Tomomi Sano, a Nintendo employee, has broken a big barrier for The Legend of Zelda series by becoming the first female director for the franchise. She co-directed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which is set to be released later this week on September 26.
Sano’s milestone was revealed in a new Ask the Developer volume focusing on Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. She is part of Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning and Development Department with Production Group 3 and has previously collaborated with Grezzo on several Zelda remakes, including Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora’s Mask 3D, and Link’s Awakening.
Nintendo and Grezzo also revealed the origins of how Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom came to be. The project initially started as a game that allowed players to create and share dungeons, similar to the Super Mario Maker series. However, the game’s focus shifted to using copied-and-pasted items as tools to further the player’s adventure.
Sano and co-director Satoshi Terada discussed the game’s development process and how it evolved over time. Eiji Aonuma, the producer of the Zelda series, also shared his thoughts on the game’s development and how it shifted from creating dungeons to using copied-and-pasted items as tools.