Why BOTW’s Link Design Looks Like Wind Waker’s Pajamas Outfit

Along with all of the gameplay designs that make Breath of the WildZelda outlier, it is also the only game in the mainline series to feature Link without some version of his iconic green tunic and hat. In fact, Link’s key art outfit in BOTW, the Champion’s Tunic, looks eerily similar to the pajamas Link is wearing at the beginning of The Wind Waker. There have been many different Link designs over the years, and the development team at Nintendo didn’t make the change from forest green to powder blue lightly.

Link’s lobster pajamas has become a recognizable outfit its own right. Link only wears them for a short time in the beginning of The Wind Waker, but completing the game gives the player an invisible tunic for their second playthrough, letting them sail the high seas aboard The King of Red Lions in Link’s pajamas. Apparently Wind Waker game director and BOTW producer Eiji Aonuma’s favorite outfit to wear in real life is the blue lobster shirt. He wears it everywhere and may have been a major proponent of Link adopting the look for BOTW.

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There’s more than just the visual similarity between the BOTW Champion’s Tunic and The Wind Waker’s lobster pajamas. According to DidYouKnowGaming? on YouTube, BOTW art director Satoru Takizawa told Famitsu that early builds of the game featured Link in his lobster pajamas as a placeholder before the new design was finalized. It was later that the design team realized the bright blue stood out against the lush, green landscape of BOTW‘s Hyrule, and decided the Champion’s Tunic should adopt the color. The actual lobster shirt was also added to BOTW through DLC.

Link’s Blue Outfit is a Cornerstone in The Legend of Zelda Series

Although Link quickly dons the green tunic in Wind Waker, it is interesting to consider the points at which a blue outfit has appeared on Link in the history of The Legend of Zelda. Coming off the heels of N64 titles Ocarina of Time and Majora’s MaskWind Waker was initially maligned for it use of cel-shading techniques in its art style. Ocarina and Majora’s Mask set a fairly dark tone for the series moving forward as the first two 3D Zelda games, and many fans felt Wind Waker looked far too childish.

Regardless of Zelda fan opinions on the art style, Link first appeared cloaked in blue instead of green before embarking on a wildly unique adventure through a flooded Hyrule. Aside from the new look (which persists in both BOTW and Skyward Sword), Wind Waker threw into question what it meant to be a Zelda game when considering exploration and gameplay.

The reappearance of a blue outfit in Breath of the Wild, this time much more prominently featured, signals another massive shift in the series. The typical game progression through classic Zelda dungeons was gone. The wide open spaces of BOTW‘s Hyrule evoke the same sense of exploration present when setting sail on Wind Waker‘s Great Sea. BOTW is another title that expands the boundaries of what a Zelda game can be, and it just so happens to feature a Link whose outfit is heavily inspired by a previous game with similar ramifications.

Breath of the Wild‘s Link may wear a blue tunic primarily for gameplay and aesthetic reasons, but it’s fun to consider the importance of blue outfits in the Zelda canon, whether intentional or not. Though fans were skeptical about its art style, there’s no doubt Wind Waker and its lobster pajamas have left a lasting impression on The Legend of Zelda.

Source: DidYouKnowGaming?

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