Under ordinary circumstances, Hidemaro Fujibayashi (pictured below) could be considered something of an industry veteran. He has, after all, been making games since 1995, when he joined Capcom – and he's been a level designer, after a fashion, for even longer, having previously been responsible for planning the layouts of haunted houses for theme parks in Japan. Indeed, his ties to The Legend Of Zelda alone stretch back over 20 years, to the two Oracle games for Game Boy Color. However, Nintendo is no ordinary company, and so it is that Fujibayashi finds himself thrust into the spotlight after more than two decades in the wings, as the old guard of Miyamoto, Aonuma, Tezuka et al take a step back.
Alongside the likes of Yoshiaki Koizumi, Shinya Takahashi and Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami, Fujibayashi represents the new face of Nintendo – even if 'new' is a bit of a stretch for such long‑serving employees. A relatively sprightly 44 years of age at the time of the game's release, the Breath Of The Wild director's first entanglement with Zelda came during the development of Oracle Of Ages & Seasons, where he was responsible for collating game concepts from Capcom's team and reporting back to Miyamoto. His organisational skills must have impressed his superiors, since he was appointed the role of director and co‑writer. Fujibayashi conceived the password system that connected the two games for a special ending. Who better than a man responsible for a link between Links to helm a new Zelda game designed both to span two hardware generations and to bridge the gap between established ideas and brave new horizons? And yet Fujibayashi says it took some time to find a fresh point of focus for Breath Of The Wild.
