Eiji Aonuma, the producer behind The Legend of Zelda has spectacularly revealed that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword wasn’t any good at the start of the development process, and it wasn’t until he finally stepped in and decided to take charge of the critically acclaimed game that Skyward Sword finally took shape.

“Well, thanks to the hard work of the designers, the island in the sky, named Skyloft, gradually came together,” said Aonuma during the latest Iwata Asks discussion. “This time, Link is going to the Knight Academy and is living in the dormitory. It’s a somewhat elaborate setting, so I wasn’t sure it would be all right, but when it had come together somewhat, I had Iwamoto-san show me the game from the beginning. And to be honest, it was no good at all!

“I could see that if it hadn’t come together to a certain extent by that point, when Miyamoto-san came in, he would be like, “What have you been doing all this time?!” I was worried.

“So the situation was coming to a boil. But even when I said, “Get on top of that!” there wasn’t anyone to do so, so I was like, “Then I’ll do it myself!”