I understand that the game is on par with Gen 7 hardware but even some of those games like GTA 5 sported 60+ files sizes. Not to mention current games with 150+ sizes.
In: 270
The other answers focused on TotK specifically so I’m going as general as possible.
All programs have to balance memory consumption with time consumption. At the extremes you have code/data take up a ton of memory but run very very fast *or* take up virtually no memory but run slow.
Consider a program to calculate the nth prime number.
You could write a couple lines of code which check candidate numbers for primeness and increase a counter whenever on is encountered, until the counter reaches n. Takes up a couple bytes, takes a while to calculate for large ns.
Alternatively write a few different lines of code which fetch the nth prime from a precomputed list. Here’s the [first 2 billion prime numbers](http://www.primos.mat.br/2T_en.html) in 200 compressed files around 12.5 MB a piece. So your program requires 2.5 GB of data but you can brag about O(1).
Most modern triple A games are huge investments hence very averse to risk. Instead of modeling creative new worlds with carefully balanced rules they more or less simulate our reality. Realistic look, sound and feel need “organic” textures, sound files and reasonably high FPS. You could calculate textures or synthesis voices on the fly to save space but that’s hard to do in good quality without impacting FPS.
Games with more abstract art styles get away with less realism. The GBA is famous for its low tech “voices”. Listen to [Golden Sun’s intro cut scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I616dJJcnBU&t=10s). Ace Attorney was even simpler, playing high pitched typewriter sounds for letters appearing one-by-one, then varying the speed to convey emotions, e.g. hesitation.
At the very extreme is the demoscene where people use mathematical equations to generate every visual and sound with the goal to squeeze as much content as possible into a limited size. For example [.kkrieger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/.kkrieger_gameplay.webm) (6min video on Wikipedia), 2004 winner of the 96k category. Yes, it’s a playable (albeit short) game in 96k bytes.
I think a lot of game devs don’t take game size in to consideration. Many games like call of duty could likely take up much less space if they were interested in making that a priority.
That’s what you get when you invest in your brand and community. You optimize to meet HW constraints, still delivering a great experience.
Yes, simple textures, yes lower polygon count, yes recycling of assets.. yet it fits a cartridge and it’s fabulous
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