In Tears of the Kingdom, Link’s Ultrahand ability lets you join objects to build vehicles and other contraptions. Director Hidemaro Fujibayashi tested that idea using parts from Breath of the Wild, before the sequel’s construction system existed.
He attached four rotating cog wheels to a board to make a car. Boards fixed to the wheels became paddles for a steamer. And yes, he built a tank: a Remote Bomb fired an Ancient Sphere through a barrel made from stone slabs, mounted on the car.
The cog-wheel vehicle in Nintendo’s prototype footage, made with Breath of the Wild parts. Image: Nintendo. The interview’s video also shows the paddle steamer and cannon experiment.
You don’t need a tank to cross a river
But Nintendo wasn’t designing the game only for players who wanted to build complicated machines. Technical director Takuhiro Dohta describes attaching wheels to a log and watching it move. Art director Satoru Takizawa also explains that an early river crossing doesn’t require the elaborate raft shown in Nintendo’s demonstration. Players can cross without making a raft at all.
That’s the part I’d watch for in Nintendo’s interview: the developers explain both the ambitious prototypes and the simpler ways to keep exploring Hyrule. It includes footage of Fujibayashi’s experiments.
Cover illustration: @HikariToriumi, shared by @VideoArtGame and @memorycardfiles. Fan art, not a prototype screenshot.
