Creating 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'

When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild first made its official debut on the Nintendo Switch, fans everywhere hailed it for its incredibly narrative, fluid combat, and thrilling open world. The folks at Nintendo continued to celebrate the game's success long after its initial release and because of that, we want to take a moment to celebrate the team themselves and what it took to develop the award-winning adventure. That's where this awesome 60 second lore video from one of my favourite YouTube channel comes into play.

The YouTube channel in question is called Lore in a Minute and I've covered them quite a bit in the past. I love this team and their comedic edge to popular game franchises. They are both educational and entertaining, and only 60 seconds long making it even easier to enjoy.

Not in a place to enjoy a full-fledged animated video? Not to worry, the team always provides a written transcript to making following along even easier:

"Trimming the grass, tennis with Ganon, tumbling all over the place, in 2011 the once mighty Legend of Zelda suddenly sounded like the old folks home of gaming. Skyward Sword was quickly overshadowed by its competitor, Skyrim, and Hyrule needed a makeover.

Producer Eiji Aonuma tasked his team to rediscover Zelda's essence. They remastered classic Zelda titles for WiiU, noting their strengths, and tested their new game engine as an 8-bit prototype, proving it could change Zelda's future while remaining true to its past. But the real test was Miyamoto. The team developed a demo highlighting new mechanics and when the legendary developer spent an hour climbing trees, they knew they had a hit."

"But Aonuma wanted more. Hyrule Warriors and Link Between Worlds introduced voiced cutscenes and non-linear gameplay. Designers were encouraged to get weird, drawing Biker Link and Link in a tracksuit. And Xenoblade developer, Monolith Soft, developed a Kyoto-inspired open-world to bring Zelda into the modern age.

Unfortunately, the modern age can be tricky. That fancy new physics engine meant changes on one section of the map caused chaos elsewhere. Weak Wii U sales then prompted Nintendo to push this new Zelda as the launch title for their next console, which proved to be a blessing in disguise. After extended QA testing, Link galloped, soared and climbed his way back to the top in 2017's Breath of the Wild."

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now available on Nintendo Switch and the Wii U.