Highlights
- A Zelda Super Mario Maker-like game is unlikely. Aonuma believes creativity shouldn’t be a requirement but should rather be encouraged, like in Tears of the Kingdom.
- Multiple routes and open-world freedom in Tears of the Kingdom allow for creative solutions.
- While there is no official Zelda Dungeon creator, similar options exist. Games like Super Dungeon Maker and Quest Master offer the ability to create 2D dungeons.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma reveals that a Zelda-focused Super Mario Maker game is unlikely to happen in the future. This long-awaited Breath of the Wild sequel allows for so much more freedom than before, allowing for Tears of the Kingdom players to get incredibly creative, where there are multiple solutions to puzzles in an open-world setting. With Tears of the Kingdom‘s open nature and multiple solutions, some might think the franchise would have the potential for players to make their own dungeons and puzzles in the same vein as Super Mario Maker.
Super Mario Maker and its sequel are level-creating games, with the fun being derived from a player having the ability to create their own levels and courses that many other people can run through. Even when Super Mario Bros. Wonder was released earlier this November, fans are going back and working on either re-creating levels from Wonder or making something creative. While Tears of the Kingdom pushed the envelope with its ability to create anything, it’s not likely that Zelda would get its own level-maker game, according to Aonuma.
Next Legend of Zelda Game Unlikely to Be a Direct Sequel to Tears of the Kingdom
The producer of the Legend of Zelda franchise comments that the next game in the series is unlikely to be a direct sequel to Tears of the Kingdom.
In an interview with Polygon, the series producer was asked if the emphasis on creativity in Tears of the Kingdom would lead to a Mario Maker-esque game that allowed players to create their own dungeons and levels, to which Aonuma said no. Through his interpreter, Aonuma states that the emphasis on creativity shouldn’t be a requirement, but rather something that is encouraged through the game’s design. “I think it’s important that we don’t make creativity a requirement,” says Aonuma to Polygon. “Instead, we put things into the game that encourage people to be creative, and give them the opportunity to be creative, without forcing them to.”
While Tears of the Kingdom had stretched the creative limits in allowing fans to solve puzzles, the developers had expanded on what was previously possible in Breath of the Wild. When directly asked if there would be a Zelda-themed Mario Maker level-creating game, Aonuma states that while there might be fans who want the ability to create from scratch, that isn’t likely to appeal to everyone. He instead believes that the enjoyment comes from the ability to discover their own way to progress, which Tears of the Kingdom provided multiple routes. As such, Aonuma believes forcing players to build things from scratch and forcing them to be creative isn’t a good fit for the series.
I think it’s important that we don’t make creativity a requirement. Instead, we put things into the game that encourage people to be creative, and give them the opportunity to be creative, without forcing them to.
While fans might be sad to hear that an official Zelda Dungeon creator is likely out of the question, there are games that offer similar options. For example, indie game Super Dungeon Maker allows players to use similar gameplay mechanics from the Zelda franchise like bombs and keys to create their own 2D dungeons. Quest Master is also a similar game that allows players to create their own top-down 2D Zelda-esque dungeons. While fans can also play Mario Maker levels that re-create classic Zelda adventures, it likely won’t be the same feeling as creating and exploring a dungeon from one of the 2D games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
- Released
- May 12, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- How Long To Beat
- 59 Hours
- Metascore
- 96
