Home > How Toon Link Was Born - Iwata Asks
In a recent Iwata Asks interview we learned how Toon Link was born. Back before The Wind Waker's art-style was shown off the team was trying to come up with a way to make the art-style so that they could come up with new ideas because creating another game in the style of Ocarina of Time would have limited them due to having the same staff members working on the title. Then one day Haruhana-san showed the team the Toon Link sketch seen above and the other members started working on sketches on the same style, which went on to be the art-style for The Wind Waker. Be sure to check after the break for full quotes from the Iwata Asks interview...
Takizawa
Everyone on the core staff making the game at that time had a sense that proceeding in that direction didn't feel quite right. Then one day, out of the blue, Haruhana-san hit us with that new Link.
Iwata
Just out of the blue?
Aonuma
Yeah, it sure was.
Takizawa
The instant I saw that drawing, my designer's spirit came to life and I thought, "With a character like that, we can give him actions that will look and feel good no matter how he moves!"
Aonuma
Soon after you saw that, you drew a picture of a moblin.
Takizawa
Yes. I immediately drew inspiration from Haruhana-san's sketch and dashed off a Moblin, thinking, "Then the enemy should look like this!"
Aonuma
Then we began thinking about how we could have them fight, and it suddenly got interesting, with ideas coming out at an incredible speed, and I thought, "This'll work!"
About the Author:
Austin Dickson
Austin Dickson has been around the Zelda fandom for years. He started Link's Hideaway as a small personal project, which later turned into something of which he never thought possible. He enjoys writing articles, guides, walkthroughs, and developing the different Concealed Gaming network sites.
