Actually, if you look closely at the world of The Wind Waker, it has its own sense of reality that’s takes advantage of its anime-themed world. It’s so inventive with a lot of bright ideas packed in that you think “Wow! So much detail!” But I suppose I notice those things as president of Nintendo because I try to see its charms! (laughs)

Well, there’s a clear split with those who are reluctant even to try it.

But I think that has changed recently.

There’s a “Zelda cycle.”

Yes. Bill Trinen-san¹² at Nintendo of America—who always plays a big role in preparing the overseas versions of The Legend of Zelda games—always talks about the Zelda cycle. 12. Bill Trinen: Product Marketing Director, Nintendo of America.

Basically, as time progresses, negative opinions about The Legend of Zelda turn into positive ones. At first, I wasn’t sure about that, but seeing the response to The Wind Waker HD, I think it may be right.

And it isn’t restricted to The Wind Waker. Every time a new Zelda title comes out, there’s no shortage of negative opinions, but a year or two later, people are revising their opinions, and its reputation goes up.

The response of fans in North America was like that for The Wind Waker. When we first announced the original version in 2001, the majority of voices we heard were against it. However, the responses for the Nintendo Direct¹³ we aired in January were incredibly favorable. Also at the Nintendo Experience event at Best Buy¹⁴ which was held at the same time as this year’s E3¹⁵, a lot of people lined up in front of the single demo station for The Wind Waker HD in each store, saying they really wanted to play it. 13. January Nintendo Direct: Refers to the Nintendo Direct video titled Wii U Direct Nintendo Games 2013.1.23. Information for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD was revealed here for the first time.

14. The Nintendo Experience events at Best Buy: During E3, events were held at 110 Best Buy locations throughout United States and Canada. Visitors were able to test-play new games still unreleased for the Wii U console such as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD and Mario Kart 8.

15. E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo): A video game trade show usually held once a year in Los Angeles. In 2013, E3 was held for three days from June 11 to 13. In 2013, Nintendo ceased its customary press conference and focused on activities such as Nintendo Direct broadcasts in various regions and held a Software Showcase immediately before show.

This might jinx things, but we weren’t able to expand the reach of the Nintendo GameCube hardware to the fullest, so even if people thought it looked good, a lot of them didn’t buy the hardware and decided to wait it out."