Recent searches
Search options
Time for the Echoes of Wisdom credits analysis thread! 
First, the big news!: This is the first ever Zelda game where Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Zelda series, does NOT appear in the credits!
(assuming the transcription I'm reading is accurate)
Miyamoto is 71, and he stepped away from his old role directly leading R&D4->EAD->EPD in 2015, after his stint as acting co-president after Iwata's death.
He's clearly been directing his energies more towards the theme parks and the movies, lately, but this is still a shock!
Some EOW totals:
338 people are credited.
53% of those folks had never been credited in a Zelda title before.
In comparison, the Link's Awakening Remake had 213 people credited.
In comparison, Breath of the Wild had 1033 names, and Tears of the Kingdom had 1340.
It's worth noting that "number of names listed" does not directly correlate to person-hours, scope, or development cost.
The producer was Eiji Aonuma. Y'all know him already: he's worked in director, producer, or supervisor roles in every Zelda title since Ocarina, acting as franchise producer since 2004-2006
(it's complicated, he briefly stepped down from the role to finish Twilight Princess)
The Assistant Producer was Daiki Iwamoto. He's tied with Fujibayashi (SS/BOTW/TOTK director) as my pick for person most likely to take over the series after Aonuma.
He was also Assistant Producer for Tears of the Kingdom. He directed the two DS Zeldas, and the Wind Waker HD.
Iwamoto has worked in various roles on all of the Nintendo-developed Zelda titles since Ocarina of Time.
Iwamoto's page:
https://www.notion.so/hyruleinterviews/Daiki-Iwamoto-d54896b6800f481f934387f98e57b02c
Echoes of Wisdom was jointly developed by Nintendo and Grezzo. Grezzo is a 3rd-party development who previously made or helped make Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D, Tri Force Heroes, and the Link's Awakening Remake. They've been entrusted with a lot of Zelda!
Echoes of Wisdom had two first-time Zelda directors: Satoshi Terada from Grezzo, and Tomomi Sano from Nintendo.
Tomomi Sano is the first woman to direct a Zelda title.
She was a coordinator between Nintendo and Grezzo on their Zelda titles, as well as with Tantalus Media, the Australian company that made Twilight Princess H. She's started at Namco, but moved to Nintendo in 2004.
Sano's page on my site -- I need to track down more interviews with her!
https://www.notion.so/hyruleinterviews/Tomomi-Sano-2dc0107ff75443d9ae06fd4be387ee45
Satoshi Terada has had a much shorter career, and I have less insight. He started in quality control for OOT 3D in ~2010, did map design (environment art) for Majora's Mask 3D, and was the Map Modeling Lead for Link's Awakening Remake.
That was his whole career, up until now!
There's a big Ask the Developers interview between Aonuma and the two directors that I haven't read yet (was avoiding spoilers), it's bound to be a good read:
The "Assistant Director" was Mitsuo Iwamoto. He's credited in a TON of Nintendo games as "technical support", which I think means support for the developers. Maybe an IT-style role?
He was a Project Coordinator for the LA Remake. I am unaware of any interviews with him.
Other thoughts!
After checking a smattering of names from the credits list, it looks like most of the development - programming, art, design - came from Grezzo. Unsurprising!
Zelda series co-creator, Takashi Tezuka, also did not appear in the credits this time. Tezuka was the co-director of the first Zelda game, and directed Zelda 3 and 4. This was the second time he wasn't there: he was also not listed in Tears of the Kingdom.
(Technically the third, he wasn't in Zelda 2 either, but he's been in every single one since then.)
Tezuka's page:
https://www.notion.so/hyruleinterviews/Takashi-Tezuka-59f2ceb241d34eef87b072f7be7116c5
Other than the Producers, none of the core leadership team from Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom worked on this game: Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Satoru Takizawa, Takuhiro Dohta, or Yuya Sato.
Very little overlap in general. Unsurprising, since this was developed by Grezzo.
Mikiharu Oiwa, the director of Majora's Mask 3D and Link's Awakening Remake, was credited simply as "project management" this time.
Koichi Ishii, founder of Grezzo, appears as "General Management".
Ishii is a damn legend! He was the artist responsible for side-view battles in Final Fantasy 1. The designer of the Chocobo and Moogles at Square. The creator of the Mana series. Director of Final Fantasy XI.
@Maxnichols thank you for this analysis!
I think it's great that Grezzo was entrusted to develop an original game