With the upcoming release of Hyrule Warriors, Nintendo and Koei Tecmo have essentially crafted a Dynasty Warriors experience with a Legend of Zelda skin laid over the top of it. Combat and items all work very similar to the Dynasty Warriors franchise, though all the bosses and playable characters are those taken from Zelda. According to Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, when Yosuke Hayashi approached him about making Hyrule Warriors, he wanted to do something that was more of a traditional Zelda title than a Dynasty Warriors game. Miyamoto is the one who stopped it and focused back on Dynasty Warriors.
At first, when Hayashi-san approached me, he wanted to make this title closer to a Zelda game than a Dynasty Warriors game — that extended to having boss battles in the dungeons and [having] certain characters in the game. However, Mr. Miyamoto came along and up-ended the tea table, saying, “No, that should not be the case. What we’re doing here is grafting Zelda onto the Dynasty Warriors experience.” It was a reversal of the original proposal from Hayashi-san, which was adding elements of Dynasty Warriors onto the Zelda franchise. It ended up being the other way around based on Miyamoto’s direction.
It’s not surprising to hear Miyamoto lay down the direction for a game, as he has done similarly for other efforts, especially when related to the Legend of Zelda series. Either way, you can thank Miyamoto for the Dynasty Warriors experience set in Hyrule, instead of something that is more closely related to the dungeoneering of the Legend of Zelda series.
