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The Legend of Zelda (video game)

August 21, 2023

The Legend of Zelda, originally released in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu,[b][8][c] is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo.[9] The first game of The Legend of Zelda series, it is set in the fantasy land of Hyrule and centers on an elf-like boy named Link, who aims to collect the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom in order to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon.[10] During the course of the game, the player controls Link from a top-down perspective and navigates throughout the overworld and dungeons, collecting weapons, defeating enemies and uncovering secrets along the way.[11]

The Legend of Zelda
North American box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D4
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)
Producer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Designer(s)
  • Shigeru Miyamoto
  • Takashi Tezuka
Programmer(s)
  • Toshihiko Nakago
  • Yasunari Soejima[6]
  • I. Marui[6]
Writer(s)
  • Takashi Tezuka
  • Keiji Terui[7]
Composer(s)Koji Kondo
SeriesThe Legend of Zelda
Platform(s)
ReleaseFamily Computer Disk System
  • JP: February 21, 1986
NES
  • NA: August 22, 1987[a]
  • PAL: November 15, 1987
  • JP: February 19, 1994
Game Boy Advance
  • JP: February 14, 2004
  • NA: June 2, 2004
  • PAL: July 9, 2004
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, it was originally released in Japan as a launch title for the Family Computer Disk System in February 1986.[12] More than a year later, North America and Europe received releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System in cartridge format, being the first home console game to include an internal battery in the US for saving data.[13] This version was later released in Japan in 1994 under the title The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu 1.[d][5] The game was ported to the GameCube[14] and Game Boy Advance,[5] and was available via the Virtual Console on the Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.[15] It was also one of 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition system, and is available on the Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online service.

The Legend of Zelda was a critical and commercial success for Nintendo. The game sold over 6.5 million copies, launched a major franchise, and has been regularly featured in lists of the greatest video games of all time. A sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, was first released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System less than a year after its predecessor, and numerous additional successors and spinoffs have been released in the decades since its debut.

Gameplay

 
Link attacking Octorok monsters with his sword in the overworld

The Legend of Zelda incorporates elements of action, adventure, and role-playing genres. The player controls Link from a flip-screen overhead perspective as he travels the overworld, a large outdoor map with various environments.[11] Link begins the game equipped only with a small shield, but can enter a cave and receive a sword from an old man who advises, "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this."[16] Throughout the adventure, Link finds and acquires various items that increase his abilities further, including Heart Containers which increase his life meter; magic rings which decrease the amount of damage Link takes from enemy attacks; and stronger swords which allow Link to inflict more damage to enemies. These items are mainly found in caves scattered throughout the land. Some are easily accessible, while others are hidden beneath obstacles such as rocks, trees, and waterfalls.[17] Defeated enemies sometimes drop items including hearts, which refill the life meter, and Rupees, the in-game currency. Rupees can also be found in hidden treasure caves and are used to buy equipment, information, and ability upgrades.

Hidden in the overworld are entrances to eight large dungeons housing the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom.[18] Each dungeon has a unique maze-like layout of rooms connected by doors and secret passages, often barred by monsters (which must be defeated) or by blocks (which must be moved to gain entrance).[19] Dungeons also contain useful items Link can add to his inventory, such as a boomerang for stunning enemies and retrieving distant items, and a magical recorder that lets Link teleport to the entrance of any dungeon he has previously cleared.[20] Once Link has collected all eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom from these dungeons, he gains access to a ninth and final dungeon in order to defeat Ganon and rescue Zelda.[21] The game may be completed by traversing any given dungeon on the overworld and is largely flexible to players, although gameplay steadily increases in difficulty, and some rooms can only be passed by using items gained in previous locations. There are dungeons with secret entrances which must be uncovered while freely wandering the overworld after acquiring useful items. This freedom allows many ways of progressing through the game. It is possible to reach the final boss without receiving the normally vital sword at its outset.[22] The game world contains 600 separate scenes,[23] with the overworld consisting of over 97 scenes and the underworld consisting of nine multi-scene labyrinths.[24]

After initially completing the game, a player can begin a more-difficult version referred to as the "Second Quest" (裏ゼルダ, Ura Zeruda, translated literally to "Other Zelda"),[25][26] which alters many locations, secrets, and includes entirely distinct dungeons and stronger enemies.[27] Although more difficult "replays" were not unique to Zelda, few games offered completely different levels upon the second playthrough.[22] By starting a new file with the name entered as "ZELDA", this mode can instead be accessed without needing to beat the game first.[28]

Plot

Setting

Further information: Fictional chronology of The Legend of Zelda

Within the official Zelda Chronology, The Legend of Zelda takes place in an Era called "The Era of Decline", which exists within an alternative reality. In this era, Hyrule has been reduced to a small kingdom where the residents now live in caves, setting the background for The Legend of Zelda.[29]

Story

The story of The Legend of Zelda is described in the instruction booklet and during the short prologue which plays after the title screen: A small kingdom in the land of Hyrule is engulfed by chaos when an army led by Ganon, the prince of darkness, invades and steals the Triforce of Power, one part of a magical artifact which alone bestows great strength.[10] In an attempt to prevent him from acquiring the Triforce of Wisdom, Princess Zelda splits it into eight fragments and hides them in secret underground dungeons.[10] Before eventually being kidnapped by Ganon, she commands her nursemaid Impa to find someone courageous enough to save the kingdom.[10] While wandering the land, the old woman is surrounded by Ganon's henchmen, when a young boy named Link appears and rescues her.[10] Upon hearing Impa's plea, he resolves to save Zelda and sets out to reassemble the scattered fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, with which Ganon can then be defeated.[10]

During the course of the tale, Link locates and braves the eight underworld labyrinths, and beyond their defeated guardian monsters retrieves each fragment. With the completed Triforce of Wisdom, he is able to infiltrate Ganon's hideout in Death Mountain, confronting the prince of darkness and destroying him with the Silver Arrow.[30] Obtaining the Triforce of Power from Ganon's ashes, Link returns it and the restored Triforce of Wisdom to the rescued Princess Zelda, and peace returns to Hyrule.[31]

Development

 
The game was first released in Japan as a disk for the Famicom Disk System. It was later converted to a cartridge for American release on the NES.

The Legend of Zelda was directed and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka (credited as S. Miyahon and Ten Ten respectively in the closing credits).[9][32] Miyamoto produced the game, and Tezuka wrote the story and script.[32][33] Much of the programming was done by Toshihiko Nakago of Nintendo's partner SRD. Keiji Terui, a screenwriter who worked on anime shows such as Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, wrote the backstory for the manual, drawing inspiration from conflicts in medieval Europe.[7] Development began in 1984, and the game was originally intended to be a launch game for the Famicom Disk System.[34] The development team worked on The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. concurrently, and tried to separate their ideas: Super Mario Bros. was to be linear, where the action occurred in a strict sequence, whereas The Legend of Zelda would be the opposite.[9] In Mario, Miyamoto downplayed the importance of the high score in favor of simply completing the game.[35] This concept was carried over to The Legend of Zelda. Miyamoto was also in charge of deciding which concepts were "Zelda ideas" or "Mario ideas". Contrasting with Mario, Zelda was made non-linear and forced the players to think about what they should do next.[36] According to Miyamoto, those in Japan were confused and had trouble finding their way through the multi-path dungeons, and in initial game designs, the player would start with the sword already in their inventory. Rather than merely simplifying matters for players, Miyamoto forced the player to listen to the old man who gives the player their sword, and encouraged interaction among people to share their ideas with each other to find the various hidden secrets, a new form of gaming communication. Relatedly, this concept turned into the root of another series to be developed many years in the future: Miyamoto said that Zelda became the inspiration for Animal Crossing, a game based solely on communication.[37]

With The Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto wanted to flesh out the idea of a game "world" even further, giving players a "miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer".[35] He drew his inspiration from his experiences as a boy around Kyoto, where he explored nearby fields, woods, and caves, always trying through Zelda games to impart players some sense of that limitless wonder he felt through unknown exploration.[35] According to Miyamoto: "When I was a child, I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this".[38] The memory of being lost amid the maze of sliding doors in his family's home in Sonobe was recreated in Zelda's labyrinthian dungeons.[39] Tezuka wrote the setting to be a fairytale adventure, taking inspiration from fantasy books such as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.[40][41]

The hero "Link" was so named in part to connect players inserted into this world with their interactive role, as something of a blank slate representing their individuality or methods. Designed by Miyamoto as a coming of age motif to identify with, journeying as an ordinary boy strengthened by trials to triumph over great challenges and rise to meet evil.[9] The name of the titular princess came from Zelda Fitzgerald. Miyamoto explained that "Zelda was the wife of famous novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts, and I liked the sound of her name. So I took the liberty of using [it] for the very first title".[42] Early Zelda concepts involved technological elements, with microchips for the Triforce made of electronic circuits and a time-traveling hero, another factor of their name relating to the idea of a computer hyper-"link". While the final game and subsequent games in the series follow a more traditional medieval sword and sorcery setting,[43][44] later entries have incorporated some technology-based concepts.[45]

Koji Kondo (credited as Konchan)[32] composed the game's five music tracks. He had planned to use Maurice Ravel's Boléro as the title theme but was forced to change it late in the development cycle after learning that the copyright for the orchestral piece had not yet expired. As a result, Kondo wrote a new arrangement of the overworld theme within one day, which has become an iconic motif echoing throughout continued entries of the series.[46]

Release

Japanese release

 
The original floppy disk release

In February 1986, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda as the launch game for the Family Computer's new Disk System peripheral, joined by a re-release of Super Mario Bros., Tennis, Baseball, Golf, Soccer, and Mahjong as part of the system's introduction. It made full use of Disk Card media's advantages over traditional ROM cartridges, with an increased size of 128 kilobytes which would be expensive to produce on cartridge format.[35] Due to the still-limited amount of disk space, all of the text used in game was from only a single syllabary known as katakana, which under normal circumstances primarily relates more to foreign words which supplement those of traditional Japanese origin as with hiragana and kanji characters. Rather than passwords, rewritable disks saved players' game progress, and the extra sound channel provided by the system was utilized for certain sound effects; most notably Link's sword beam at full health, roars and growls of dungeon bosses, and those of defeated enemies. Sound effects had to be altered for the eventual cartridge release version of Zelda which used the Famicom's PCM channel. The game also took advantage of that system's controller having a built-in microphone, a feature the NES model did not include.[47] It was used to defeat the large-eared rabbit-like monster Pols Voice by blowing or shouting.[47] The U.S. instruction manual still hints that this enemy "hates loud noise", confusing many into thinking the recorder item could be used to attack (in actuality, it has no effect). The cartridge version made use of the Memory Management Controller chip (specifically the MMC1 model), which could use bank-switching to allow for larger games than had previously been possible, and could also use battery-powered RAM letting players save their data for the first time on the NES.[48]

American release

 
The gold-colored cartridge

When Nintendo published the game in North America, the packaging design featured a small portion of the box cut away to reveal the unique gold-colored cartridge. In 1988, The Legend of Zelda sold two million copies.[49] Nintendo of America sought to keep its strong base of fans; anyone who purchased a game and sent in a warranty card became a member of the Fun Club, whose members got a four-, eight- and eventually 32-page newsletter. Seven hundred copies of the first issue were sent out free of charge, but the number grew as the data bank of names got larger.[50]

From the success of magazines in Japan, Nintendo knew that game tips were a valued asset. Players enjoyed the bimonthly newsletter's crossword puzzles and jokes, but game secrets were most valued. The Fun Club drew kids in by offering tips for the more complicated games, especially Zelda, with its hidden rooms, secret keys and passageways.[50] The mailing list grew. By early 1988, there were over 1 million Fun Club members, which led then-Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa to start the Nintendo Power magazine.[51]

Since Nintendo did not have many products, it made only a few commercials a year, meaning the quality had to be phenomenal. The budget for a single commercial could reach US$5 million, easily four or five times more than most companies spent.[52] One of the first commercials made under Bill White, director of advertising and public relations, was the market introduction for the Legend of Zelda, which received a great deal of attention in the ad industry. In it, a wiry-haired, nerdy guy (John Kassir) walks through the dark making goofy noises, yelling out the names of some enemies from the game, and screaming for Zelda.[52]

Re-releases

The Legend of Zelda was first re-released in cartridge format for the Famicom in 1994.[3] The cartridge version slightly modified the title screen of the Disk Card version of the game, such that it displayed the number 1 at the end of the title. In 2001, the original game was re-released in the GameCube game Animal Crossing. The only way to unlock the game is by using an Action Replay. An official re-release was included in 2003's The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the GameCube,[53] and the game was again re-released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 along with its sequel, The Adventure of Link, as part of the Famicom Mini/Classic NES Series. In 2006, it was released on the Wii's Virtual Console, and a timed demo of the game was released for the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, available in the Vault section.

All re-releases of the game are virtually identical to the original, though the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Virtual Console versions have been altered slightly to correct several instances of incorrect spelling from the original, most notably in the intro story. A tech demo called Classic Games was shown for the Nintendo 3DS at E3 2010, showcasing more than a dozen classic games using 3D effects, including The Legend of Zelda.[54] Reggie Fils-Aimé, president of Nintendo of America, said that the games were slated for release on the 3DS, including The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man 2, and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, using of some of the 3DS's features, such as 3D effects, analog control, or camera support.[55]

The Legend of Zelda was released to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in September 2011, as a part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program, and was later released to the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22 in Japan; in 2012, it was released in Europe on April 12 and on July 5 in North America.[56][57] The version released to the Japanese 3DS Virtual Console was the cartridge version. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online - Nintendo Entertainment System service on September 18, 2018. A special "Living the life of luxury!" edition of the game, which grants players all equipment and extra items at the start of the game, was later added to the service on October 10. In November 2021, Nintendo released a Legend of Zelda edition of Game & Watch console, similar to the rereleased Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch. This version includes the original Legend of Zelda, as well as Zelda II: Adventure of Link, and the Gameboy version of Link's Awakening. The Zelda Game & Watch also includes a modified version of the Game and Watch original, Vermin, with Link replacing Mr. Game and Watch. [58]

Reception

The Legend of Zelda received highly positive reviews from critics and was a best-seller for Nintendo. Upon release in Japan, it sold 1 million copies on its first day of release,[74] and sold a total of 1.69 million for the Famicom Disk System in Japan.[75] In North America, the game was highly anticipated and topped the video game charts upon release.[24][76] It became the first NES game to sell over 1 million cartridges in the United States during 1987,[77][78][79] increasing to more than 2 million cartridges sold by 1988.[80][81][77] It went on to sell 3 million cartridges in the United States by 1990,[82] and eventually 6.51 million copies worldwide.[83]

Critics lauded the graphics, Kondo's score, writing, and gameplay, hailing the latter as groundbreaking. In Japan, Famicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) magazine gave it a full score of 5 out of 5 stars,[63] while the first Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards gave Zelda the award for best background music and listed it as the third best Game of the Year (just below Dragon Quest and Gradius).[72] Upon release in North America, Computer Entertainer called it an "excellent" adventure game that exceeded expectations and said it had "more to offer than the typical hack-and-slash" epics, with "monsters to fight, secret doors to discover, and plenty of frustration" rewarded with new treasures, weapons, experience, places and discoveries. The review also praised the "very appealing" and "beautiful, fairy-tale" quality, the battery backup save feature, the "charming graphics, superb original music, excellent animation, and smooth transitions in scrolling between locations". They called it "an incredibly rich, deep gaming experience that goes far beyond the typical cartridge game" with appeal "to both male and female players" of all ages, making it a "must-have" for every Nintendo owner.[24] Computer Gaming World in 1988 named the game as the best adventure of the year, stating that Zelda had been a "sensational success" in bringing elements of computer action-adventures to consoles.[73] In 1990, the magazine implied that the game was a killer app, causing computer RPG players who had dismissed consoles as "mere arcade toys" to buy the NES.[84]

Upon release in Europe, Tony Takoushi reviewed the game in British magazine Computer and Video Games and called it a massive arcade adventure packed full of dragons, imprisoned princesses, traps and pitfalls. They said it has "an enormous country to examine" with "dozens of things to collect" along with hidden power-ups and bonuses, while praising the "supreme" playability and the "excellent" graphics and sound, but they criticized the "hefty" price tag of £39 or $69 (equivalent to $170 in 2022) in the United Kingdom.[60] ACE magazine reviewed the game in 1989, calling it a "role-playing epic" that proves "consoles can be just as good at role-playing games as they are for arcade entertainment" while listing it as one of the top four best games available for the NES (along with Super Mario Bros., Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Super Mario Bros. 2).[59] Zelda was reviewed in 1992 by Total! where it received a 78% rating due in great part to mediocre sub-scores for music and graphics.[70] A 1993 review of the game was printed in American magazine Dragon #198 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column, scoring the game 4 out of 5 stars.[61]

It was reissued in 1992 as part of Nintendo's "Classic Series" and featured a grey cartridge. The game placed first in the player's poll "Top 30" in Nintendo Power's first issue[85] and continued to dominate the list into the early 1990s. The Legend of Zelda was also voted by Nintendo Power readers as the "Best Challenge" in the Nintendo Power Awards '88.[86] The magazine also listed it as the best Nintendo Entertainment System video game ever created, stating that it was fun despite its age and innovated on the genre.[87] GamesRadar ranked it the third best NES game ever made. The staff praised its "mix of complexity, open world design, and timeless graphics".[88]

The Legend of Zelda has received critical acclaim from modern critics and remains well regarded. It is often featured in lists of games considered the greatest or most influential. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the game 2nd on its "Top 100 Video Games".[89] It placed first in Game Informer's list of the "Top 100 Games of All Time" and "The Top 200 Games of All Time" (in 2001 and 2009 respectively),[90][91] thirteenth in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 100th issue listing the "100 Best Games of All Time",[92] fifth in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 200th issue listing "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time",[93] seventh in Nintendo Power's list of the 200 Best Nintendo Games Ever,[94] 77th in Official Nintendo Magazine's 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time[95] and 80th among IGN readers' "Top 99 Games".[96] Zelda was inducted into GameSpy's Hall of Fame in August 2000[97] and voted by GameSpy's editors as the tenth best game of all time.[98] Editors of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu voted the game among the best on the Famicom.[99] In 1997 Next Generation listed the North American release in their "Five Greatest Game Packages of All Time", citing the die-cut hole which revealed the gold cartridge, full color manual, and fold-out map.[100] In 2016, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted The Legend of Zelda to its World Video Game Hall of Fame.[101]

Legacy

The Legend of Zelda is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern action role-playing video game (RPG) genre.[22] Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points, it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role-playing game genre.[102] The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs,[103] including Crystalis, Soul Blazer, Square's Seiken Densetsu series, Alundra, and Brave Fencer Musashi. The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.[104] Despite this, Miyamoto did not consider Zelda an RPG, but classified Zelda as "a real-time adventure game"; he said he was "not interested in systems where everything in the game is decided by stats and numbers" but what's "important to me is to preserve as much of that "live" feeling as possible" which he said "action games are better suited in conveying" to players.[105]

The Legend of Zelda spawned a solitary sequel, many prequels and spin-offs and is one of Nintendo's most popular series. It established important characters and environments of the Zelda universe, including Link, Princess Zelda, Ganon, Impa, and the Triforce as the power that binds Hyrule together.[35] The overworld theme and distinctive "secret found" jingle have appeared in nearly every subsequent Zelda game. The theme has also appeared in various other games featuring references to the Zelda series.

An arcade system board, called the Triforce, was developed jointly by Namco, Sega, and Nintendo, with the first games appearing in 2002. The name "Triforce" is a reference to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series of games, and symbolized the three companies' involvement in the project.[106]

GameSpot featured The Legend of Zelda as one of the 15 most influential games of all time, for being an early example of open world, nonlinear gameplay, and for its introduction of battery backup saving worldwide, to laying the foundations for later action-adventure games like Metroid and role-playing video games like Final Fantasy, while influencing most modern games in general.[103] In 2009, Game Informer called The Legend of Zelda "no less than the greatest game of all time" on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it was "ahead of its time by years if not decades".[107]

In 2011, Nintendo celebrated the game's 25th anniversary in a similar vein to the Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary celebration the previous year.[108] This celebration included a free mailout Club Nintendo offer of the Ocarina of Time soundtrack to owners of the 3DS version of that particular game, the first digital for Nintendo eShop release of Link's Awakening DX, special posters that are mailed out as rewards through Club Nintendo, and a special stage inspired by the original Legend of Zelda in the video game Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS.

Sequels

There have also been a few substantially altered versions of the game that have been released as pseudo-sequels, and ura- or gaiden-versions. As part of a promotional advertisement campaign for their charumera (チャルメラ) noodles, Myojo Foods Co., Ltd. (明星食品, Myoujou Shokuhin) released a version of the original The Legend of Zelda in 1986,[109] Zelda no Densetsu: Teikyō Charumera (ゼルダの伝説　提供　チャルメラ).[110][111] It is one of the rarest video games available on the second-hand collector's market, and copies have sold for over US$1,000.[112]

From August 6 to September 2, 1995,[113] Nintendo, in collaboration with the St.GIGA satellite radio network, began broadcasts of a substantially different version of the original The Hyrule Fantasy: Legend of Zelda for a Super Famicom peripheral, the Satellaview—a satellite modem add-on. The game, BS Zelda no Densetsu (BS ゼルダの伝説), was released for download in four episodic, weekly installments which were rebroadcast at least four times between the game's 1995 premiere and January 1997. BS Zelda was the first Satellaview game to feature a "SoundLink" soundtrack—a streaming audio track through which, every few minutes, players were cautioned to listen carefully as a voice actor narrator, broadcasting live from the St.GIGA studio, would give them plot and gameplay clues.[114] In addition to the SoundLink elements, BS Zelda also featured updated 16-bit graphics, a smaller overworld, and different dungeons. Link was replaced by one of the two Satellaview avatars: a boy wearing a backward baseball cap or a girl with red hair.

Between December 30, 1995, and January 6, 1996,[115] a second version of the game, BS Zelda no Densetsu MAP 2 (BS ゼルダの伝説ＭＡＰ２), was broadcast to the Satellaview as the functional equivalent of the original The Legend of Zelda's Second Quest. MAP 2 was rebroadcast only once, in March 1996.[113]

Notes

  1. ^ Reported dates for US release varies. The United States Copyright Office lists its publication date as June 30, 1987.[1] Other sources list its release date as July 1987[2][3][4] or August 22, 1987.[5]
  2. ^ Japanese: THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説, Hepburn: Za Hairaru Fantajī Zeruda no Densetsu, lit. The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda
  3. ^ At the end of the Second Quest in both the Japanese and English versions, the final credit and copyright notice identifies the game as The Legend of Zelda 1 (ゼルダノデンセツ １).
  4. ^ Japanese: THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説1, Hepburn: Za Hairaru Fantajī Zeruda no Densetsu 1, lit. The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda 1

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Works cited

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August 21, 2023
legend, zelda, video, game, legend, zelda, originally, released, japan, hyrule, fantasy, zelda, densetsu, action, adventure, game, developed, published, nintendo, first, game, legend, zelda, series, fantasy, land, hyrule, centers, like, named, link, aims, coll. The Legend of Zelda originally released in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy Zelda no Densetsu b 8 c is an action adventure game developed and published by Nintendo 9 The first game of The Legend of Zelda series it is set in the fantasy land of Hyrule and centers on an elf like boy named Link who aims to collect the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom in order to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon 10 During the course of the game the player controls Link from a top down perspective and navigates throughout the overworld and dungeons collecting weapons defeating enemies and uncovering secrets along the way 11 The Legend of ZeldaNorth American box artDeveloper s Nintendo R amp D4Publisher s NintendoDirector s Shigeru Miyamoto Takashi TezukaProducer s Shigeru MiyamotoDesigner s Shigeru Miyamoto Takashi TezukaProgrammer s Toshihiko Nakago Yasunari Soejima 6 I Marui 6 Writer s Takashi Tezuka Keiji Terui 7 Composer s Koji KondoSeriesThe Legend of ZeldaPlatform s Family Computer Disk System Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy Advance GameCubeReleaseFamily Computer Disk SystemJP February 21 1986NESNA August 22 1987 a PAL November 15 1987JP February 19 1994Game Boy AdvanceJP February 14 2004NA June 2 2004PAL July 9 2004Genre s Action adventureMode s Single playerDesigned by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka it was originally released in Japan as a launch title for the Family Computer Disk System in February 1986 12 More than a year later North America and Europe received releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System in cartridge format being the first home console game to include an internal battery in the US for saving data 13 This version was later released in Japan in 1994 under the title The Hyrule Fantasy Zelda no Densetsu 1 d 5 The game was ported to the GameCube 14 and Game Boy Advance 5 and was available via the Virtual Console on the Wii Nintendo 3DS and Wii U 15 It was also one of 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition system and is available on the Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online service The Legend of Zelda was a critical and commercial success for Nintendo The game sold over 6 5 million copies launched a major franchise and has been regularly featured in lists of the greatest video games of all time A sequel Zelda II The Adventure of Link was first released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System less than a year after its predecessor and numerous additional successors and spinoffs have been released in the decades since its debut Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 2 1 Setting 2 2 Story 3 Development 4 Release 4 1 Japanese release 4 2 American release 4 3 Re releases 5 Reception 6 Legacy 6 1 Sequels 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Works cited 9 External linksGameplay Edit Link attacking Octorok monsters with his sword in the overworldThe Legend of Zelda incorporates elements of action adventure and role playing genres The player controls Link from a flip screen overhead perspective as he travels the overworld a large outdoor map with various environments 11 Link begins the game equipped only with a small shield but can enter a cave and receive a sword from an old man who advises It s dangerous to go alone Take this 16 Throughout the adventure Link finds and acquires various items that increase his abilities further including Heart Containers which increase his life meter magic rings which decrease the amount of damage Link takes from enemy attacks and stronger swords which allow Link to inflict more damage to enemies These items are mainly found in caves scattered throughout the land Some are easily accessible while others are hidden beneath obstacles such as rocks trees and waterfalls 17 Defeated enemies sometimes drop items including hearts which refill the life meter and Rupees the in game currency Rupees can also be found in hidden treasure caves and are used to buy equipment information and ability upgrades Hidden in the overworld are entrances to eight large dungeons housing the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom 18 Each dungeon has a unique maze like layout of rooms connected by doors and secret passages often barred by monsters which must be defeated or by blocks which must be moved to gain entrance 19 Dungeons also contain useful items Link can add to his inventory such as a boomerang for stunning enemies and retrieving distant items and a magical recorder that lets Link teleport to the entrance of any dungeon he has previously cleared 20 Once Link has collected all eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom from these dungeons he gains access to a ninth and final dungeon in order to defeat Ganon and rescue Zelda 21 The game may be completed by traversing any given dungeon on the overworld and is largely flexible to players although gameplay steadily increases in difficulty and some rooms can only be passed by using items gained in previous locations There are dungeons with secret entrances which must be uncovered while freely wandering the overworld after acquiring useful items This freedom allows many ways of progressing through the game It is possible to reach the final boss without receiving the normally vital sword at its outset 22 The game world contains 600 separate scenes 23 with the overworld consisting of over 97 scenes and the underworld consisting of nine multi scene labyrinths 24 After initially completing the game a player can begin a more difficult version referred to as the Second Quest 裏ゼルダ Ura Zeruda translated literally to Other Zelda 25 26 which alters many locations secrets and includes entirely distinct dungeons and stronger enemies 27 Although more difficult replays were not unique to Zelda few games offered completely different levels upon the second playthrough 22 By starting a new file with the name entered as ZELDA this mode can instead be accessed without needing to beat the game first 28 Plot EditSetting Edit Further information Fictional chronology of The Legend of Zelda Within the official Zelda Chronology The Legend of Zelda takes place in an Era called The Era of Decline which exists within an alternative reality In this era Hyrule has been reduced to a small kingdom where the residents now live in caves setting the background for The Legend of Zelda 29 Story Edit The story of The Legend of Zelda is described in the instruction booklet and during the short prologue which plays after the title screen A small kingdom in the land of Hyrule is engulfed by chaos when an army led by Ganon the prince of darkness invades and steals the Triforce of Power one part of a magical artifact which alone bestows great strength 10 In an attempt to prevent him from acquiring the Triforce of Wisdom Princess Zelda splits it into eight fragments and hides them in secret underground dungeons 10 Before eventually being kidnapped by Ganon she commands her nursemaid Impa to find someone courageous enough to save the kingdom 10 While wandering the land the old woman is surrounded by Ganon s henchmen when a young boy named Link appears and rescues her 10 Upon hearing Impa s plea he resolves to save Zelda and sets out to reassemble the scattered fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom with which Ganon can then be defeated 10 During the course of the tale Link locates and braves the eight underworld labyrinths and beyond their defeated guardian monsters retrieves each fragment With the completed Triforce of Wisdom he is able to infiltrate Ganon s hideout in Death Mountain confronting the prince of darkness and destroying him with the Silver Arrow 30 Obtaining the Triforce of Power from Ganon s ashes Link returns it and the restored Triforce of Wisdom to the rescued Princess Zelda and peace returns to Hyrule 31 Development Edit The game was first released in Japan as a disk for the Famicom Disk System It was later converted to a cartridge for American release on the NES The Legend of Zelda was directed and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka credited as S Miyahon and Ten Ten respectively in the closing credits 9 32 Miyamoto produced the game and Tezuka wrote the story and script 32 33 Much of the programming was done by Toshihiko Nakago of Nintendo s partner SRD Keiji Terui a screenwriter who worked on anime shows such as Dr Slump and Dragon Ball wrote the backstory for the manual drawing inspiration from conflicts in medieval Europe 7 Development began in 1984 and the game was originally intended to be a launch game for the Famicom Disk System 34 The development team worked on The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros concurrently and tried to separate their ideas Super Mario Bros was to be linear where the action occurred in a strict sequence whereas The Legend of Zelda would be the opposite 9 In Mario Miyamoto downplayed the importance of the high score in favor of simply completing the game 35 This concept was carried over to The Legend of Zelda Miyamoto was also in charge of deciding which concepts were Zelda ideas or Mario ideas Contrasting with Mario Zelda was made non linear and forced the players to think about what they should do next 36 According to Miyamoto those in Japan were confused and had trouble finding their way through the multi path dungeons and in initial game designs the player would start with the sword already in their inventory Rather than merely simplifying matters for players Miyamoto forced the player to listen to the old man who gives the player their sword and encouraged interaction among people to share their ideas with each other to find the various hidden secrets a new form of gaming communication Relatedly this concept turned into the root of another series to be developed many years in the future Miyamoto said that Zelda became the inspiration for Animal Crossing a game based solely on communication 37 With The Legend of Zelda Miyamoto wanted to flesh out the idea of a game world even further giving players a miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer 35 He drew his inspiration from his experiences as a boy around Kyoto where he explored nearby fields woods and caves always trying through Zelda games to impart players some sense of that limitless wonder he felt through unknown exploration 35 According to Miyamoto When I was a child I went hiking and found a lake It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it When I traveled around the country without a map trying to find my way stumbling on amazing things as I went I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this 38 The memory of being lost amid the maze of sliding doors in his family s home in Sonobe was recreated in Zelda s labyrinthian dungeons 39 Tezuka wrote the setting to be a fairytale adventure taking inspiration from fantasy books such as J R R Tolkien s The Lord of the Rings 40 41 The hero Link was so named in part to connect players inserted into this world with their interactive role as something of a blank slate representing their individuality or methods Designed by Miyamoto as a coming of age motif to identify with journeying as an ordinary boy strengthened by trials to triumph over great challenges and rise to meet evil 9 The name of the titular princess came from Zelda Fitzgerald Miyamoto explained that Zelda was the wife of famous novelist F Scott Fitzgerald She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts and I liked the sound of her name So I took the liberty of using it for the very first title 42 Early Zelda concepts involved technological elements with microchips for the Triforce made of electronic circuits and a time traveling hero another factor of their name relating to the idea of a computer hyper link While the final game and subsequent games in the series follow a more traditional medieval sword and sorcery setting 43 44 later entries have incorporated some technology based concepts 45 Koji Kondo credited as Konchan 32 composed the game s five music tracks He had planned to use Maurice Ravel s Bolero as the title theme but was forced to change it late in the development cycle after learning that the copyright for the orchestral piece had not yet expired As a result Kondo wrote a new arrangement of the overworld theme within one day which has become an iconic motif echoing throughout continued entries of the series 46 Release EditJapanese release Edit The original floppy disk releaseIn February 1986 Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda as the launch game for the Family Computer s new Disk System peripheral joined by a re release of Super Mario Bros Tennis Baseball Golf Soccer and Mahjong as part of the system s introduction It made full use of Disk Card media s advantages over traditional ROM cartridges with an increased size of 128 kilobytes which would be expensive to produce on cartridge format 35 Due to the still limited amount of disk space all of the text used in game was from only a single syllabary known as katakana which under normal circumstances primarily relates more to foreign words which supplement those of traditional Japanese origin as with hiragana and kanji characters Rather than passwords rewritable disks saved players game progress and the extra sound channel provided by the system was utilized for certain sound effects most notably Link s sword beam at full health roars and growls of dungeon bosses and those of defeated enemies Sound effects had to be altered for the eventual cartridge release version of Zelda which used the Famicom s PCM channel The game also took advantage of that system s controller having a built in microphone a feature the NES model did not include 47 It was used to defeat the large eared rabbit like monster Pols Voice by blowing or shouting 47 The U S instruction manual still hints that this enemy hates loud noise confusing many into thinking the recorder item could be used to attack in actuality it has no effect The cartridge version made use of the Memory Management Controller chip specifically the MMC1 model which could use bank switching to allow for larger games than had previously been possible and could also use battery powered RAM letting players save their data for the first time on the NES 48 American release Edit The gold colored cartridgeWhen Nintendo published the game in North America the packaging design featured a small portion of the box cut away to reveal the unique gold colored cartridge In 1988 The Legend of Zelda sold two million copies 49 Nintendo of America sought to keep its strong base of fans anyone who purchased a game and sent in a warranty card became a member of the Fun Club whose members got a four eight and eventually 32 page newsletter Seven hundred copies of the first issue were sent out free of charge but the number grew as the data bank of names got larger 50 From the success of magazines in Japan Nintendo knew that game tips were a valued asset Players enjoyed the bimonthly newsletter s crossword puzzles and jokes but game secrets were most valued The Fun Club drew kids in by offering tips for the more complicated games especially Zelda with its hidden rooms secret keys and passageways 50 The mailing list grew By early 1988 there were over 1 million Fun Club members which led then Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa to start the Nintendo Power magazine 51 Since Nintendo did not have many products it made only a few commercials a year meaning the quality had to be phenomenal The budget for a single commercial could reach US 5 million easily four or five times more than most companies spent 52 One of the first commercials made under Bill White director of advertising and public relations was the market introduction for the Legend of Zelda which received a great deal of attention in the ad industry In it a wiry haired nerdy guy John Kassir walks through the dark making goofy noises yelling out the names of some enemies from the game and screaming for Zelda 52 Re releases Edit The Legend of Zelda was first re released in cartridge format for the Famicom in 1994 3 The cartridge version slightly modified the title screen of the Disk Card version of the game such that it displayed the number 1 at the end of the title In 2001 the original game was re released in the GameCube game Animal Crossing The only way to unlock the game is by using an Action Replay An official re release was included in 2003 s The Legend of Zelda Collector s Edition for the GameCube 53 and the game was again re released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 along with its sequel The Adventure of Link as part of the Famicom Mini Classic NES Series In 2006 it was released on the Wii s Virtual Console and a timed demo of the game was released for the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros Brawl available in the Vault section All re releases of the game are virtually identical to the original though the GameCube Game Boy Advance and Virtual Console versions have been altered slightly to correct several instances of incorrect spelling from the original most notably in the intro story A tech demo called Classic Games was shown for the Nintendo 3DS at E3 2010 showcasing more than a dozen classic games using 3D effects including The Legend of Zelda 54 Reggie Fils Aime president of Nintendo of America said that the games were slated for release on the 3DS including The Legend of Zelda Mega Man 2 and Super Mario World 2 Yoshi s Island using of some of the 3DS s features such as 3D effects analog control or camera support 55 The Legend of Zelda was released to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in September 2011 as a part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program and was later released to the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22 in Japan in 2012 it was released in Europe on April 12 and on July 5 in North America 56 57 The version released to the Japanese 3DS Virtual Console was the cartridge version The game was released for the Nintendo Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo Entertainment System service on September 18 2018 A special Living the life of luxury edition of the game which grants players all equipment and extra items at the start of the game was later added to the service on October 10 In November 2021 Nintendo released a Legend of Zelda edition of Game amp Watch console similar to the rereleased Super Mario Bros Game amp Watch This version includes the original Legend of Zelda as well as Zelda II Adventure of Link and the Gameboy version of Link s Awakening The Zelda Game amp Watch also includes a modified version of the Game and Watch original Vermin with Link replacing Mr Game and Watch 58 Reception EditReceptionReview scoresPublicationScoreNESWiiACE905 1000 59 Computer and Video Games9 10 60 Dragon 61 Eurogamer 62 Famitsu 63 GameSpot7 2 10 13 IGN9 10 64 Jeuxvideo com19 20 65 19 20 66 Nintendo Life 67 RPGFan99 68 85 69 Total 78 70 Video Games DE 84 71 Computer Entertainer 24 AwardsPublicationAwardFamitsu Best Hit Game Awards 1986 Best BGM Game of the Year 3rd 72 Computer Gaming World 1988 Best Adventure 73 The Legend of Zelda received highly positive reviews from critics and was a best seller for Nintendo Upon release in Japan it sold 1 million copies on its first day of release 74 and sold a total of 1 69 million for the Famicom Disk System in Japan 75 In North America the game was highly anticipated and topped the video game charts upon release 24 76 It became the first NES game to sell over 1 million cartridges in the United States during 1987 77 78 79 increasing to more than 2 million cartridges sold by 1988 80 81 77 It went on to sell 3 million cartridges in the United States by 1990 82 and eventually 6 51 million copies worldwide 83 Critics lauded the graphics Kondo s score writing and gameplay hailing the latter as groundbreaking In Japan Famicom Tsushin Famitsu magazine gave it a full score of 5 out of 5 stars 63 while the first Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards gave Zelda the award for best background music and listed it as the third best Game of the Year just below Dragon Quest and Gradius 72 Upon release in North America Computer Entertainer called it an excellent adventure game that exceeded expectations and said it had more to offer than the typical hack and slash epics with monsters to fight secret doors to discover and plenty of frustration rewarded with new treasures weapons experience places and discoveries The review also praised the very appealing and beautiful fairy tale quality the battery backup save feature the charming graphics superb original music excellent animation and smooth transitions in scrolling between locations They called it an incredibly rich deep gaming experience that goes far beyond the typical cartridge game with appeal to both male and female players of all ages making it a must have for every Nintendo owner 24 Computer Gaming World in 1988 named the game as the best adventure of the year stating that Zelda had been a sensational success in bringing elements of computer action adventures to consoles 73 In 1990 the magazine implied that the game was a killer app causing computer RPG players who had dismissed consoles as mere arcade toys to buy the NES 84 Upon release in Europe Tony Takoushi reviewed the game in British magazine Computer and Video Games and called it a massive arcade adventure packed full of dragons imprisoned princesses traps and pitfalls They said it has an enormous country to examine with dozens of things to collect along with hidden power ups and bonuses while praising the supreme playability and the excellent graphics and sound but they criticized the hefty price tag of 39 or 69 equivalent to 170 in 2022 in the United Kingdom 60 ACE magazine reviewed the game in 1989 calling it a role playing epic that proves consoles can be just as good at role playing games as they are for arcade entertainment while listing it as one of the top four best games available for the NES along with Super Mario Bros Mike Tyson s Punch Out and Super Mario Bros 2 59 Zelda was reviewed in 1992 by Total where it received a 78 rating due in great part to mediocre sub scores for music and graphics 70 A 1993 review of the game was printed in American magazine Dragon 198 by Sandy Petersen in the Eye of the Monitor column scoring the game 4 out of 5 stars 61 It was reissued in 1992 as part of Nintendo s Classic Series and featured a grey cartridge The game placed first in the player s poll Top 30 in Nintendo Power s first issue 85 and continued to dominate the list into the early 1990s The Legend of Zelda was also voted by Nintendo Power readers as the Best Challenge in the Nintendo Power Awards 88 86 The magazine also listed it as the best Nintendo Entertainment System video game ever created stating that it was fun despite its age and innovated on the genre 87 GamesRadar ranked it the third best NES game ever made The staff praised its mix of complexity open world design and timeless graphics 88 The Legend of Zelda has received critical acclaim from modern critics and remains well regarded It is often featured in lists of games considered the greatest or most influential In 1995 Flux magazine ranked the game 2nd on its Top 100 Video Games 89 It placed first in Game Informer s list of the Top 100 Games of All Time and The Top 200 Games of All Time in 2001 and 2009 respectively 90 91 thirteenth in Electronic Gaming Monthly s 100th issue listing the 100 Best Games of All Time 92 fifth in Electronic Gaming Monthly s 200th issue listing The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time 93 seventh in Nintendo Power s list of the 200 Best Nintendo Games Ever 94 77th in Official Nintendo Magazine s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time 95 and 80th among IGN readers Top 99 Games 96 Zelda was inducted into GameSpy s Hall of Fame in August 2000 97 and voted by GameSpy s editors as the tenth best game of all time 98 Editors of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu voted the game among the best on the Famicom 99 In 1997 Next Generation listed the North American release in their Five Greatest Game Packages of All Time citing the die cut hole which revealed the gold cartridge full color manual and fold out map 100 In 2016 The Strong National Museum of Play inducted The Legend of Zelda to its World Video Game Hall of Fame 101 Legacy EditThe Legend of Zelda is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern action role playing video game RPG genre 22 Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role playing game genre 102 The game s fantasy setting musical style and action adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved non linear games in fantasy settings such as those found in successful RPGs 103 including Crystalis Soul Blazer Square s Seiken Densetsu series Alundra and Brave Fencer Musashi The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game 104 Despite this Miyamoto did not consider Zelda an RPG but classified Zelda as a real time adventure game he said he was not interested in systems where everything in the game is decided by stats and numbers but what s important to me is to preserve as much of that live feeling as possible which he said action games are better suited in conveying to players 105 The Legend of Zelda spawned a solitary sequel many prequels and spin offs and is one of Nintendo s most popular series It established important characters and environments of the Zelda universe including Link Princess Zelda Ganon Impa and the Triforce as the power that binds Hyrule together 35 The overworld theme and distinctive secret found jingle have appeared in nearly every subsequent Zelda game The theme has also appeared in various other games featuring references to the Zelda series An arcade system board called the Triforce was developed jointly by Namco Sega and Nintendo with the first games appearing in 2002 The name Triforce is a reference to Nintendo s The Legend of Zelda series of games and symbolized the three companies involvement in the project 106 GameSpot featured The Legend of Zelda as one of the 15 most influential games of all time for being an early example of open world nonlinear gameplay and for its introduction of battery backup saving worldwide to laying the foundations for later action adventure games like Metroid and role playing video games like Final Fantasy while influencing most modern games in general 103 In 2009 Game Informer called The Legend of Zelda no less than the greatest game of all time on their list of The Top 200 Games of All Time saying that it was ahead of its time by years if not decades 107 In 2011 Nintendo celebrated the game s 25th anniversary in a similar vein to the Super Mario Bros 25th anniversary celebration the previous year 108 This celebration included a free mailout Club Nintendo offer of the Ocarina of Time soundtrack to owners of the 3DS version of that particular game the first digital for Nintendo eShop release of Link s Awakening DX special posters that are mailed out as rewards through Club Nintendo and a special stage inspired by the original Legend of Zelda in the video game Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS Sequels Edit There have also been a few substantially altered versions of the game that have been released as pseudo sequels and ura or gaiden versions As part of a promotional advertisement campaign for their charumera チャルメラ noodles Myojo Foods Co Ltd 明星食品 Myoujou Shokuhin released a version of the original The Legend of Zelda in 1986 109 Zelda no Densetsu Teikyō Charumera ゼルダの伝説 提供 チャルメラ 110 111 It is one of the rarest video games available on the second hand collector s market and copies have sold for over US 1 000 112 From August 6 to September 2 1995 113 Nintendo in collaboration with the St GIGA satellite radio network began broadcasts of a substantially different version of the original The Hyrule Fantasy Legend of Zelda for a Super Famicom peripheral the Satellaview a satellite modem add on The game BS Zelda no Densetsu BS ゼルダの伝説 was released for download in four episodic weekly installments which were rebroadcast at least four times between the game s 1995 premiere and January 1997 BS Zelda was the first Satellaview game to feature a SoundLink soundtrack a streaming audio track through which every few minutes players were cautioned to listen carefully as a voice actor narrator broadcasting live from the St GIGA studio would give them plot and gameplay clues 114 In addition to the SoundLink elements BS Zelda also featured updated 16 bit graphics a smaller overworld and different dungeons Link was replaced by one of the two Satellaview avatars a boy wearing a backward baseball cap or a girl with red hair Between December 30 1995 and January 6 1996 115 a second version of the game BS Zelda no Densetsu MAP 2 BS ゼルダの伝説ＭＡＰ２ was broadcast to the Satellaview as the functional equivalent of the original The Legend of Zelda s Second Quest MAP 2 was rebroadcast only once in March 1996 113 Notes Edit Reported dates for US release varies The United States Copyright Office lists its publication date as June 30 1987 1 Other sources list its release date as July 1987 2 3 4 or August 22 1987 5 Japanese THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説 Hepburn Za Hairaru Fantaji Zeruda no Densetsu lit The Hyrule Fantasy The Legend of Zelda At the end of the Second Quest in both the Japanese and English versions the final credit and copyright notice identifies the game as The Legend of Zelda 1 ゼルダノデンセツ １ Japanese THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説1 Hepburn Za Hairaru Fantaji Zeruda no Densetsu 1 lit The Hyrule Fantasy The Legend of Zelda 1References Edit The Legend of Zelda Registration Number TX0002256182 United States Copyright Office Retrieved 29 May 2021 The Legend of Zelda NES IGN IGN Entertainment Inc Retrieved 23 August 2014 a b The Legend of Zelda NinDB Archived from the original on 2010 06 19 Retrieved 2014 08 24 NES Games PDF Nintendo Archived from the original PDF on 11 June 2014 Retrieved 23 August 2014 a b c The Legend of Zelda GameSpot CBS Interactive Inc Retrieved 24 August 2014 a b Proto The Legend of Zelda tcrf net a b 照井啓司さんのコメントコーナー in Japanese Retrieved January 7 2016 Mandelin Clyde Legends of Localization The Legend of Zelda Graphics Legends of Localization Retrieved 1 September 2020 a b c d Shigeru Miyamoto Interview Super PLAY in Swedish Medstroms Dataforlag AB 4 03 March 2003 Archived from the original on September 7 2006 Retrieved 24 Sep 2006 a b c d e f The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc pp 3 4 a b The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc p 18 放課後のクラブ活動のように 社長が訊く Nintendo Co Ltd 19 November 2009 Retrieved 8 June 2010 １９８６年２月に ファミコンのディスクシステムと同時発売された アクションアドベンチャーゲーム An action adventure game simultaneously released with the Famicom Disk System in February 1986 a b Gerstmann Jeff 22 November 2006 The Legend of Zelda Review GameSpot CBS Interactive Retrieved 24 August 2014 The Legend of Zelda Collector s Edition GameSpot CBS Interactive Inc Retrieved 23 August 2014 The Legend of Zelda Wii IGN IGN Entertainment Inc Retrieved 23 August 2014 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo p 41 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc p 28 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc pp 29 31 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc pp 32 39 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo pp 21 26 deWinter Jennifer 2015 Shigeru Miyamoto Super Mario Bros Donkey Kong The Legend of Zelda Bloomsbury Publishing p 141 ISBN 978 1 6289 2386 5 a b c Andrew Long The Legend of Zelda Retroview RPGamer Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 1 October 2006 Gellene Denise 13 June 1988 The Joystick Lives New Technology Better Marketing Give Video Games a Second Life The Los Angeles Times p 57 Retrieved 13 September 2021 a b c d Nintendo Software PDF Computer Entertainer Vol 6 no 5 August 1987 p 12 Archived PDF from the original on November 23 2019 Zelda Handheld History Iwata Asks Nintendo 26 January 2010 Retrieved 8 June 2010 裏ゼルダ の裏話 社長が訊く Nintendo 19 November 2009 Retrieved 8 June 2010 ZELDA The Second Quest Begins 1988 p 28 No byline IGN The Legend of Zelda Cheats Codes Hints amp Secrets for NES Retrieved 2014 08 24 The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia Dark Horse 2018 pp 10 11 ISBN 978 1 50670 638 2 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo of America Inc p 39 The Legend of Zelda Instruction Booklet Nintendo p 10 a b c Nintendo Co Ltd August 22 1987 The Legend of Zelda Nintendo of America Inc Scene staff credits Classic Zelda und Link Club Nintendo in German Nintendo 72 April 1996 Legend of Zelda Developer Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto Legend of Zelda Sound and Drama 1994 a b c d e Vestal Andrew Cliff O Neill Brad Shoemaker 2000 11 14 History of Zelda GameSpot Archived from the original on 2006 07 01 Retrieved 2006 09 30 Bufton Ben 2005 01 01 Shigeru Miyamoto Interview ntsc uk Retrieved 2006 09 23 Miyamoto Shigeru 8 March 2007 Creative Visions Speech Game Developers Conference in Japanese Sheff 1993 p 51 Sheff 1993 p 52 Classic Zelda und Link Classic Zelda and Link Club Nintendo in German Vol 1996 no 2 Nintendo of Europe April 1996 p 72 The two program designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were responsible for the game who set themselves the goal of developing a fairytale adventure game with action elements Takashi Tezuka a great lover of fantasy novels such as Tolkien s Lord of the Rings wrote the script for the first two games in the Zelda series Super Play Magazine Interviews Shigeru Miyamoto About The Legend of Zelda Super Play Sweden Vol 2003 no 4 Hjemmet Mortensen April 23 2003 Retrieved April 2 2021 All ideas for The Legend of Zelda were mine and Takashi Tezukas Books movies and our own lives Mowatt Todd In the Game Nintendo s Shigeru Miyamoto Amazon Retrieved 2006 10 01 NES Classic Edition Developer interview The Legend of Zelda Nintendo Miyamoto Yes So with a world of swords and sorcery as my theme I decided to make an adventure game based on treasure hunting and that was the beginning of The Legend of Zelda Iwata Satoru Miyamoto Shigeru 2011 Iwata Asks A Sword amp Sorcery Tale Admired Worldwide Nintendo co uk Nintendo Retrieved May 18 2019 And I was really happy that we here in Japan could make a medieval tale of sword and sorcery liked by the people of the world Miyamoto Shigeru Trinen Bill 2016 06 18 Interview Miyamoto Un equilibre difficile a trouver Gamekult Interview in French Retrieved 2016 06 19 MacDonald Mark May 3 2005 Zelda Exposed from 1UP com 1UP com IGN Archived from the original on October 16 2015 Retrieved October 2 2015 a b Edwards Benj 2008 08 07 Inside Nintendo s Classic Game Console slide 7 PC World Retrieved 2008 11 11 Why Your Game Paks Never Forget Nintendo Power Nintendo no 20 pp 28 31 January 1991 Sheff 1993 p 172 a b Sheff 1987 p 178 Sheff 1993 p 178 a b Sheff 1993 p 188 IGN Staff 2003 10 06 True Zelda Love IGN Retrieved 2014 08 24 Harris Craig June 15 2010 E3 2010 Classic NES in 3D IGN Retrieved April 1 2016 Jackson Mike 21 June 2010 News SNES NES classics set for 3DS return ComputerAndVideoGames com Archived from the original on November 2 2012 Retrieved 23 August 2014 The Legend of Zelda GameFAQs Retrieved April 1 2016 The Legend of Zelda 3DS Nintendo Retrieved April 1 2016 A New Version of the Legend of Zelda Just Launched on Switch 6 June 2023 a b Console Wars PDF ACE No 26 November 1989 October 1989 p 144 a b Takoushi Tony 16 August 1988 Mean Machines Zelda Computer and Video Games No 83 September 1988 p 122 a b Petersen Sandy October 1993 Eye of the Monitor Dragon 198 57 60 Reed Kristan 16 January 2007 Virtual Console NES Eurogamer Retrieved 23 February 2021 a b ゼルダの伝説 Legend of Zelda ファミコン通信 89全ソフトカタログ Famicom Tsushin 89 All Software Catalog Famicom Tsushin 15 September 1989 p 72 Thomas Lucas M 15 February 2007 The Legend of Zelda VC Review IGN Retrieved 23 February 2021 Test du jeu The Legend of Zelda sur Nes Jeuxvideo com in French 12 November 2009 Retrieved 23 February 2021 Test du jeu The Legend of Zelda sur Wii Jeuxvideo com in French 1 January 2010 Retrieved 23 February 2021 McFerran Damien 20 November 2006 Review The Legend of Zelda Wii Virtual Console NES Nintendo Life Retrieved 23 February 2021 DeMario Andrew March 27 2001 The Legend of Zelda RPGFan Retrieved 23 February 2021 Barker Andrew May 22 2010 The Legend of Zelda RPGFan Retrieved 23 February 2021 a b Jarratt Steve The Legend of Zelda Total Issue 2 Pg 20 21 February 1992 6 Legend of Zelda Video Games No 1 27 March 1991 p 26 a b 1986 ベストヒットゲーム大賞 1986 Best Hit Game Awards Famicom Tsushin in Japanese Vol 1987 no 3 6 February 1987 pp 4 to 7 a b Kunkel Bill Worley Joyce Katz Arnie November 1988 Video Gaming World PDF Computer Gaming World pp 54 56 Archived PDF from the original on May 10 2013 Page Barnaby 15 December 1988 All that glitters is not sold New consoles and computers may sound wonderful but they re often just too good argues Barnaby Page The Games Machine No 14 January 1989 p 148 The Nintendo II is several years off and even Nintendo themselves in the shape of their UK agent Mike Wensman recognise that software is the problem there Still according to Wensman that pays off In Japan he claims Legend Of Zelda sold a mind boggling million copies on its first day of release and it does provide 260 hours of play Japan Platinum Chart Games The Magic Box Retrieved 23 February 2021 Top Ten Videogames PDF Computer Entertainer Vol 6 no 5 August 1987 p 1 Archived PDF from the original on November 23 2019 a b Lindner Richard 1990 Video Games Past Present and Future An Industry Overview United States Nintendo of America Narly Nintendo The Duffer s Guide to Nintendomania Raze Newsfield Publications 5 18 March 1991 Morrison Mike 1994 The Magic of Interactive Entertainment Sams Publishing ISBN 978 0 672 30456 9 Industry wide 4 1 million home video game units sold in 1987 including 3 million Nintendo units alone The Legend of Zelda became the first million seller of this new generation of home video game software Nintendo Entertainment System Boys Life Vol 78 no 11 Boy Scouts of America November 1988 p 26 ISSN 0006 8608 Belson Eve December 1988 A Chip off the Old Silicon Block Orange Coast Magazine Vol 14 no 12 Emmis Communications pp 87 90 90 ISSN 0279 0483 Hillkirk John Jacobson Gary 1990 Grit Guts and Genius True Tales of Megasuccess who Made Them Happen and how They Did it Houghton Mifflin ISBN 978 0 395 56189 8 In Japan it has become a great honor for a video game designer to design a game that sells a million cartridges or more in the United States Several Japanese have done just that The Legend of Zelda has sold 3 million copies The Super Mario Bros created by thirty five year old Shigeru Miyamoto 9 million copies March 25 2004 The Magic Box 2004 03 25 Archived from the original on 2005 11 26 Retrieved 2007 04 01 Adams Roe R III November 1990 Westward Ho Toward Japan That Is Computer Gaming World p 83 Retrieved 16 November 2013 Top 30 Nintendo Power vol 1 p 102 July August 1988 Nester Awards Nintendo Power Nintendo no 6 pp 18 21 May June 1989 Best of the Best Nintendo Power No 231 August 2008 p 71 Best NES Games of all time GamesRadar 2012 04 16 Retrieved 2013 12 05 Top 100 Video Games Flux Harris Publications 4 25 April 1995 Cork Jeff 2009 11 16 Game Informer s Top 100 Games of All Time Circa Issue 100 Game Informer Retrieved 2013 12 10 The Top 200 Games of All Time Game Informer No 200 December 2009 pp 44 79 100 Best Games of All Time Electronic Gaming Monthly No 100 Ziff Davis November 1997 p 152 Note Contrary to the title the intro to the article on page 100 explicitly states that the list covers console video games only meaning PC games and arcade games were not eligible S B February 2006 The 200 Greatest Video Games of their Time Electronic Gaming Monthly Archived from the original on 2012 06 29 Retrieved 2006 10 01 NP Top 200 Nintendo Power vol 200 pp 58 66 February 2006 80 61 ONM ONM Archived from the original on April 1 2011 Retrieved 2009 02 19 Readers Picks Top 99 Games 80 71 IGN April 11 2005 Archived from the original on October 14 2007 Retrieved 2006 09 30 Buecheler Christopher August 2000 The Gamespy Hall of Fame GameSpy Archived from the original on 2006 08 19 Retrieved 2006 09 30 GameSpy Staff July 2001 GameSpy s Top 50 Games of All Time GameSpy Archived from the original on 2008 03 20 Retrieved 2006 09 30 taragan 2006 Famitsu Readers All time Favorite Famicom Games Pink Godzilla Archived from the original on 2008 06 17 Retrieved 2006 09 20 The Five Greatest Game Packages of All Time Next Generation No 32 Imagine Media August 1997 p 38 The Legend of Zelda The Strong National Museum of Play The Strong Retrieved 6 May 2022 GameSpy s 30 Most Influential People in Gaming GameSpy Archived from the original on 2007 06 10 Retrieved 2007 04 01 a b 15 Most Influential Games of All Time The Legend of Zelda GameSpot Archived from the original on 2010 05 15 Retrieved 2014 08 24 An example is a clone for the TRS 80 Color Computer III called The Quest for Thelda written by Eric A Wolf and licensed to Sundog Systems Quest For Thelda 2003 10 06 Archived from the original on 2008 04 14 Retrieved 2008 04 02 The Future of RPGs Developer Interviews The Super Famicom in Japanese Vol 3 no 22 27 November 1992 pp 89 97 Retrieved 14 October 2021 The Future of RPGs 1992 Developer Interviews Shmuplations Namco Triforce Hardware System16 Retrieved March 31 2016 The Game Informer staff December 2009 The Top 200 Games of All Time Game Informer No 200 pp 44 79 ISSN 1067 6392 OCLC 27315596 Zelda 25th anniversary will be special Nintendo Official Nintendo Magazine 8 March 2010 Archived from the original on March 9 2011 Retrieved 9 March 2010 Keef ファミコン ディスクシステム Archived 2011 07 13 at the Wayback Machine Urban Awakening DiX 覚醒都市DiX Yuri Sakazaki Museum 2009 Kahf A ファミコン非売品リスト Archived April 29 2016 at the Wayback Machine No Enemy in Our Way Retrieved 22 April 2009 Day Ashley The Ultimate Guide To 06 The Legend of Zelda The Versions of Zelda Zelda no Densetsu Teikyou Charumera 1986 Retro Gamer Issue 90 Pg 62 May 2011 The Rarest and Most Valuable NES Games Archived November 22 2011 at the Wayback Machine Digital Press via RacketBoy 25 May 2010 a b Kameb 2008 02 12 かべ新聞ニュース閲覧室 in Japanese The Satellaview History Museum Archived from the original on 2011 02 04 Retrieved 2009 04 22 BS The Legend of Zelda IGN Retrieved 2014 08 24 Kameb 2008 02 12 サウンドリンクゲーム一覧 in Japanese The Satellaview History Museum Archived from the original on 2009 02 06 Retrieved 2009 04 22 Works cited Edit Sheff David 1993 Game Over How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry Captured Your Dollars and Enslaved Your Children Random House ISBN 0 679 40469 4 ZELDA The Second Quest Begins Nintendo Power vol 1 pp 26 36 July August 1988External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to The Legend of Zelda video game Official website Portals Video games 1980s Japan Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Legend of Zelda video game amp oldid 1168250081, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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