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Nintendo icon Shigeru Miyamoto once called Navi “a weak point of Ocarina of Time” according to a recently translated book on the game.
As spotted by Eurogamer (opens in new tab), and translated by Shmuplations (opens in new tab), the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time strategy guide from 1999 features a developer interview with Miyamoto – who worked as a designer, producer, and supervisor on the game – where he gives his thoughts on Navi, perhaps better known as the “Hey, Listen!” fairy from the Legend of Zelda series.
Talking about the puzzles in the game, the Nintendo developer reveals: “I think the way we give hints is still a little too unfriendly. Speaking plainly, I can now confess to you: I think the whole system with Navi giving you advice is the biggest weak point of Ocarina of Time.”
Miyamoto continues, “If you read Navi’s text, she says the same things over and over. I know it makes it sound bad, but we purposely left her at a kind of “stupid” level.”
Reflecting on Navi’s hints some more, Miyamoto says: “The truth is I wanted to remove the entire system, but that would have been even more unfriendly to players. You can think of Navi as being there for players who stop playing for a month or so, who then pick the game back up and want to remember what they were supposed to do.”
Outside her memorable role in Ocarina of Time also makes appearances in games like Hyrule Warriors and some of the Legend of Zelda manga adaptations.
Now want to experience the frustration of Navi again? Check out this fan-made PC port of Ocarina of Time.
