The Legend of Zelda just recently turned 40 years old, and the NES game is still cited as one of the best games of all time. But for Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi, it’s all about arguably the black sheep in the mainline series, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The developer shared his love of the sequel–including its inspiration for a past Resident Evil enemy–in a new Creator’s Voice video posted by Nintendo on YouTube
“Of course, I played the original Legend of Zelda game, but I really loved Zelda II: The Adventure of Link game. It’s more challenging, and I love it,” Nakanishi said while promoting Resident Evil Requiem. The director is by no means new to the survival-horror series, previously serving in the same role for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Revelations. In fact, speaking of the latter, he shared a new anecdote about the game, which initially launched exclusively on Nintendo 3DS.
“Actually, when I was making Resident Evil Revelations, there was an enemy called a Scarmiglione who carried a shield, and if you aimed at them, they would move the shield up and down. The truth is, this enemy was inspired by the armored soldier from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link,” said Nakanishi.
With all of this in mind, Nakanishi noted that “it’s safe to say I was raised by Nintendo.” Even so, the director was “skeptical” at first that Resident Evil Requiem could run on Switch 2, but it ended up working “smoothly.” Early GameSpot impressions echoed that, calling the game an impressive Switch 2 showpiece. The upcoming survival-horror title is one of many big third-party games for Switch 2 coming out this year.
Resident Evil Requiem arrives in just a matter of days on February 27. Though beware, leaks are already popping up on the internet, with Capcom deploying lawyers with takedown notices.