The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild NPCs Are Just Advanced Mii Models
Even though it first released almost four years ago, fans are still discovering some pretty [...]
Even though it first released almost four years ago, fans are still discovering some pretty incredible secrets in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game has been filled to the brim with content to uncover but one new discovery that has recently been made is perhaps one of the most baffling we've seen so far.
In a new series of tweets from user @HeyImHeroic (Alice) on Twitter, it was found that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's NPCs are all built from the same design structure that Nintendo previously utilized for Miis. While it's not a one-to-one repurposing of this data, the developers at Nintendo seemed to have utilized a similar version of the software that creates Mii character models. To verify that this was indeed true, the user who uncovered this began copying various Mii data into the game via modding. The resulting character models that appeared in Breath of the Wild ended up looking very similar to the counterparts seen on the Wii's old character creation software.
Hi, Mii expert here. Turns out, the NPCs in TLoZ:BotW use an advanced version of the Mii format. This means that with modding, you can inject Miis into the game. :)
Thinking about opening commissions for Mii injects, both screenshot/images of your Mii and mod downloads! pic.twitter.com/8NfVr4zyqA
— i'm alice (@HEYimHeroic) January 4, 2021
It's important to note though that just because this seems to have been used for the NPCs in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the same isn't true for the game's unique characters. Alice has claimed that those like Link, Zelda, and others that are part of the main cast were pre-modeled with specific designs and aren't based on the Mii data structure.
At this point, it will be interesting to see if Nintendo opts to use this same means of NPC generation in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. While there's still very little that we know about the sequel, rumors indicate that it could release at some point later this year. Until we hear more, you can keep up to date with our continuing coverage right here.
So what do you think about this surprising revelation with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Be sure to give me your thoughts in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12 if you'd like to chat more.