When it comes to the species in a franchise like Legend of Zelda, you know what you are to expect more times than not. Dekus look like plant creatures that are human-ish in shape in some ways, the Gerudo are women (except for Ganon) that are very tanned because of their time in the desert, and the Zora are fish people. The Gorons are massive creatures that are as tough as stone and have the strength of ten men. But in Breath of the Wild, they were going to go through a transformation of sorts.
Lead NPC artist Hirohito Shinoda noted the intentions of the changes in the “Making A Champion” book for Breath of the Wild:
“At the beginning of development, we tried to drastically change the Gorons’ appearance compared to past titles. I made their heads bigger, made them more human-like, and explored a lot of different ideas, but none of them really fit. So I returned to their roots and decided to lean into their original design from Ocarina of Time. In recent titles the Gorons have had tattoos, but I thought that due to the anime-likes styling of this title, we should aim to make use of empty space rather than trying to fill it, so I went with a very clean design. Rather than just making them round, I paid close attention to the 3D model to ensure they felt like a sumo wrestler, someone with body fat and muscles, and that they looked powerful.”
In the end though, the Gorons looked more-or-less like they had in other Zelda games. That didn’t mean that other species didn’t get the chance to get new looks. The Zora had a different look, as did Zelda herself, and of course, Link was made to look more “neutral”. It all works out in the end.
