The Legend of Zelda is turning 35

Let’s talk again about a special anniversary. Let’s enter one more time inside the world of Nintendo, the one that followed more than one generation of videoplayers. This time the birthday is the one of The Legend of Zelda. The last 21st of february 2021 it turned 35. Let’s review the history of a big videogame and let’s discover what surprises are waiting for us in the future.

The beginning of the serie

It was the 21st of february 1986 when the first The Legend of Zelda was released. The videogame, created by Shigeru Miyamoto, was released only in Japan for the console Famicon Disc System. The first videogame of the serie was called only The Legend of Zelda, the same name with which, in the years, it was called the whole serie.

The following year, the 1987, the game arrived in the West, for the NES, the western equivalent of the console Famicon.

We had a not linear game, with a view from above. It was easy and sterile, if we think to the incredible beauty and complexity of the recent Breath of the Wild, but let’s remember that we are talking about 35 years ago.

35 years of The Legend of Zelda

The same year it was released the second videogame of the serie: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, it was for that two consoles too. The Adventure of Link is considered the only real sequel of the first Zelda, all the others are prequel or are in an alternative dimension of the same story.

In the 1991 arrives The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past, with a funny words game in the title. This videogame arrives together with the release of the new console Nintendo, the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). The game’s dynamics are similar, but the graphic is much better.

In the 1993 it’s the time of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, the saga arrives on the portable console GameBoy. This time we don’t understand if it’s a prequel or an alternative timeline. Anyway here they don’t talk about Ganon, Hyrule or Zelda, but there is only Link, shipwrecked on an island.

Then, in the 1998, arrives Ocarina of Time, for the new console Nintendo, the Nintendo 64. It is the first videogame of the serie in 3D. Therefore, here we start to better define the world of Hyrule, the world that we will start to know and to love thanks to the last titles of the serie. Here there are, infact, the new races of the world: the Zora and the Goron.

Ocarina of Time it was adapted for the following consoles: in the 2002 on GameCube and in the 2011 on Nintendo 3DS.

Let’s quickly scroll the following years, because from now on there are so many titles of The Legend of Zelda:

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – 2000
• Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages -2001
• Four Swords + A Link to the Past – 2002
• The Wind Waker – 2002
• Four Swords Adventure – 2004
• The Minish Cap -2005
• Twilight Princess – 2006
• Phantom Hourglass – 2007
• Spirit Tracks – 2009
• Skyward Sword – 2011
• A Link Between Worlds – 2013
• Tri Force Heroes -2015

And lastly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was released in the 2017. A masterpiece created for the Switch.

But who is Zelda?

For the beginners that see for the first time the world of The Legend of Zelda the game’s dynamics and the story won’t be very clear. Many by watching it for the first time will believe that Zelda is the protagonist of our story. Wrong! Zelda is the princess that Link is trying to save for 35 years. And Link is right our hero protagonist. We will wear his shoes in each new title.

Like we said the serie isn’t in chronological order. Almost always they are parallel universes, different timelines of the same story, told in different ways with many shadows. The story is this one: the calamity Ganon, a super despicable that embodies all the evil of the world, threats the kingdom of Hyrule. Link is our hero that tries, all the times, to beat Ganon and, meanwhile, to save Zelda, the princess of the kingdom of Hyrule.

The story takes a concrete shape and it’s much more understandable in the last title. Thanks to the open world of Breath of the Wild we can really discover the world of Hyrule, as never before. But the world isn’t always the same one. During the years we saw how Link walked through different universes, connected by a common row: the princess Zelda and the enemy Ganon.

Now the fans hope in the announce of the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, maybe, right as a gift for the celebration of this 35th anniversary.

This post is also available in: Italiano