10 Things You Never Knew About The Original Legend Of Zelda

5. The Game Nearly Had A Dungeon Designer

Adventure Mario legend of zelda
Nintendo

Takashi Tezuka may have developed and designed the original Legend of Zelda but it was Shigeru Miyamoto's idea for the story to focus on exploration. This notion stems from his own experience as a child when he traversed the woods and caves in Kyoto. While working on the game, Miyamoto thought it would be better if Link fought bosses and discovered power-ups by by looking around maze-like dungeons rather than finding them around the overworld.

Miyamoto loved how the dungeons turned out so much, he wanted to create a dungeon-making tutorial so gamers could create their own levels. The Nintendo bosses liked the concept but found it to be too costly to manage.

Miyamoto got the chance to insert a dungeon-maker into the 2019 remake of Link's Awakening on the Nintendo Switch. After waiting 33 years, was it worth it? And the answer is... no. Sadly, many players found the dungeon-maker overly complicated and time-consuming.

It does make you think though.... If the dungeon-maker wasn't ready for 2019, what would it have looked like if it was used for a game in 1986??

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows