>Shigeru Miyamoto in an exclusive interview said Nintendo intends "The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds" to easier than the game it most resembles, "A Link to the Past."
>"We tried having one-hundred American participants, ages 10 to 20, play through the original nine "Legend of Zelda" dungeons, selecting only those who describe themselves as 'active gamers' from a list of terms we presented. Other terms were 'casual gamers,' 'social gamers,' and 'rare gamers.'"
>”To do this, we created a special emulation on one-hundred computers that simply takes you from one dungeon to the next, skipping the overworld, and giving appropriate overworld items, such as the improved sword and armor, when we thought a normal player would get them naturally. Players could continue in the room they died with full health and bombs, unlike the original game, to streamline the process.”
>"The results were extremely disheartening. Of the one-hundred players, only four were able to reach the final dungeon, and only two were able to complete it."
>Only forty-eight players finished the first dungeon, and only thirty finished the second. The numbers dropped sharply from there.
>"Many players were unfamiliar with the concept of bombs opening up secret rooms. After some frustration, I told some attendants to give the players this information, reasoning that it would be given in a tutorial in a modern game. While all players experiencing confusion were able to figure out what to do at that point, most of them frequently forgot about bombs in later rooms, even when dying enemies produced bombs in rooms with no doors."
>"Several players thought rupees were enemies and tried to avoid them. One was concerned when his boomerang picked up a rupee, thinking the rupee counter was telling him how many more enemies his boomerang could attack before becoming useless. Almost twenty players were completely unable to remember that the ladder allows Link to pass over one square of water or lava at a time and became constantly confused when rivers would block their advancement."
>”I remember one player in particular, who, upon defeating the boss of Dungeon 1, thought the heart container that dropped was an enemy, and spent almost thirty seconds trying to kill it with his sword before accidentally picking it up. He thought he beat the boss’ second form until we told him the truth.”
>"One of the players, a ten year-old boy, called the skeletons in Dungeon 1 'stupid and not scary," and then proceeded to die to them enough times that he left our computer center in frustration and refused to continue."
>"Several players could not grasp the concept of exploration. If I was going to do this again, I would allow every player to have the map and compass before starting each dungeon."
>The results, said Miyamoto, indicate that "A Link Between Worlds" will likely be easier than previous games in the series.
