Miyamoto wasn’t a big fan of Wind Waker’s graphic style
Originally, Nintendo Shigeru Miyamto wasn’t a big fan of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’s graphic style.
According to translated information from an old magazine, he asked the team to change the style.
It wasn’t planned that way
As stated in the old issue of Nintendo Dream magazine, Nintendo originally wanted a style that would build on and improve on that of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Wind Waker was even prototyped in this style.
After that prototype, one team member designed Toon Link and the rest of the team loved it, so they stuck with it.
According to the magazine, Eiji Aonuma didn’t think Miyamoto would like the redesign. So they waited as long as possible before showing it to him. Miyamoto “literally flinched” when he first saw it, says Aonuma.
“If I had talked to him from the start, I think he would have said, ‘What’s Zelda about?'” Aonuma is quoted as saying. “Miyamoto struggled to let go of Link’s realistic style until the very end.”
Ultimately, however, it stayed that way, even if the style was not undisputed among the fans.
Reference-www.eurogamer.de