The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has a history of intense controversy based on one of the more shallow topics one can argue about in the video game world: the graphics.
It all started at SpaceWorld 2000, a Nintendo game expo in Japan, where a Gamecube tech demo was released featuring Link and Ganondorf.
Though short, fans went crazy analyzing the video and were blown away by the technical power of the upcoming system. Nintendo made it very clear that the realistic graphical style and specific models were only used for the purposes of showing off, but fans at the time were absolutely convinced that this would be the new direction for Zelda games, and started drafting up ideas and spreading rumors about the new “Zelda GC.”
Fans were so adamant that “Zelda GC” was what they hoped and dreamed it would be that when SpaceWorld 2001 came around, they were expecting game details. The storyline and premise of the game were on fans’ minds, forgetting that the graphical style was not set in stone.
This proved to be rather problematic.
From the fans’ points of view, it was a slap in the face of epic proportions. The traditional 3D graphical style that Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask implemented was cut completely, and in its place Nintendo set what everyone believed to be one of the most childish styles possible thanks to cel shading and ridiculously cartoony facial expressions. Fans fostered so much hatred for the new look that describing the fans as “outraged” felt like an understatement.
The juvenile approach the trailer used can almost justify the reactions of the Zelda fans. Even with Shigeru Miyamoto reassuring everyone that the graphical style did not reflect the puerility within the actual game and that players will “really come to understand why [Nintendo] went with this graphic style,” the many months following the trailer were full of more complaints and fake rumors, most of which were simply wishful thinking on the perpetrators’ parts.
During the summer of 2002, more official statements came out, especially thanks in part to the year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3.
The trailer was much more refined, and used a slightly less juvenile approach that many fans applauded literally and figuratively. For the next year, with the release date crawling ever closer, the talk of the fandom gradually turned away from arguments on the game’s graphics to slightly more important gameplay issues such as item usage and where the game itself would fall on the Zelda timeline.
In a sense, the fans’ arguments became less juvenile as they warmed up to the idea of the graphical overhaul. Shigeru Miyamoto’s words stating that the graphical style will be more of an afterthought came true for most fans.
Yet Shigeru Miyamoto’s interview regarding The Wind Waker shed some light on some other aspects of the game. “The more you play the game, the more you get sucked into the graphic style, kind of forgetting about it,” he claims. Miyamoto may be reassuring players that the graphical style may become less jarring or different, but taking his words literally, I have come to a different conclusion.
In this series of articles, I will be exploring the graphical style, themes, and philosophy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and how they all work together to create an extraordinary narrative and gaming experience like no other. Join me next time for my first analytic piece, where I critically analyze and contrast the atmosphere of the overworld and undertones of The Wind Waker.
For now, happy sailing!
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Helpful sources:
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/zelda/tww-development-history/
http://nintendoenthusiast.com/forums/discussion/778/understanding-wind-wakers-controversy/p1
http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/12/04/miyamoto-and-aonuma-on-zelda?page=3
http://www.ign.com/articles/2000/08/24/zelda-on-gamecube
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[…] summer, I took it upon myself to write a 4-part article series on the philosophy of The Wind Waker as supported by the game’s graphical style and themes. It was my first venture into video […]