The final chapter of Iwata Asks on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ends with a few thoughts from from director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, and producer, Eiji Aonuma, on the series’ future.
Speaking to Nintendo’s president, Aonuma says: “For the next one, if we will build on the methods we established this time, we might end up getting into a rut.” Fujibayashi agrees, saying that the hurdles for the next Zelda game to cross are “really high”. It isn’t clear if they’re referring to a Wii U or Nintendo 3DS game.
Aonuma continues, saying that even in the case of Skyward Sword, “there is a lot left” that the development team didn’t do. Iwata adds that this is in spite of the fact that developing Skyward Sword took a total of five years.
“But five years is a long time,” Iwata jokes. “Can’t you do it in three years next time?”
“Sorry, I’ll think of something that can happen in three years!” Fujibayashi replies.
That sounds like Fujibayashi might be taking the reins on another Zelda game as well. While he served as a sub-director on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Skyward Sword is Fujibayashi’s first time directing a Zelda game on consoles, which Iwata and Aonuma agree turned out well, thanks to his accumulation of experiences over the years. They compare this to Miyamoto’s case with Ocarina of Time on the N64.
Another prominent person involved with Skyward Sword’s development was Daiki Iwamoto, who was the director of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Iwamoto led the development of Skyloft, Link’s hometown in the sky, as well as the entire sky section of the game. Iwamoto’s another candidate for directorial duties on a future Zelda game.
This is pure speculation on my part, but perhaps we’ll see Fujibayashi handle the Wii U Zelda, while Iwamoto takes control of the Nintendo 3DS game?
