Over a year ago, yours truly here predicted that Nintendo was delaying the new Zelda game in order to launch it on the Wii U and NX. Which turned out to be 100% accurate, just as it had been with Twilight Princess for the GameCube and Wii.
Now Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has once and for all confirmed that the Wii U version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was in fact delayed because they decided to make an NX version as well.
“When we thought about developing a Zelda game for the NX, it would have to be way further down the life cycle of the system. And this game, rather than really focusing on the unique features of the Wii U, it’s really a game you sit down and get into. There was a change in direction, so we decided to develop for both consoles a while ago”, Miyamoto told IGN.
It makes sense, as a Wii U-only version would have meant the NX wouldn’t get a Zelda game until many years later, since Nintendo takes their time with developing Zelda games.
It’s also interesting to hear that they are not focusing on “unique features of the Wii U” — Zelda director Eiji Aonuma put more bluntly when he said that the Wii U GamePad and dual screen disrupts gameplay.
Miyamoto added that there were technical reasons for the delay as well. “There was a lot of struggle with using the physics engine”, he said.
Nintendo is getting a lot of help making the new Zelda game: over 100 developers at Monolith Soft are helping out on Breath of the Wild.
