Back in 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild not only completely revolutionized Zelda games, but the open-world genre as well. With its captivating story, sprawling landscapes, and engaging new combat system, the game quickly became a hit, making it one of the most popular Zelda titles among fans.
One other aspect of Breath of the Wild which fans fell in love with was the quirky and witty dialogue from many NPCs, despite the game carrying quite a serious tone. Memes and video clips quickly began to be spread throughout the internet of players having humorous interactions with the game's wide variety of non-playable characters, but now, almost four years later, one strange secret about Breath of the Wild's NPCs has been revealed.
On Twitter, modder and self-proclaimed Mii expert HEYimHeroic posted a Tweet accompanied by an infographic revealing how NPCs in Breath of the Wild are created. It turns out that the game uses a more advanced system of Nintendo's staple Mii Maker in order to generate the physical appearance of many NPCs throughout Breath of the Wild.
The modder discovered that in the game's files, NPCs are listed as UMiis, which is simply a more advanced version of the Mii format. In the tweets posted by HEYimHeroic, they show that with modding, it is possible to actually inject Miis into Breath of the Wild to create NPCs that look nearly identical to their Mii counter-parts. For example, the modder injected the Barrett Mii from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well as their own personal Mii into the game, turning both Miis into human NPCs in Breath of the Wild. HEYimHeroic notes that specific characters like Zelda and Link do not use this advanced Mii format since they were likely pre-modeled beforehand.
Eventually, "Mii" was trending on Twitter, as HEYimHeroic also opened up commissions for those who wanted to see their own Miis injected into Breath of the Wild as NPCs, resulting in the Twitter user being flooded with notifications of both requests and support. Many Twitter users are curious to see how the game would handle Miis with more wacky designs, with some requesting the modder to inject a Mii of Family Guy's Peter Griffin into the game.
Despite the game being nearly four years old, the lifespan of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild seems to be continuously renewed, whether through players speedrunning the game in creative ways, modding various aspects of the game, or constantly discovering interesting glitches. Although fans may have to wait a bit longer for the sequel to Breath of the Wild, they can be sure that the game's creative community will keep it alive and well.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now on Nintendo Switch and Wii U.
