The Hylia - Interview with Ganon

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Dan, aka Ganon, has been around the Zelda community longer than most other fans. I first heard of Dan through our local newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, in which he and I were interviewed about the future of Nintendo. I also, unknowingly, was a staff member of a site he once helped run, Zelda Games. Ganon's been through a lot of history in which I actually missed, so his story is something you should pay attention to if you want to learn a thing or two about where the Zelda community has been. That's if you can catch him in that Mustang of his.

TSA: Alright, so you've been around the Zelda community for quite awhile now. Could you tell us about how you first got started online and what your first webmaster position was? Ganon: I started out just visiting Zelda sites during the Ocarina of Time hype, and eventually wanted to learn how to make a site of my own, and started one based on Zelda that eventually turned into Ganon's Tower. It was pretty boring, even the title was just a generic "Zelda 64" but it was a starting point.

TSA: Ganon's Tower has a pretty long history and it's been around for quite awhile. You actually, I believe, ran two Zelda sites - Zelda Games and Ganon's Tower - at the time. What was that like and how did you exactly decide to stick with Ganon's Tower? Ganon: It was a lot of work, because whenever there was news I had to update two sites, plus Zeldagames.com had some fan submission sections that GT didn't have, and really couldn't have had since if I added them to GT it would have been a blatant ripoff. The reason I stuck with GT rather than either giving it up to concentrate on Zeldagames was because I wasn't the founder of Zeldagames and I wanted to have a big site that was entirely mine, plus even when I ran Zeldagames I had to run any big changes by the actual owner. With GT I had the freedom to do anything I wanted with it, so that was nice as well.

TSA: Apparently much of your fan base is descendant of Hyrule.ar forums, GFX and HTLOZ (the original). Do you think your fan base is a bit more mature than the some of the other sites out there? Do you think that your fans expect certain things out of Ganon's Tower because they are from other established sites? Ganon: I think so. I try to gear my site towards older visitors. For example things like cussing are alright on the forums, as long as it's not directed at anybody. I'm probably one of the older webmasters in the Zelda Community right now, and I want to enjoy the site and forums as well, so rather than censor it so that 8 year olds can enjoy it, I'd rather have a more relaxed environment where people can just come and have fun without worrying about getting banned instantly for saying a bad word or something. I do think that fans should expect a certain level of quality from GT however. It's been around almost 8 years and is one of the more popular Zelda sites around, so I think things such as frequent updates (something I've been a slacker with lately), accurate news, and high quality content should be expected of the site.

TSA: Not many fans know about Hyrule.ar, and I don't mean to go off-topic, but perhaps you could clarify to the readers exactly what it was and why it closed down (if you know). Ganon: Hyrule.com.ar was one of the biggest Zelda sites around when I first started, and for the first few years of GT. I really credit them for being the first step towards GT becoming a popular site. I asked them for affiliation not really expecting Andrea (the webmaster of the site) to say yes, but she did and from then on things just kept getting better for GT, more visitors, people were offering to make me high quality layouts, and the forums started around that time. The site unfortunately closed down, they blew the bandwidth on their host if I'm remembering right, and I helped them find a couple other hosts before they finally got booted from the last one, again for bandwidth reasons if I'm not mistaken and decided they didn't want to move again even if I could help them find a host.

TSA: I see, thanks. Now, you're very generous in hosting other sites and projects. One of those projects is Joe Morriss' film. Can you tell me how you two met and why you decided to help him out? Ganon: Joe Morriss first emailed me several years ago with some fan art. The first picture he sent me looked EXACTLY like this image of Link in the Adventure of Link instruction booklet, but he pointed out a few differences to me so that I'd know it wasn't a fake, and I believe he had some original art in that email as well, so I could tell he had the skill to make a picture that looked like the one in the AoL manual. We got to talking on AIM for a while and eventually he told me about the movie project. I believe in his skill as an artist (although if the movie is made he will be hiring animators to do this), and he's told me a lot about the script, and I honestly believe that if he gets the chance to make this movie, it will not be just another crappy video game movie, I think it's something I'd go see even if I didn't like Zelda. I decided to help him out because I really want to see this project succeed.

TSA: How did you first get into the Zelda series? Ganon: I had played it on a friend's nintendo before I had my own and enjoyed it. When I got my NES for Christmas, the original LoZ was one of the games I got with it, and it was my favorite game. It was just different from other games at the time, there was so much more to do and it was all fun. I got hooked on the characters and the story and just had to have every Zelda game that was released.

TSA: As an older fan, what has been your take on the recent Zelda games such as The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap? Ganon: Each game I thought was good, but with flaws, they're not as good as older games such as A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time. With Wind Waker I really enjoyed the story element of it, but the sailing got tedious. It wasn't a horrible idea, but I think there should have been more land areas to explore and more dungeons. I also think that it was by far too easy. I was able to beat the game without really coming close to dying a single time, and every other Zelda game I've died at least once my first time through it. The graphics didn't bother me though, I actually liked the style and I wouldn't be opposed to more games in that style as long as they still make realistic ones as well. Four Swords Adventures I had fun with, but I think in a way it cheapens the series to have these side games rather than just major console games. While it was fun, I think Zelda was better when every game was either a major console game or a gameboy game, but still part of the main story. Minish Cap I really enjoyed, I liked how it explained who Vaati is and how he became powerful, but, while it was probably necessary for the story I hope they don't carry the four Links over into future games. I've always seen Four Swords as just sort of a side adventure and not part of the main series, and I hope it stays that way.

TSA: Do you have any fears about the upcoming Twilight Princess? It seems to truly hark back to the older days of Zelda, especially in what it is doing for the community. Do you foresee any issues that may arise in the community as a result of Twilight Princess? What about the game itself - do you think it will live up to the hype? Ganon: Personally I think it will live up to the hype. Everything I've seen looks great, and I think Nintendo knows they can't screw this one up since their competitors are releasing new machines and they need a huge game to keep interest. Zelda has always been the biggest franchise Nintendo has, so they know they need to do this one right. My only fear is that somehow they will find a way to screw it up by relying only on the realistic graphics and not concentrating on game content, but considering they've delayed the game for months just to get it right I don't think it's going to be that big of a worry.

TSA: Okay, just a few more questions. First, what do you think about the future of Zelda? We've seen Tingle DS shown off, but the recent craze with Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World thank to Nintendo WiFi seems to have Zelda fans all worked up about an online Zelda. What are your thoughts on an online Zelda for DS? For Revolution? Ganon: I think the future of Zelda is bright. The Revolution controller could turn out to be great for it. Imagine using the controller to actually swing the sword, it adds just a huge amount of extra realism to the game. My one concern is that with all the spinoffs they seem to be making (Four Swords, Tingle DS, etc.) I just hope they don't cheapen the series and start putting quantity over quality. I'm not really sure what to think about an online Zelda game. It would really depend on how they did it. If it fits into the game then I would like it. A version of Four Swords that comes bundled with Zelda Revolution that is online supported might be nice. And at least the first Zelda game for DS is going to be a version of Four Swords, so there really is no reason not to give that online capabilities. I don't know that I would want to see a part of the main series with online capabilities, since other than Four Swords, multiplayer just doesn't seem to fit with Zelda.

TSA: So a MMORPG Zelda like World of Warcraft is out of the question? Ganon: Well, again it would depend on how they did it. I've been used to playing as Link for such a long time, it might be weird to play as somebody else, but if they could find a way to make interesting playable characters it could be a great addition to the series. There would already be a huge variety of enemies and even bosses to use in dungeon / instance areas. Nintendo would just need to find a way to make playable characters that fit with the series, since obviously not everybody can play as Link in a MMORPG.

TSA: Last question - What are your thoughts on the Zelda timeline? Do you think Nintendo should reveal it in detail, or keep it a mystery? Ganon: I would kind of like to see it stay a mystery. I like the debates on what it really is, and I've always enjoyed trying to tie all the games together myself. Plus the one time Nintendo tried to reveal the timeline on Zelda.com it was a disaster. It contradicted things they mentioned in their own instruction manuals and eventually Miyamoto made them take it down. Even if he endorsed the new timeline, I think the debate is half the fun. TSA: Alright, thank you for your time Dan. Ganon: No problem.