Super Mario Maker has had two successful games, and some fans have wanted Nintendo to explore something similar for The Legend of Zelda. However, don’t expect anything on that front in the near future.
Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma spoke about the possibility in an interview with Polygon, but seemed to rule it out. While Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have allowed for creativity through its different gameplay systems, Aonuma doesn’t feel that the actual concept of Zelda Maker would be a good fit for the franchise.
“When we’re creating games like Tears of the Kingdom, 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. There are people who want the ability to create from scratch, but that’s not everyone. But I think everyone delights in the discovery of finding your own way through a game, and that is something we tried to make sure was included in Tears of the Kingdom; there isn’t one right way to play. If you are a creative person, you have the ability to go down that path. But that’s not what you have to do; you’re also able to proceed to the game in many other different ways. And so I don’t think that it would be a good fit for The Legend of Zelda to necessarily require people to build things from scratch and force them to be creative.”
Super Mario Maker producer Takashi Tezuka seems to have similar thinking as Aonuma. A few years ago, he said that Zelda Maker would be “a challenge to make”.
The closest Zelda has come to experimenting with creating levels is with the Chamber Dungeons in Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Switch. Players can earn Chambers (dungeon rooms) throughout the story and arrange them to complete objectives.
Aonuma doesn’t sound keen on Zelda Maker, but what about you? Would you like Nintendo to explore that idea? Let us know in the comments.
