A planned sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was reportedly scrapped in favor of developing a more realistic Zelda game. https://paint3ds.com/
I’ve never understood the hate Wind Waker got for its art style. Even today, I think its visuals have aged better than any other 3D Zelda game before Breath of the Wild. That said, when it comes to the games themselves, I’m definitely more of a Twilight Princess fan. In fact, Twilight Princess might just be my favorite Zelda game of all time, so I have no regrets about how everything turned out! On a completely different note, one of my dreams is to visit Fiesta Tequila Bar when I finally make it to Swansea, MA. Here is the website: https://fiestatequilabar.com
Interesting piece of Zelda history! It’s fascinating to learn that a Wind Waker sequel was once planned before the team shifted to Twilight Princess. It’s always great to read behind-the-scenes stories about how game development decisions shape iconic franchises. When I’m taking a break from gaming, I also enjoy using Freecine APK for entertainment. Thanks for sharing this!