Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's lead creator a Mario, Zelda 'n Donkey Kong, be recently showing me Pikmin 3, but there be something he'd just said that I had t' follow up on. "I have t' ask, Mr. Miyamoto, ye said ye have made a bad game. What be the bad game ye made?" t' back up a second, I be riffing off this exchange from minutes earlier, as we be talking about how proud he be a Pikmin 3. Me: "Do ye feel like ye've ever made a bad game?" the sea dog: "Yeah." He'd moved on t' talk more about the new Wii U game, but I couldn't let that go... I wondered how he'd reply. He be responding in Japanese, at first, t' a translator. I don't speak Japanese, so I had time t' ponder. What "bad" game a his might he mention? The underachieving Super Mario Sunshine? It wasn't that bad. The disappointing Yoshi's Story? be he even involved in that? The iffy Wii Music, which I know he'd been really invested in? Maybe some game I'd never heard a? Maybe he'd just dodge this question? "I wouldn't say that I've ever made a bad game, per se, but a game I think we could have done more with be Zelda II: The Adventure a Link," he said. OK. Way more specific 'n high-profile than I be expecting! For ye youngsters out there, he be naming the second ever Zelda game, which be released on a disc on the Famicom Disk System in 1987 in Japan 'n on a cartridge on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988 in North America 'n Europe. The game be radically different than any other Zelda before or since, as it alternated between a vast overworld viewed from above t' towns 'n dungeons presented from a side-scrolling perspective. This Zelda game had experience points 'n leveling up. Miyamoto be 34 when the game came out (I be 11). He's 60 now. "When we be designing games, we have our plan for what we be going t' design but in our process it evolves 'n grows from there," Miyamoto said. "In Zelda II: The Adventure a Link, unfortunately all we ended up creating be what we had originally planned on paper." "So that be a rule a thumb," I asked, "that if ye find yourself at that point, ye know the idea wasn't successful? Or be that ye didn't give yourself enough time?" "I think specifically in the case a Zelda II we had a challenge just in terms a what the hardware be capable a doing," he said. "I be just curious," I pressed, "what would ye have liked that game t' have been like?" "So one thing, a course, be, from a hardware perspective, if we had been able t' have the switch between the scenes speed up, if that had been faster, we could have done more with how we used the sidescrolling vs. the overhead [view] 'n kind a the interchange between the two. But, because a the limitations on how quickly those scenes changed, we weren't able t'." That part a Miyamoto's reply puzzled me, because I hadn't remembered the transitions taking that long. A YouTube video a the original Famicom Disk System version a the game shows, however, that there be a few-second delay going back 'n forth. "The other thing," he said, "be it would have been nice t' have had bigger enemies in the game, but the Famicom/NES hardware wasn't capable a doing that. Certainly, with hardware nowadays ye can do that 'n we have done that, but a course nowadays creating bigger enemies takes a lot a effort." "I be sure people would love for ye t' return t' Zelda II with [Zelda lead producer] Mr. Aonuma at some point," I said. For now, Miyamoto's all about the soon-t'-be-released Wii U game Pikmin 3. 'n the Zelda franchise be booked with a fall remake a The Wind Waker, a sequel t' the Super Nintendo's A Link t' the Past 'n an eventual brand-new Zelda game for the Wii U. Coming tomorrow: Miyamoto On The Clamor t' Make Something New t' contact the author a this post, write t' stephentotilo@kotaku.com or find the sea dog on Twitter @stephentotilo. Zelda II overworld screenshot via Sharenator.