Speaking with Game Informer magazine’s online website, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma once again reiterated that the next game in the series would not be a strictly single player experience.
“The two-player functionality of Hyrule Warriors is actually something that has traditionally been done in the Dynasty Warriors series, but they’ve changed because of the hardware and the second screen on your GamePad,” Aonuma said. “Instead of having a splitscreen on the television, you have one-player playing on the television and one on the GamePad.”
He added, “When I was talking back about making Zelda more than just a single-player experience? That’s something you will see in the future, maybe next year.”
In the past, Aonuma has stated that he isn’t necessarily considering a traditional multiplayer experience for Zelda. For example, Aonuma considers the Tingle bottle feature in The Wind Waker HD to be a form of interacting with other players that makes the game a little more than a single-player affair.
“They share their experiences, things that they’ve discovered through their explorations, and so again you can feel their presence without their physically being there,” Aonuma said at the time. “That’s a kind of multiplayer, if you think about it. With the new Wii U Zelda, we’re coming up with new ideas that still allow the one-Link idea but are the same type of multiplayer.”
The Legend of Zelda for Wii U is planned for release sometime in 2015.
