10 Things You Never Knew About Zelda: Twilight Princess

9. The Tutorial Was Changed At The Last Minute

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Nintendo

Twilight Princess begins in Link's hometown, Ordon Village. This village works as a tutorial, as Link is taught rudimentary skills like horse-riding and hitting targets with his sword. Once you've learned these basic abilities, you exit the village and begin the main game.

A common complaint Twilight Princess received was how this tutorial was too long. In Ocarina of Time, you can enter the first level within 20 minutes. In this game, you don't leave Ordon Village for at least an hour.

Interestingly, the tutorial was supposed to be three times shorter. Originally, Link only spent one day in Ordon Village before moving on. Late in development, Zelda creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, was concerned the tutorial was too brief for the player to get used to the Wii's motion-controls. He was worried the player would be thrust into the main game before they had a chance to perfect the fundamental mechanics.

As a result, Miyamoto ordered the developers to extend the time Link spends in Ordon Village from one day to three days. This forced the team to add in more characters, items, areas, and write new dialogue at the last minute.

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