Forward-looking: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild impressed players with its flexible physics system in 2017. Nintendo's 2023 follow-up, Tears of the Kingdom, added a fusion system that drew ...

That was the reaction of Takahiro Takayama, lead physics engineer on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, when he saw the first prototypes for two of the game’s abilities: Ultrahand and Fuse.

The goal of drive-system engineers is usually pretty straightforward. Specify the smallest motor and drive needed to accelerate and run a load at a required rate, and determine the braking forces ...