Nintendo has released a three-part ‘Making of’ documentary for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The series – which runs for about 30 minutes in total – features contributions from series producer Eiji Aonuma, game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and technical director Takuhiro Dohta.
We won’t spoil anything, but the documentary contains plenty of interesting tidbits about the game’s development. It also includes some wonderful early concept art and reveals a few abandoned gameplay ideas that never made it to the final product.
Breath of the Wild was announced by Aonuma in January 2013, with a first look at its distinctive art style coming the following year. The game was originally set for release on Wii U in 2015, but suffered multiple delays before eventually hitting stores this month when it was released on both Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Since release the game has received near universal praise, with its systems-based gameplay mechanics, and vast open-world drawing wide acclaim.
Here’s part one of the series to get you started.
You can watch parts two and three on the Nintendo YouTube Channel.
At GDC this month, the game’s development team also held an in-depth talk on the development of Breath of the Wild, detailing how its use of ‘multiplicative gameplay’ challenged the conventions of the series.
