One area in Zelda Wii U the same size as the entire Twilight Princess map

Stepping up from the Wii to Wii U has allowed Nintendo to drastically increase the size of the gameworld in the upcoming Legend of Zelda game on Wii U.

"Because of the hardware limitations [of the Wii], what we always had to do was segment off each area and piece those segments together in a way that made them feel like a big world,” Miyamoto said, as reported by GameSpot.

‘But now with the hardware capabilities of the Wii U, what we did is we first started by saying, ‘Let’s see what we can do if we take an entire world the size of the world from Twilight Princess and just try to make that as one area in the game."

The Nintendo designer also stressed that the game was being deigned to accommodate shorter gameplay sessions.

"What we’re trying to do is design it in a way that you don’t necessarily have to sit down and play it for a super long time," he added. "But, kind of, more matched to today’s lifestyle where you think for a little bit and say, ‘Maybe I just want to play for a little bit today and do this one thing, get that done, and then take a break’.

The Legend of Zelda Wii U is still scheduled for release in 2015.