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Here is almost everything that you need to know about Zelda. In it you will find the answers to the Zelda Quiz on one of my other posts!
In 1985 Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto gob smacked millions of gamers around the world with the release of Super Mario Bros. For the Famiccom, and then the NES in 1986. Unlike all previous games this was different, because gone was the get the highest score, instead you had a more obvious goal. That goal was to complete the game. This may seem silly, but gaming had evolved from just for fun endurance tests to games with a plot. A beginning middle and an end, gamers now had a reason to play beyond simple continued survival.
Miyamoto wanted to take the idea of a game "world" even further, he did this by creating ‘Zelda’. His inspiration for this game came from the fields, woods, and caves outside Kyoto that he had explored as a boy. Miyamoto said the intent of the Zelda games was to give players a "miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer."
In July 1987 ‘The Legend of Zelda’ was released. It managed to sell a staggering 6.5 million copies world wide. Even by today’s standards this is fairly high.
The game was viewed by the player from an overhead perspective. The player controlled Link across expansive overworld called Hyrule within, which had nine different dungeons to battle through. Hyrule was filled with many passageways, caves and secrets, all of which need skill to find by using items in his big inventory. Before this game was released gamers had never seen an action title with such a non-linear, detailed, and expansive world. This title wasn’t only revolutionary in its gameplay; it was the first game to use a battery-based backup to record your progress. This meant you could carry off where you left off last time you played. Where as previously lengthy games used passwords to record the player’s progress. But the problem with this was human error in typing in the password as well as remembering it. One wrong character being the difference between the first and the last level.
The other thing that made this game stand out was its packaging. Previous NES games were a mass-produced commodity, with every "game pak" the same dull grey. But Zelda was ‘special’ and Nintendo wanted to show this, so they did this by making the first run of cartridges a shiny gold colour.
Miyamoto admits that he took the name ‘Zelda’ from F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, because simply Miyamoto liked the sound of the name. Literary critics were forewarned that there's no hidden meaning or subtext. This was the first in a long line of adventures that were going to come from Nintendo in the following years. As Miyamoto would say ‘only the first seed of his miniature garden had been planted, there’s still loads more to blossom’.
The plot established many of the important characters and environments that inhabited Zelda in and around Hyrule. The plot is as follows:-
The evil Ganon invades the land of Hyrule and steals the Triforce of Power. Princess Zelda, sensing danger, splits the Triforce of Wisdom into eight pieces and hides the pieces from Ganon and his minions in eight separate dungeons. Enraged, Ganon imprisons the princess, but not before Zelda dispatches Impa to find a saviour. Impa finds the young Link and gives him his task: Reassemble the Triforce, defeat Ganon, and rescue the princess Zelda.
The overworld consisted of 16 horizontal screens and 8 vertical screens, that’s a total of 128 screens. Within the overworld was hidden many secret passage ways, enemies (ranging from Octoroks, Tektites, and Levers) as well as the dungeon entrances. In his travels Link encountered many merchants, old ladies, gamblers and citizens ready to help or in some cases hinder him.
Each of the nine dungeons was shaped like its name: Eagle, Moon, Manji (reversed swastika known as "auspicious mark"), Snake, Lizard, Dragon, Demon, and Lion. Death Mountain (shaped like a skull). The dungeons were a mass of passageways connecting to rooms with enemies such as darting Ropes, and skeletal Stalfos or the more challenging Wizzrobes and well-armoured Darknuts. Living with in these dungeons where old men who would give you clues such as “The West most peninsula holds the secret." Along the way most rooms had a puzzle which had to be solved.
No Zelda quest would be complete with out its huge inventory. Some of the things in his inventory included:-
Wooden sword (a simple weapon to protect yourself with)
Metal sword (more damage than the wooden sword)
Magical sword (even more damage, and had special abilities)
Blue ring (increase defence strength)
Red ring (increase offence strength)
Heart containers (increased life, could be won or found)
Boomerang (attack, retrieve items from afar)
Bombs (blast open sealed passageways, or kill enimies)
Candle (light up dark rooms, & burn certain things)
Wooden arrows (attack from afar)
Silver arrows (stronger version of wooden arrows)
Ladder (use to cross rivers)
Raft (use to cross lakes)
Power bracelet (lift/move heavy things)
Magic wand & book (use magic)
A recorder (play music)
If you entered your name as ‘Zelda’ you would be taken to the second quest. Where the overworld was re-mixed and the dungeons had new layouts. Each of the first 5 dungeons layouts spelled ‘Zelda’. This quest made the world of Zelda really seem as limitless as Miyamoto had imagined it.
Then in December 1988 ‘Zelda II: The Adventure of Link’ was released. It only sold 4.3 million copies. The previous game gob smacked gamers all around the world, but Miyamoto wasn’t about to rest on his laurels. This time the Zelda series took a dramatic change in direction, tinkering with almost every aspect of the original. Because Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy were shooting up the charts in Japan, several RPG elements where incorporated into the game. Unlike in the previous game, instead of a top-down perspective all the time in the battles in battles, caves and temples you had a side perspective.
Because of the introduction of these RPG elements, enemies were now visible on the map before battle. When Link touched them you would be taken to a separate battle screen, slaying them would gain experience points that could be applied towards life, magic or attack statistics. As well as the usual items in the inventory there were 8 spells to find, to help on the quest. Because of the dramatic changes, this is the ‘black horse’ is the series and one of the not so popular ones. This time around however we had the introduction of the third triforce, the triforce of ‘courage’.
The plot is as follows:-
On Link's 16th birthday, the crest of Hyrule Kingdom appears on his hand, and he consults Zelda's nursemaid, Impa, in his distress. She takes him to the sleeping Princess Zelda in the North Castle - not the one he rescued but another castle from long ago. An evil magician had tried to get her to reveal the location of the Triforce of Courage. When she refused, he cast the sleeping spell on her. To save Zelda, Link must place gems in the foreheads of six statues found in six palaces around Hyrule, break the "binding force" on the Great Palace in the Valley of Death, and rescue the Triforce of Courage from the depths of the palace. Only with the power of the Triforce can Link revive Zelda, prevent Ganon's revival, and restore peace to Hyrule.
The overworld was divided into square blocks of different terrain. In his search for the seven palaces Link travelled forests, fields, swamps, mountains, and other natural habitats. Keeping to the roads kept you from being attacked from enemies. In towns, you were able to interact with village folk, get your life restored and learn of side quests.
In the palaces and caves, the perspective was a side on one. So most of the dungeon crawling was mostly confined to a left/right plane. You could travel between levels in the dungeons via elevators. Most of the enemies were easily despatched of, but the powerful Ironknuckles just like to day were dreaded by many-a-gamer. Only careful high-and-low thrusting and guarding could defeat these knights.
This time around Links inventory was a bit passive, it took more of a supporting role. It was as follows:-
Candle (illuminated darkened caves)
Cross (revealed invisible enemies)
Boots (cross shallow waters)
Raft (cross oceans)
Recorder and hammer (cleared paths on the overworld)
Glove (destroy palace blocks)
Magic key (unlocked an unlimited number of doors)
Spells (where most of Links power came from)
Also this time around Link was a veritable magician in training. The spells available were as follows:-
Shield (increased defensive)
Jump (jump twice as high)
Life (restores energy)
Fairy (fly to otherwise unreachable locations)
Fire (shoot flammable projectiles from sword)
Reflect (bounce back magical attacks)
Spell (revealed hidden passageways)
Thunder (damaged all enemies onscreen, including the final opponent: the Thunderbird)
If Link didn't have a key to open a locked door, he could squeeze through the keyhole in fairy form. This made the Fairy spell about five hundred times more useful than it would have been otherwise.
BS Zelda was released in 1989, it was a remake of the original, for the SNES Satellaview system. The Satellaview system add-on let gamers download games to flash ROM cartridges for temporary play. For four hours every week, gamers were able to download new gameplay objectives and dungeons. The dungeon designs (and locations) were different from both the first and second quests, making BS Zelda a "third" quest for the original game. Also instead of playing as Link you played as the Satellaview mascot, who was a boy with a baseball cap worn backwards.
Also in 1989 Game and Watch was released. This game used the popular multi-screen format. The idea of the game was to work your way up from the bottom of the game up to the top to rescue. It's really not related to the games, other than some character artwork and the logo. Even so, the designers managed to include unique portable bastardisations of Zelda concepts such as the hammer, map, Water of Life, and Triforce.
Because Nintendo was throwing in its Zelda license into portable gaming via Game and Watch, marketers thought why not produce a Zelda wristwatch with a built in mini-game. Crap game, but it could tell the time!
In the early 1990’s CD-I Zelda Trilogy: Link: Faces of Evil, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure was released, but it wasn’t done by Nintendo for a Nintendo.
For those of you who don’t know, Nintendo was deep in talks with both Sony and Philips regarding development of a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. A partnership with Sony was announced, but concerned by a loss of control under Sony's potential business model, Nintendo switched to Philips at the last minute. Neither the Sony nor the Philips system ever made it to market, but the industry repercussions were severe. Sony began work on its top secret ‘Playstation X’ project the effects of that are obvious. Philips' contract with Nintendo and relationship with Sony gave limited rights to use Nintendo's characters in titles for its CD-I system. The result? These Philips titles.
‘Link: Faces of Evil’ and ‘Zelda: Wand of Gamelon’ both feature pixilated movies, along with decent overworld graphics and inoffensive music. The main stages, however, are 2D side-scrolling nightmares, with poorly drawn and animated sprites and absolutely abysmal control.
‘Zelda's Adventure’ had improved gameplay, photo-realistic backgrounds and a top-down perspective, but it still pales in comparison to "real" Zelda games. The CD-I titles, however, still have the dubious distinction of being the only games that let you play as Princess Zelda.
In April 1992 ‘The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past’ was released. It sold 4.5 million copies. Along with Super Mario World this title was a system seller for the SNES. Most gamers where glad to see that the game had returned to the design aesthetics of the original. Some of the things that made a welcome return were, the top-down view, heart based life system, puzzle filled dungeons, and Ganon had made a return for the battle of good against evil once again.
This time around the quests were larger and more challenging, the dungeons were more complex, and Link had learnt many new tricks. The interplay between the two dimensions (the Light World of Hyrule and the Dark World of the Golden Land) set a new standard in adventure-game puzzle design. As it seems to be the case with every Zelda, there were loads of delays that held the game release back. This is still many gamers favourite out of the Zelda series, alone with Ocarina of Time.
Old favourites such as the Lost Woods and Death Mountain made a welcome return in a reinterpreted and expanded form. Also new places such as Link's hometown of Kakariko Village and Lake Hylia made their debut. Unlike previously the deserts and swamps were given names. They were the Desert of Mystery and the Great Swamp. Early in the game, Link discovered the Dark World, which he could only enter via special warp titles in the light world. But luckily he had a handheld mirror that let him return to the light world from the dark world at any time you desired. To be able to solve the game's mysteries, you had to visualise both realms simultaneously, understanding their interplay, overlap, and the passages between them.
These where the really the first multi level dungeons in the Zelda series. This time around not only could Link use the stairs but he could also fall through holes in the floors to reach lower levels (or sometimes death). Also instead of one type of key there was two, one that opened normal doors and a ‘big key’ that opened the boss door at the end of the dungeon. Another new feature of the dungeons was that there was a chest that contained the levels ‘big treasure’. Also blocking his way were many hazards such as fire, ice and switches.
The one item that everyone loves in Links inventory is the hookshot. Link had a lot of other wonderful toys, to be sure, but no other ruled like the hookshot. It allowed you to latch on to distant items, and then it would pull to it over whatever may lie below. The inventory was as follows: -
Hookshot (see above)
Pegasus shoes (run quickly)
Zora's flippers (be able to swim)
Gloves (lift and throw heavy objects)
The Moon Pearl (Prevented Link turning into a helpless pig in the dark world)
Bow and arrow (to attack enemies from afar)
Bomb (blast open passages & kill enemies)
Boomerang (fetch items and kill enemies from afar)
Net (catch fairies and bees)
Glass bottles (store fairies, bees and potions)
Magic hammer (smash rocks)
Shovel (dig for buried treasure)
Flute (call a bird to transport you to places on the map)
As well as the items list above there were several magical spells and artefacts helped Link on his journey. There were as follows:-
The bombos spell (emitted a fiery blast that hurt enemies and melted ice)
The ether spell (froze enemies and made invisible floors visible)
The quake spell (stunned enemies and opened the entrance to Turtle Rock)
The ice and fire rods (froze and roasted opponents)
The lamp (lighted torches and braziers scattered throughout dark dungeons)
The magic powder (caused strange transformations on enemies and items)
The Cane of Somaria (created heavy blocks)
The Staff of Byrna (created a protective force field)
The magic cape (rendered Link invisible)
In August 1993 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was released (DX: December 1998). Sales were 4 million worldwide.
The Gameboy’s sales were slowing down, and it needed some oomph kicking back in it. It was still a few years before Pokémon would be invented, so the answer was Zelda! The developers decided that they were going to squeeze all the gameplay and adventure of ‘Link to the Past onto 8-bit system with a four-colour greyscale palette and 32K of RAM! Some of the new features were to return for the legendary Zelda 64 because they were that good/advanced. Despite its "ageing" hardware platform, critics and fans alike embraced the game. With gameplay this good, it was hard not to. One of the things that made this game enjoyable was that it couldn’t take itself seriously. For example one of the townsfolk tells you that they were going to need rescuing later on, and the item swapping of things such as Yoshi dolls, banana bunches, and tins of dog food. Also some characters from some of Miyamoto's other games, such as Super Mario Bros. made an appearance. Some of these included Goombas and Piranha Plants which populated the dungeons, while Marin and Tarin looked more than slightly like Princess Peach and Mario.
In December 1998 there was the launch of the Gameboy colour, so Nintendo needed a killer game to sell systems so Zelda to the rescue. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, was released shortly after the system's release. This colour remake not only sported a title convoluted enough to turn Capcom green with envy, but full-colour support throughout, Game Boy Printer support, and an entirely new dungeon with colour-based puzzles - and a colour based reward - at the end.
This time around however Link's Awakening was not set in Hyrule. Instead, the setting was quasi-peaceful Koholint Island, allowing for the introduction of a whole new entourage. Gone were Impa, Zelda, and Ganon, but it seems the forest-dwelling potion witch Crazy Tracy seemed to have come along for the ride.
The plot is as follows:-
After having saved Zelda and Hyrule in a Link to the Past, Our Hero sets off in search of new adventure. He travels to many distant lands where he hones his skills. Sufficiently disciplined, he buys a small sailboat and sets off for home. But in crossing the Great Hyrulean Sea, a fierce storm tears his ship asunder and leaves him stranded on Koholint Island. The kind Marin nurses him back to health, and an owl then tells him an amazing legend: Link has been foretold as the one to wake the sleeping Wind Fish. But first, he'll need to gather the eight Elements of the Sirens ....
The size of the map was only 16 squares by 16 squares, but it seemed so much more than this by the way that it was constructed. Early in this game, Link acquired the ability to jump, a feature that the overworld design had taken to heart, by adding loads of things to jump over all over the place. With classic locations like the Mysterious Forest (it was a little bit mysterious), the fast-paced river rapids, and the twisting, devious, convoluted, and four-screen signpost maze, Koholint Island earned a place in almost every if not every Zelda fan's heart.
Each of the eight dungeons had all of the features of Links Awakening’s. But as in the first Zelda game the rooms were uniformly square. This was to fit the Gameboy’s screen. But each room was a mess of passageways, tunnels, rooms and half-rooms, and special hazards that would challenge any gamer. Link's Awakening dungeons had a more detailed map than Link to the Past's, as well as stone tablets with secret messages
All of the favourite items from Links inventory such as the hookshot, magic rod, powder, Pegasus boots etc. all returned. But there was two new items introduced these were the Ocarina, one which Link could learn three useful songs, and also the new Roc’s feather, this let Link jump so there was more jumping over pits and collecting items in mid air to come.
Two of the fun (but irrelevant) things that could be done in this game were, being able to steal from the shopkeeper. The problem with this is your character was renamed ‘Thief’ and as soon as you entered the store again you were knocked off. Then there was also the joy of taking Marin to the claw-activated Trendy Game and having her pick up Mr. Trendy himself
Finally in November 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released. It sold over 7.1 million copies, making it the biggest selling Zelda game to date. It also picked up many awards including ‘Best console game’ and ‘most innovative game design’ (at the annual Computer Game Developers Association’s Spotlight Awards).
Zelda 64 began life as the flagship title for the DD64, and Mario would sell the main console. The first screenshots appeared even before the Nintendo 64's release, showing a blocky Link locked in mortal combat with a reflective Stalfos. The picture looked decent enough, but it didn’t have that quality that gamers where looking for, but fortunately, the developers had a while yet to hone and perfect the game.
The game was then switched to cartridge format for the main console. Many fan’s worried that this would mean a reduction in playable content, as the cartridges were a lot smaller. Then Nintendo announced that Zelda 64 would be the largest cartridge ever produced 256 megabits (32 megabytes). With cartridges half the size of 64DD discs and the flagship title gone to console, the future of Nintendo's add-on became far less certain. As everyone properly remembers (how could you forget) delay after delay was piled onto the title: first from early 1997 to the 1997 holiday season, then to April or June 1998, and finally to November 1998. Amazingly, the title appeared on US shores less than a week after its Japanese release, near record time for the localisation of a text-intensive title such as Zelda. Everyone that contributed to the record pre-order of 325,000 received a special matte gold cartridge. Most fans were thrilled by this allusion to the series' roots.
The game itself exceeded many expectations of the media and gaming masses. This game certainly was worth the wait no matter how long and painful it was. Many reviewers gave out their first ‘perfect scores’. Two comments that where made was "Game of the Millennium” and "best game of all time."
The list of things that makes this game great is almost limitless, and varies depending on who you talk to. The game itself was eye watering to look at, every environment was rendered with fantastic depth and attention to detail. The dungeons puzzles really started to challenge gamers. Now they had to look at the as ‘real rooms’ that really were on multiple levels, for example take the water temple. The one thing that many people enjoyed, and kept coming back for more of was the mini games such as the fishing game, and the archery. The thing that really made the game flow and feel like no other 3D game before it was the control system.
This was the first Zelda game that had a real plot. Chronologically, the events of the game take place before any other title in the series. The gamer learned many things such as Links origins, about the Hyrulian royal family, and the history and creation of Hyrule. But you also learn about Ganon's quest for the Triforce of Power and his rise from the human king of thieves to the inhuman king of evil. Like in the game Link to the past there where two different ‘worlds’. One of when Link was young and one of when he was an adult.
Favourite locations such as The Lost Woods returned, even more confusing than ever. Death Mountain retained its feature of deadly rockslides. Lake Hylia was expanded to its watery limits in both size and depth. There were also many new locations to explore they included the Temple of Time, allowing Link to travel backwards and forward in time. Goron City on top of Death Mountain, and Zora’s Domain. The rather large Hyrule Field linked the sections together. At first it was a pain travelling between places, because it took ages. It was almost like it was life size, but after acquiring your faithful steed Epona you crossed it in no time flat.
Zelda’s dungeons were brought into the third dimension, to be seen like they had never been seen before. Each one had its own unique appearance and design. As young Link you had to:-
Exorcise the inside of the Deku Tree
battled Dodongo in his fiery cavern
and rescued Princess Ruto from the belly of the great fish, Jabu Jabu
Then as adult Link you had to:-
Explore non Euclidean geometry’s of the Forest Temple
The huge caverns and haunting chants of the Fire Temple
The Water Temple's rising and sinking three-dimensional waterways
The false walls and hidden secrets of the Shadow Temple
Then on top of all that if you add, the two time-period solution to the Spirit Temple, the mysterious cavern beneath the well and the unforgiving Gerudo Training Grounds, the game seemed to be never ending.
Links inventory had a bit of a revamp with lots of ‘upgrades’. This time around it was just the weapons that could be changed, it was also what he was wearing. The inventory was as follows:-
Three different sized/power swords
Three different sized/power shields
Three different sized/power/colour tunics
Three different types of boots
Three different types of arrows
Hookshot and longshot
Bombs and bombchus
Deku Nuts
Deku Sticks
Stone of Agony (required you to have rumble pak)
Lens of Truth
Ocarina
Bottles (could store many different items)
In the Ocarina of Time music was very important. In his travels Link learned thirteen songs, each with its own special power. They were as follows:-
Zelda's Lullaby (identified you as the envoy of the Hylian court)
The Sun Song (switch night and day)
The Song of Storms (summon a storm)
Epona's Song (summoned your horse)
Saria's Song (communicated with your Kokiri pal)
The Song of Time (moved Link back and forward through time)
Scarecrow's Song (summoned a scarecrow)
The six remaining songs were Minuet of the Forest, the Bolero of Fire, the Serenade of Water, the Nocturne of Shadow, the Requiem of Spirit, and the Prelude of Light. These warped Link to the desired dungeon.
The names of the six sages may have sounded a little familiar - they were named after the towns in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Well, chronologically speaking, the towns were named after the sages. The future citizens of Hyrule apparently memorialised these early adventures in their civic planning.
The next Zelda game to follow was The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Its release date was November 17th 2000. I’m not sure how many copies this one sold but I don’t think it is as many as Ocarina of Time.
This time around it only took Nintendo 18 months to make this game instead of four years that it took to create Ocarina of Time. As some dedicated gamers may or may not realise, the translation to English that is usually done by Dan Owsen, was actually done Bill Trinen this time. The main difference in the translation was that the characters often said British slang such as ‘crips’ and ‘blimey’.
This time around the game wasn’t based in Hyrule, instead it is Termina, a parallel world. And the plot goes as follows:-
One day, while exploring a forest on his horse Epona, Link finds a masked stranger named Skull kid who goads him through a door to another world. Link found himself in a different world, which had the moon about to hit it in three days. And just to make things worse the Skull kid had taken all his stuff and turned him into a Deku Shrub. So to survive somehow Link had to stop the moon from falling and turn himself back to normal, all within three days.
Majora’s Mask uses a modified version of the Ocarina of Time game engine. One of the main additions is the clock on the screen that indicates how much time is left before the game is over. The game requires the 4 Meg Expansion Pak. According to Miyamoto, the enhanced memory lets the developers display more enemies, present better enemy artificial intelligence, and create more advanced special effects.
The role of masks has been greatly increased. Link can carry multiple masks, and masks now change Link's appearance and give him new skills. For example, the Goron Mask lets Link roll down a hill as a ball, the Zora Mask increases his swimming powers, and the Deku Mask turns Link into a hovering, Deku Nut-spitting Deku Scrub.
This time around there is many more mini-games, such as races, hide and seek and target practice. There are only four main dungeons this time around. Some gamers might complain that there are too many sub-quests and not enough dungeons. You seem to spend most of your time wondering around trying to figure out what to do next.
The inventory consists of all the normal favourite weapons and gadgets that made the pervious titles a hit, as well some extras, not least all of the masks and the different musical instruments depending on what mask you were wearing. Not a lot more needs to be said about this title as it is a recent release and it is fairly similar to the Ocarina of time, plus I’m trying not to make it too long!
The next two games to be released where on the Gameboy colour. These two games were called ‘The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda Oracle of seasons’. Apparently, there were three of them, one for each triforce. They were previously called the Tale of Power, the Tale of Wisdom, and the Tale of Courage. But only two seem to have made it to the light of day. Save-data from the games can be exchanged via a "link system," and actions in one game will affect the others.
Because Miyamoto was busy working on Majora’s Mask Nintendo farmed out a new series of three Game Boy Colour Zelda titles to an outside developer: Flagship. Best known for the scenario design for the Resident Evil series, Flagship has created scenarios for an interlocked series of games that can be played in any order, while Capcom had the programming duties. Nintendo continued handling game design.
To cut a long plot short, the Triforce has summoned Link to Labrynna. He must prevent The Sorceress of shadows (Veran) from altering history.
As well as all the usual weapons in the other games (not the masks) Link has access to magical rings. He can only carry so many at a time and only wear one at a time. Each ring gives Link different abilities.
The game has many hidden features, such as if the game is played on a Gameboy advance certain once unopenable doors are open.
In 1989 there was also Outside Hyrule (Zelda Otaku). It was The Legend of Zelda TV series that was on every Friday afternoon. It was a 13-episode series starred Link, Zelda, Ganon, and Link's fairy, Spryte. Link was a sarcastic braggart who was always trying to steal a kiss from Princess Zelda. One of his more memorable lines was "Excuuuuuuse me, Princess!" (Much funnier when you’re young). Princess Zelda was typically headstrong and brash.
Ganon was rather clumsy for a King of Evil, and Spryte hovered around Link so that she could say annoying things in a high-pitched voice from time to time (just like Navi in Zelda 64).
As you would expect, in every episode Ganon would hatch an amazingly stupid plan to steal the Triforce of Wisdom. If Hyrule castle had assigned some guards to protect the triforce, it may have helped the problem. But where would be the fun in that! And after saving the day, Link would ask for a kiss off Zelda, which she never gave to him.
Released in 1990 was The Legend of Zelda Comic Valiant's short-lived Nintendo Comics System featured an even shorter-lived Legend of Zelda comic that didn’t even last a year. In each issue there was two 10-page stories, and a handful or 1 or 2 page stories. They were similar in appearance and tone to the TV show. Even in the comics he never managed to get his kiss off of Zelda. Soon after the release of Link to the Past in 1992, Nintendo Power ran a lengthy serialised Zelda comic. The comic was set in the world of Link to the Past and very loosely followed that game's storyline.
The Nintendo Cereal System was released in 1989 to both popular and critical acclaim. Nintendo revolutionised the industry with its "dual bag" cereal system; on one side you had the "fruity" Super Mario Bros. cereal, on the other, you had the "berry" Legend of Zelda cereal. The advert brainwashed people with the following jingle.
Nin-ten-do!
It's for breakfast now!
Nin-ten-do!
It's a cereal! Wow!
Nin-ten-do!
Super Mario jumps!
Nin-ten-do!
It's a fruit-flavoured crunch!
Nin-ten-do!
There's Zelda, too!
Nin-ten-do!
It's berry good news!
As with any good gaming license, Zelda also spawned lots of other merchandise, like storybooks, board games, bed-sheets, clothing, and even dining sets.
Kondo is responsible for many of Nintendo's most memorable soundtracks, specially the Super Mario series and the Legend of Zelda series. Without this music the game(s) wouldn’t have that Nintendo magic touch about it. There are several soundtracks available to buy, unfortunately most of them are only available in Japan. Some of the CD’s that are available are as follows:-
Legend of Zelda Sound & Drama – It was released in June 1994. The first CD had 8 tracks and a 20-minute narrative ‘drama’ track. The second CD features the original soundtrack of Link to the Past as well as that of the original Legend of Zelda for NES.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Original Soundtrack – Was released in December 1998. It is a single CD comprising of 82 songs from the N64 classic.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony disc – Was released in January 1999, it features thirteen songs arranged for a string quartet and ocarina.
The only soundtrack to hit US shores was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack that was released in November 1998. It comprises of 29 of Zelda 64’s greatest tracks that last just over 72 minutes.
In the 1980’s a Nintendo marketing executive got the astounding idea to sell the Legend of Zelda as a rap. Amazingly enough, many gamers who saw this commercial went on to purchase the game. Nintendo should be thankful for its fans' forgiveness.
Ura Zelda projected release date is unknown. To some if not most of you this game may be unheard of. Ura Zelda, or "Underneath/ Another Zelda," is a notorious vaporware project that may never see the light of day. When Zelda 64 was moved to cartridge, work began on a Zelda Gaiden for the 64DD. Eventually, however, Zelda Gaiden was split into two games: Majora’s Mask, for cartridge, and Ura Zelda, for the 64DD. While Zelda Gaiden uses a revamped game engine and features an all new dungeon set and world, Ura Zelda offers new goals and quests within the world and dungeons of Zelda 64. Its focus will be on dungeons and temples - the "underground" of Zelda's world. It may also support the Game Boy Camera, letting you put your face onto one of Link's masks. Unfortunately, release information has gone from scarce to non-existent. "Whether or not we release it," says Miyamoto, "we are still working on the game." Not the most inspiring words we've heard. Perhaps this will be an extra game on the Gamecube, being able to use the colour Gameboy advanced camera, we can only hope.
Nintendo is renowned for keeping its key franchises close to its chest. Zelda is no exception. Link has barely appeared in any games outside of the main Zelda series, but he has had his handful of star appearances. They are as follows:-
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest - After completing the game, Cranky Kong challenges you to collect the one DK Coin in each level so Diddy can prove his worth as a game hero. The ranking screen has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place podium. As you get more coins, you advance up the podium, displacing the previously present "winners." Link begins at 2nd place, but disappears once Diddy collects enough coins.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - If Mario sleeps overnight at the Rose Town Inn, he'll find Link asleep in one of the beds.
Super Smash Bros. - Link appears in Nintendo's franchise mascot fighting game. In addition to a variety of sword slashes, Link brings his boomerang, bombs, and the hookshot to the arena. Link's stage is Hyrule Castle, and the music is an arrangement of the original Legend of Zelda theme.
Tetris - If you can complete Level 9, Height 5 in Nintendo's Tetris for the NES, a variety of Nintendo characters serenade you with a victory song. Link is among them.
I havent writen anything about Zelda Gamecube, as you proberly already know everything that I do! And everyone goes on about the 'new look'! So I left it out!
In 1985 Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto gob smacked millions of gamers around the world with the release of Super Mario Bros. For the Famiccom, and then the NES in 1986. Unlike all previous games this was different, because gone was the get the highest score, instead you had a more obvious goal. That goal was to complete the game. This may seem silly, but gaming had evolved from just for fun endurance tests to games with a plot. A beginning middle and an end, gamers now had a reason to play beyond simple continued survival.
Miyamoto wanted to take the idea of a game "world" even further, he did this by creating ‘Zelda’. His inspiration for this game came from the fields, woods, and caves outside Kyoto that he had explored as a boy. Miyamoto said the intent of the Zelda games was to give players a "miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer."
In July 1987 ‘The Legend of Zelda’ was released. It managed to sell a staggering 6.5 million copies world wide. Even by today’s standards this is fairly high.
The game was viewed by the player from an overhead perspective. The player controlled Link across expansive overworld called Hyrule within, which had nine different dungeons to battle through. Hyrule was filled with many passageways, caves and secrets, all of which need skill to find by using items in his big inventory. Before this game was released gamers had never seen an action title with such a non-linear, detailed, and expansive world. This title wasn’t only revolutionary in its gameplay; it was the first game to use a battery-based backup to record your progress. This meant you could carry off where you left off last time you played. Where as previously lengthy games used passwords to record the player’s progress. But the problem with this was human error in typing in the password as well as remembering it. One wrong character being the difference between the first and the last level.
The other thing that made this game stand out was its packaging. Previous NES games were a mass-produced commodity, with every "game pak" the same dull grey. But Zelda was ‘special’ and Nintendo wanted to show this, so they did this by making the first run of cartridges a shiny gold colour.
Miyamoto admits that he took the name ‘Zelda’ from F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, because simply Miyamoto liked the sound of the name. Literary critics were forewarned that there's no hidden meaning or subtext. This was the first in a long line of adventures that were going to come from Nintendo in the following years. As Miyamoto would say ‘only the first seed of his miniature garden had been planted, there’s still loads more to blossom’.
The plot established many of the important characters and environments that inhabited Zelda in and around Hyrule. The plot is as follows:-
The evil Ganon invades the land of Hyrule and steals the Triforce of Power. Princess Zelda, sensing danger, splits the Triforce of Wisdom into eight pieces and hides the pieces from Ganon and his minions in eight separate dungeons. Enraged, Ganon imprisons the princess, but not before Zelda dispatches Impa to find a saviour. Impa finds the young Link and gives him his task: Reassemble the Triforce, defeat Ganon, and rescue the princess Zelda.
The overworld consisted of 16 horizontal screens and 8 vertical screens, that’s a total of 128 screens. Within the overworld was hidden many secret passage ways, enemies (ranging from Octoroks, Tektites, and Levers) as well as the dungeon entrances. In his travels Link encountered many merchants, old ladies, gamblers and citizens ready to help or in some cases hinder him.
Each of the nine dungeons was shaped like its name: Eagle, Moon, Manji (reversed swastika known as "auspicious mark"), Snake, Lizard, Dragon, Demon, and Lion. Death Mountain (shaped like a skull). The dungeons were a mass of passageways connecting to rooms with enemies such as darting Ropes, and skeletal Stalfos or the more challenging Wizzrobes and well-armoured Darknuts. Living with in these dungeons where old men who would give you clues such as “The West most peninsula holds the secret." Along the way most rooms had a puzzle which had to be solved.
No Zelda quest would be complete with out its huge inventory. Some of the things in his inventory included:-
Wooden sword (a simple weapon to protect yourself with)
Metal sword (more damage than the wooden sword)
Magical sword (even more damage, and had special abilities)
Blue ring (increase defence strength)
Red ring (increase offence strength)
Heart containers (increased life, could be won or found)
Boomerang (attack, retrieve items from afar)
Bombs (blast open sealed passageways, or kill enimies)
Candle (light up dark rooms, & burn certain things)
Wooden arrows (attack from afar)
Silver arrows (stronger version of wooden arrows)
Ladder (use to cross rivers)
Raft (use to cross lakes)
Power bracelet (lift/move heavy things)
Magic wand & book (use magic)
A recorder (play music)
If you entered your name as ‘Zelda’ you would be taken to the second quest. Where the overworld was re-mixed and the dungeons had new layouts. Each of the first 5 dungeons layouts spelled ‘Zelda’. This quest made the world of Zelda really seem as limitless as Miyamoto had imagined it.
Then in December 1988 ‘Zelda II: The Adventure of Link’ was released. It only sold 4.3 million copies. The previous game gob smacked gamers all around the world, but Miyamoto wasn’t about to rest on his laurels. This time the Zelda series took a dramatic change in direction, tinkering with almost every aspect of the original. Because Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy were shooting up the charts in Japan, several RPG elements where incorporated into the game. Unlike in the previous game, instead of a top-down perspective all the time in the battles in battles, caves and temples you had a side perspective.
Because of the introduction of these RPG elements, enemies were now visible on the map before battle. When Link touched them you would be taken to a separate battle screen, slaying them would gain experience points that could be applied towards life, magic or attack statistics. As well as the usual items in the inventory there were 8 spells to find, to help on the quest. Because of the dramatic changes, this is the ‘black horse’ is the series and one of the not so popular ones. This time around however we had the introduction of the third triforce, the triforce of ‘courage’.
The plot is as follows:-
On Link's 16th birthday, the crest of Hyrule Kingdom appears on his hand, and he consults Zelda's nursemaid, Impa, in his distress. She takes him to the sleeping Princess Zelda in the North Castle - not the one he rescued but another castle from long ago. An evil magician had tried to get her to reveal the location of the Triforce of Courage. When she refused, he cast the sleeping spell on her. To save Zelda, Link must place gems in the foreheads of six statues found in six palaces around Hyrule, break the "binding force" on the Great Palace in the Valley of Death, and rescue the Triforce of Courage from the depths of the palace. Only with the power of the Triforce can Link revive Zelda, prevent Ganon's revival, and restore peace to Hyrule.
The overworld was divided into square blocks of different terrain. In his search for the seven palaces Link travelled forests, fields, swamps, mountains, and other natural habitats. Keeping to the roads kept you from being attacked from enemies. In towns, you were able to interact with village folk, get your life restored and learn of side quests.
In the palaces and caves, the perspective was a side on one. So most of the dungeon crawling was mostly confined to a left/right plane. You could travel between levels in the dungeons via elevators. Most of the enemies were easily despatched of, but the powerful Ironknuckles just like to day were dreaded by many-a-gamer. Only careful high-and-low thrusting and guarding could defeat these knights.
This time around Links inventory was a bit passive, it took more of a supporting role. It was as follows:-
Candle (illuminated darkened caves)
Cross (revealed invisible enemies)
Boots (cross shallow waters)
Raft (cross oceans)
Recorder and hammer (cleared paths on the overworld)
Glove (destroy palace blocks)
Magic key (unlocked an unlimited number of doors)
Spells (where most of Links power came from)
Also this time around Link was a veritable magician in training. The spells available were as follows:-
Shield (increased defensive)
Jump (jump twice as high)
Life (restores energy)
Fairy (fly to otherwise unreachable locations)
Fire (shoot flammable projectiles from sword)
Reflect (bounce back magical attacks)
Spell (revealed hidden passageways)
Thunder (damaged all enemies onscreen, including the final opponent: the Thunderbird)
If Link didn't have a key to open a locked door, he could squeeze through the keyhole in fairy form. This made the Fairy spell about five hundred times more useful than it would have been otherwise.
BS Zelda was released in 1989, it was a remake of the original, for the SNES Satellaview system. The Satellaview system add-on let gamers download games to flash ROM cartridges for temporary play. For four hours every week, gamers were able to download new gameplay objectives and dungeons. The dungeon designs (and locations) were different from both the first and second quests, making BS Zelda a "third" quest for the original game. Also instead of playing as Link you played as the Satellaview mascot, who was a boy with a baseball cap worn backwards.
Also in 1989 Game and Watch was released. This game used the popular multi-screen format. The idea of the game was to work your way up from the bottom of the game up to the top to rescue. It's really not related to the games, other than some character artwork and the logo. Even so, the designers managed to include unique portable bastardisations of Zelda concepts such as the hammer, map, Water of Life, and Triforce.
Because Nintendo was throwing in its Zelda license into portable gaming via Game and Watch, marketers thought why not produce a Zelda wristwatch with a built in mini-game. Crap game, but it could tell the time!
In the early 1990’s CD-I Zelda Trilogy: Link: Faces of Evil, Zelda: Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure was released, but it wasn’t done by Nintendo for a Nintendo.
For those of you who don’t know, Nintendo was deep in talks with both Sony and Philips regarding development of a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo. A partnership with Sony was announced, but concerned by a loss of control under Sony's potential business model, Nintendo switched to Philips at the last minute. Neither the Sony nor the Philips system ever made it to market, but the industry repercussions were severe. Sony began work on its top secret ‘Playstation X’ project the effects of that are obvious. Philips' contract with Nintendo and relationship with Sony gave limited rights to use Nintendo's characters in titles for its CD-I system. The result? These Philips titles.
‘Link: Faces of Evil’ and ‘Zelda: Wand of Gamelon’ both feature pixilated movies, along with decent overworld graphics and inoffensive music. The main stages, however, are 2D side-scrolling nightmares, with poorly drawn and animated sprites and absolutely abysmal control.
‘Zelda's Adventure’ had improved gameplay, photo-realistic backgrounds and a top-down perspective, but it still pales in comparison to "real" Zelda games. The CD-I titles, however, still have the dubious distinction of being the only games that let you play as Princess Zelda.
In April 1992 ‘The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past’ was released. It sold 4.5 million copies. Along with Super Mario World this title was a system seller for the SNES. Most gamers where glad to see that the game had returned to the design aesthetics of the original. Some of the things that made a welcome return were, the top-down view, heart based life system, puzzle filled dungeons, and Ganon had made a return for the battle of good against evil once again.
This time around the quests were larger and more challenging, the dungeons were more complex, and Link had learnt many new tricks. The interplay between the two dimensions (the Light World of Hyrule and the Dark World of the Golden Land) set a new standard in adventure-game puzzle design. As it seems to be the case with every Zelda, there were loads of delays that held the game release back. This is still many gamers favourite out of the Zelda series, alone with Ocarina of Time.
Old favourites such as the Lost Woods and Death Mountain made a welcome return in a reinterpreted and expanded form. Also new places such as Link's hometown of Kakariko Village and Lake Hylia made their debut. Unlike previously the deserts and swamps were given names. They were the Desert of Mystery and the Great Swamp. Early in the game, Link discovered the Dark World, which he could only enter via special warp titles in the light world. But luckily he had a handheld mirror that let him return to the light world from the dark world at any time you desired. To be able to solve the game's mysteries, you had to visualise both realms simultaneously, understanding their interplay, overlap, and the passages between them.
These where the really the first multi level dungeons in the Zelda series. This time around not only could Link use the stairs but he could also fall through holes in the floors to reach lower levels (or sometimes death). Also instead of one type of key there was two, one that opened normal doors and a ‘big key’ that opened the boss door at the end of the dungeon. Another new feature of the dungeons was that there was a chest that contained the levels ‘big treasure’. Also blocking his way were many hazards such as fire, ice and switches.
The one item that everyone loves in Links inventory is the hookshot. Link had a lot of other wonderful toys, to be sure, but no other ruled like the hookshot. It allowed you to latch on to distant items, and then it would pull to it over whatever may lie below. The inventory was as follows: -
Hookshot (see above)
Pegasus shoes (run quickly)
Zora's flippers (be able to swim)
Gloves (lift and throw heavy objects)
The Moon Pearl (Prevented Link turning into a helpless pig in the dark world)
Bow and arrow (to attack enemies from afar)
Bomb (blast open passages & kill enemies)
Boomerang (fetch items and kill enemies from afar)
Net (catch fairies and bees)
Glass bottles (store fairies, bees and potions)
Magic hammer (smash rocks)
Shovel (dig for buried treasure)
Flute (call a bird to transport you to places on the map)
As well as the items list above there were several magical spells and artefacts helped Link on his journey. There were as follows:-
The bombos spell (emitted a fiery blast that hurt enemies and melted ice)
The ether spell (froze enemies and made invisible floors visible)
The quake spell (stunned enemies and opened the entrance to Turtle Rock)
The ice and fire rods (froze and roasted opponents)
The lamp (lighted torches and braziers scattered throughout dark dungeons)
The magic powder (caused strange transformations on enemies and items)
The Cane of Somaria (created heavy blocks)
The Staff of Byrna (created a protective force field)
The magic cape (rendered Link invisible)
In August 1993 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was released (DX: December 1998). Sales were 4 million worldwide.
The Gameboy’s sales were slowing down, and it needed some oomph kicking back in it. It was still a few years before Pokémon would be invented, so the answer was Zelda! The developers decided that they were going to squeeze all the gameplay and adventure of ‘Link to the Past onto 8-bit system with a four-colour greyscale palette and 32K of RAM! Some of the new features were to return for the legendary Zelda 64 because they were that good/advanced. Despite its "ageing" hardware platform, critics and fans alike embraced the game. With gameplay this good, it was hard not to. One of the things that made this game enjoyable was that it couldn’t take itself seriously. For example one of the townsfolk tells you that they were going to need rescuing later on, and the item swapping of things such as Yoshi dolls, banana bunches, and tins of dog food. Also some characters from some of Miyamoto's other games, such as Super Mario Bros. made an appearance. Some of these included Goombas and Piranha Plants which populated the dungeons, while Marin and Tarin looked more than slightly like Princess Peach and Mario.
In December 1998 there was the launch of the Gameboy colour, so Nintendo needed a killer game to sell systems so Zelda to the rescue. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, was released shortly after the system's release. This colour remake not only sported a title convoluted enough to turn Capcom green with envy, but full-colour support throughout, Game Boy Printer support, and an entirely new dungeon with colour-based puzzles - and a colour based reward - at the end.
This time around however Link's Awakening was not set in Hyrule. Instead, the setting was quasi-peaceful Koholint Island, allowing for the introduction of a whole new entourage. Gone were Impa, Zelda, and Ganon, but it seems the forest-dwelling potion witch Crazy Tracy seemed to have come along for the ride.
The plot is as follows:-
After having saved Zelda and Hyrule in a Link to the Past, Our Hero sets off in search of new adventure. He travels to many distant lands where he hones his skills. Sufficiently disciplined, he buys a small sailboat and sets off for home. But in crossing the Great Hyrulean Sea, a fierce storm tears his ship asunder and leaves him stranded on Koholint Island. The kind Marin nurses him back to health, and an owl then tells him an amazing legend: Link has been foretold as the one to wake the sleeping Wind Fish. But first, he'll need to gather the eight Elements of the Sirens ....
The size of the map was only 16 squares by 16 squares, but it seemed so much more than this by the way that it was constructed. Early in this game, Link acquired the ability to jump, a feature that the overworld design had taken to heart, by adding loads of things to jump over all over the place. With classic locations like the Mysterious Forest (it was a little bit mysterious), the fast-paced river rapids, and the twisting, devious, convoluted, and four-screen signpost maze, Koholint Island earned a place in almost every if not every Zelda fan's heart.
Each of the eight dungeons had all of the features of Links Awakening’s. But as in the first Zelda game the rooms were uniformly square. This was to fit the Gameboy’s screen. But each room was a mess of passageways, tunnels, rooms and half-rooms, and special hazards that would challenge any gamer. Link's Awakening dungeons had a more detailed map than Link to the Past's, as well as stone tablets with secret messages
All of the favourite items from Links inventory such as the hookshot, magic rod, powder, Pegasus boots etc. all returned. But there was two new items introduced these were the Ocarina, one which Link could learn three useful songs, and also the new Roc’s feather, this let Link jump so there was more jumping over pits and collecting items in mid air to come.
Two of the fun (but irrelevant) things that could be done in this game were, being able to steal from the shopkeeper. The problem with this is your character was renamed ‘Thief’ and as soon as you entered the store again you were knocked off. Then there was also the joy of taking Marin to the claw-activated Trendy Game and having her pick up Mr. Trendy himself
Finally in November 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released. It sold over 7.1 million copies, making it the biggest selling Zelda game to date. It also picked up many awards including ‘Best console game’ and ‘most innovative game design’ (at the annual Computer Game Developers Association’s Spotlight Awards).
Zelda 64 began life as the flagship title for the DD64, and Mario would sell the main console. The first screenshots appeared even before the Nintendo 64's release, showing a blocky Link locked in mortal combat with a reflective Stalfos. The picture looked decent enough, but it didn’t have that quality that gamers where looking for, but fortunately, the developers had a while yet to hone and perfect the game.
The game was then switched to cartridge format for the main console. Many fan’s worried that this would mean a reduction in playable content, as the cartridges were a lot smaller. Then Nintendo announced that Zelda 64 would be the largest cartridge ever produced 256 megabits (32 megabytes). With cartridges half the size of 64DD discs and the flagship title gone to console, the future of Nintendo's add-on became far less certain. As everyone properly remembers (how could you forget) delay after delay was piled onto the title: first from early 1997 to the 1997 holiday season, then to April or June 1998, and finally to November 1998. Amazingly, the title appeared on US shores less than a week after its Japanese release, near record time for the localisation of a text-intensive title such as Zelda. Everyone that contributed to the record pre-order of 325,000 received a special matte gold cartridge. Most fans were thrilled by this allusion to the series' roots.
The game itself exceeded many expectations of the media and gaming masses. This game certainly was worth the wait no matter how long and painful it was. Many reviewers gave out their first ‘perfect scores’. Two comments that where made was "Game of the Millennium” and "best game of all time."
The list of things that makes this game great is almost limitless, and varies depending on who you talk to. The game itself was eye watering to look at, every environment was rendered with fantastic depth and attention to detail. The dungeons puzzles really started to challenge gamers. Now they had to look at the as ‘real rooms’ that really were on multiple levels, for example take the water temple. The one thing that many people enjoyed, and kept coming back for more of was the mini games such as the fishing game, and the archery. The thing that really made the game flow and feel like no other 3D game before it was the control system.
This was the first Zelda game that had a real plot. Chronologically, the events of the game take place before any other title in the series. The gamer learned many things such as Links origins, about the Hyrulian royal family, and the history and creation of Hyrule. But you also learn about Ganon's quest for the Triforce of Power and his rise from the human king of thieves to the inhuman king of evil. Like in the game Link to the past there where two different ‘worlds’. One of when Link was young and one of when he was an adult.
Favourite locations such as The Lost Woods returned, even more confusing than ever. Death Mountain retained its feature of deadly rockslides. Lake Hylia was expanded to its watery limits in both size and depth. There were also many new locations to explore they included the Temple of Time, allowing Link to travel backwards and forward in time. Goron City on top of Death Mountain, and Zora’s Domain. The rather large Hyrule Field linked the sections together. At first it was a pain travelling between places, because it took ages. It was almost like it was life size, but after acquiring your faithful steed Epona you crossed it in no time flat.
Zelda’s dungeons were brought into the third dimension, to be seen like they had never been seen before. Each one had its own unique appearance and design. As young Link you had to:-
Exorcise the inside of the Deku Tree
battled Dodongo in his fiery cavern
and rescued Princess Ruto from the belly of the great fish, Jabu Jabu
Then as adult Link you had to:-
Explore non Euclidean geometry’s of the Forest Temple
The huge caverns and haunting chants of the Fire Temple
The Water Temple's rising and sinking three-dimensional waterways
The false walls and hidden secrets of the Shadow Temple
Then on top of all that if you add, the two time-period solution to the Spirit Temple, the mysterious cavern beneath the well and the unforgiving Gerudo Training Grounds, the game seemed to be never ending.
Links inventory had a bit of a revamp with lots of ‘upgrades’. This time around it was just the weapons that could be changed, it was also what he was wearing. The inventory was as follows:-
Three different sized/power swords
Three different sized/power shields
Three different sized/power/colour tunics
Three different types of boots
Three different types of arrows
Hookshot and longshot
Bombs and bombchus
Deku Nuts
Deku Sticks
Stone of Agony (required you to have rumble pak)
Lens of Truth
Ocarina
Bottles (could store many different items)
In the Ocarina of Time music was very important. In his travels Link learned thirteen songs, each with its own special power. They were as follows:-
Zelda's Lullaby (identified you as the envoy of the Hylian court)
The Sun Song (switch night and day)
The Song of Storms (summon a storm)
Epona's Song (summoned your horse)
Saria's Song (communicated with your Kokiri pal)
The Song of Time (moved Link back and forward through time)
Scarecrow's Song (summoned a scarecrow)
The six remaining songs were Minuet of the Forest, the Bolero of Fire, the Serenade of Water, the Nocturne of Shadow, the Requiem of Spirit, and the Prelude of Light. These warped Link to the desired dungeon.
The names of the six sages may have sounded a little familiar - they were named after the towns in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Well, chronologically speaking, the towns were named after the sages. The future citizens of Hyrule apparently memorialised these early adventures in their civic planning.
The next Zelda game to follow was The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Its release date was November 17th 2000. I’m not sure how many copies this one sold but I don’t think it is as many as Ocarina of Time.
This time around it only took Nintendo 18 months to make this game instead of four years that it took to create Ocarina of Time. As some dedicated gamers may or may not realise, the translation to English that is usually done by Dan Owsen, was actually done Bill Trinen this time. The main difference in the translation was that the characters often said British slang such as ‘crips’ and ‘blimey’.
This time around the game wasn’t based in Hyrule, instead it is Termina, a parallel world. And the plot goes as follows:-
One day, while exploring a forest on his horse Epona, Link finds a masked stranger named Skull kid who goads him through a door to another world. Link found himself in a different world, which had the moon about to hit it in three days. And just to make things worse the Skull kid had taken all his stuff and turned him into a Deku Shrub. So to survive somehow Link had to stop the moon from falling and turn himself back to normal, all within three days.
Majora’s Mask uses a modified version of the Ocarina of Time game engine. One of the main additions is the clock on the screen that indicates how much time is left before the game is over. The game requires the 4 Meg Expansion Pak. According to Miyamoto, the enhanced memory lets the developers display more enemies, present better enemy artificial intelligence, and create more advanced special effects.
The role of masks has been greatly increased. Link can carry multiple masks, and masks now change Link's appearance and give him new skills. For example, the Goron Mask lets Link roll down a hill as a ball, the Zora Mask increases his swimming powers, and the Deku Mask turns Link into a hovering, Deku Nut-spitting Deku Scrub.
This time around there is many more mini-games, such as races, hide and seek and target practice. There are only four main dungeons this time around. Some gamers might complain that there are too many sub-quests and not enough dungeons. You seem to spend most of your time wondering around trying to figure out what to do next.
The inventory consists of all the normal favourite weapons and gadgets that made the pervious titles a hit, as well some extras, not least all of the masks and the different musical instruments depending on what mask you were wearing. Not a lot more needs to be said about this title as it is a recent release and it is fairly similar to the Ocarina of time, plus I’m trying not to make it too long!
The next two games to be released where on the Gameboy colour. These two games were called ‘The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda Oracle of seasons’. Apparently, there were three of them, one for each triforce. They were previously called the Tale of Power, the Tale of Wisdom, and the Tale of Courage. But only two seem to have made it to the light of day. Save-data from the games can be exchanged via a "link system," and actions in one game will affect the others.
Because Miyamoto was busy working on Majora’s Mask Nintendo farmed out a new series of three Game Boy Colour Zelda titles to an outside developer: Flagship. Best known for the scenario design for the Resident Evil series, Flagship has created scenarios for an interlocked series of games that can be played in any order, while Capcom had the programming duties. Nintendo continued handling game design.
To cut a long plot short, the Triforce has summoned Link to Labrynna. He must prevent The Sorceress of shadows (Veran) from altering history.
As well as all the usual weapons in the other games (not the masks) Link has access to magical rings. He can only carry so many at a time and only wear one at a time. Each ring gives Link different abilities.
The game has many hidden features, such as if the game is played on a Gameboy advance certain once unopenable doors are open.
In 1989 there was also Outside Hyrule (Zelda Otaku). It was The Legend of Zelda TV series that was on every Friday afternoon. It was a 13-episode series starred Link, Zelda, Ganon, and Link's fairy, Spryte. Link was a sarcastic braggart who was always trying to steal a kiss from Princess Zelda. One of his more memorable lines was "Excuuuuuuse me, Princess!" (Much funnier when you’re young). Princess Zelda was typically headstrong and brash.
Ganon was rather clumsy for a King of Evil, and Spryte hovered around Link so that she could say annoying things in a high-pitched voice from time to time (just like Navi in Zelda 64).
As you would expect, in every episode Ganon would hatch an amazingly stupid plan to steal the Triforce of Wisdom. If Hyrule castle had assigned some guards to protect the triforce, it may have helped the problem. But where would be the fun in that! And after saving the day, Link would ask for a kiss off Zelda, which she never gave to him.
Released in 1990 was The Legend of Zelda Comic Valiant's short-lived Nintendo Comics System featured an even shorter-lived Legend of Zelda comic that didn’t even last a year. In each issue there was two 10-page stories, and a handful or 1 or 2 page stories. They were similar in appearance and tone to the TV show. Even in the comics he never managed to get his kiss off of Zelda. Soon after the release of Link to the Past in 1992, Nintendo Power ran a lengthy serialised Zelda comic. The comic was set in the world of Link to the Past and very loosely followed that game's storyline.
The Nintendo Cereal System was released in 1989 to both popular and critical acclaim. Nintendo revolutionised the industry with its "dual bag" cereal system; on one side you had the "fruity" Super Mario Bros. cereal, on the other, you had the "berry" Legend of Zelda cereal. The advert brainwashed people with the following jingle.
Nin-ten-do!
It's for breakfast now!
Nin-ten-do!
It's a cereal! Wow!
Nin-ten-do!
Super Mario jumps!
Nin-ten-do!
It's a fruit-flavoured crunch!
Nin-ten-do!
There's Zelda, too!
Nin-ten-do!
It's berry good news!
As with any good gaming license, Zelda also spawned lots of other merchandise, like storybooks, board games, bed-sheets, clothing, and even dining sets.
Kondo is responsible for many of Nintendo's most memorable soundtracks, specially the Super Mario series and the Legend of Zelda series. Without this music the game(s) wouldn’t have that Nintendo magic touch about it. There are several soundtracks available to buy, unfortunately most of them are only available in Japan. Some of the CD’s that are available are as follows:-
Legend of Zelda Sound & Drama – It was released in June 1994. The first CD had 8 tracks and a 20-minute narrative ‘drama’ track. The second CD features the original soundtrack of Link to the Past as well as that of the original Legend of Zelda for NES.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Original Soundtrack – Was released in December 1998. It is a single CD comprising of 82 songs from the N64 classic.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony disc – Was released in January 1999, it features thirteen songs arranged for a string quartet and ocarina.
The only soundtrack to hit US shores was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack that was released in November 1998. It comprises of 29 of Zelda 64’s greatest tracks that last just over 72 minutes.
In the 1980’s a Nintendo marketing executive got the astounding idea to sell the Legend of Zelda as a rap. Amazingly enough, many gamers who saw this commercial went on to purchase the game. Nintendo should be thankful for its fans' forgiveness.
Ura Zelda projected release date is unknown. To some if not most of you this game may be unheard of. Ura Zelda, or "Underneath/ Another Zelda," is a notorious vaporware project that may never see the light of day. When Zelda 64 was moved to cartridge, work began on a Zelda Gaiden for the 64DD. Eventually, however, Zelda Gaiden was split into two games: Majora’s Mask, for cartridge, and Ura Zelda, for the 64DD. While Zelda Gaiden uses a revamped game engine and features an all new dungeon set and world, Ura Zelda offers new goals and quests within the world and dungeons of Zelda 64. Its focus will be on dungeons and temples - the "underground" of Zelda's world. It may also support the Game Boy Camera, letting you put your face onto one of Link's masks. Unfortunately, release information has gone from scarce to non-existent. "Whether or not we release it," says Miyamoto, "we are still working on the game." Not the most inspiring words we've heard. Perhaps this will be an extra game on the Gamecube, being able to use the colour Gameboy advanced camera, we can only hope.
Nintendo is renowned for keeping its key franchises close to its chest. Zelda is no exception. Link has barely appeared in any games outside of the main Zelda series, but he has had his handful of star appearances. They are as follows:-
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest - After completing the game, Cranky Kong challenges you to collect the one DK Coin in each level so Diddy can prove his worth as a game hero. The ranking screen has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place podium. As you get more coins, you advance up the podium, displacing the previously present "winners." Link begins at 2nd place, but disappears once Diddy collects enough coins.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - If Mario sleeps overnight at the Rose Town Inn, he'll find Link asleep in one of the beds.
Super Smash Bros. - Link appears in Nintendo's franchise mascot fighting game. In addition to a variety of sword slashes, Link brings his boomerang, bombs, and the hookshot to the arena. Link's stage is Hyrule Castle, and the music is an arrangement of the original Legend of Zelda theme.
Tetris - If you can complete Level 9, Height 5 in Nintendo's Tetris for the NES, a variety of Nintendo characters serenade you with a victory song. Link is among them.
I havent writen anything about Zelda Gamecube, as you proberly already know everything that I do! And everyone goes on about the 'new look'! So I left it out!
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That was a great post. I read it all although it took me ages.
I read the whole thing :D But it didnt win GAD which I dont mind, because I anit going outa my way to win. Its intresting and sorta 'fun' in a strange way. (pb sayd the same thing but with that many wins!!!!) I did start one about Donkey Kong a few months ago, but I have lost it, oh well I might redo it sometime, but that is at least twice as long as my Mario one!
I've got such a temptation to quote that whole post... And i doubt it will be a GAD. Its got to be interesting and I doubt anybody has read the whole thing!
Wow, you know more about Zelda than you do about Mario!! :O
How can that be possible!???
Maybe congratulations will be in order! ;)
Sorry, but to be honest, I couldn't quite read ALL of that. But I did read most of it - good stuff.
How can that be possible!???
Maybe congratulations will be in order! ;)
Sorry, but to be honest, I couldn't quite read ALL of that. But I did read most of it - good stuff.
Phew! I just read that - some very interesting tidbits in there...
Another excellent post
:)
Another excellent post
:)
I thought I would pop this to the top, as there are alot of new people around here and I think this is one of my best (and logest ever)posts. Also because my alot shorter one on mario just won :) This topic took me about three weeks to write, but I hey it comes before coursework so theres no problem :)
slik wrote:
Either that or various cut"n"paste jobs! lol, nice post
> though.
slik ~_~
Calling me a cheater? I did use places on the Internet to make sure it was right, but I re-wrote it!
Either that or various cut"n"paste jobs! lol, nice post
> though.
slik ~_~
Calling me a cheater? I did use places on the Internet to make sure it was right, but I re-wrote it!
stephenw18 wrote:
> Sheesh thats long! You obviously know alot then!
Either that or various cut"n"paste jobs! lol, nice post though.
slik ~_~
> Sheesh thats long! You obviously know alot then!
Either that or various cut"n"paste jobs! lol, nice post though.
slik ~_~
You actually wrote that? You ctually spent time to write that. If SR read it then you may have a GAd in your hands - that is, if they can be bothered to read it.
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