Monday, August 23, 2010

The "Legend" of The Legend Of Zelda

I’m sure you’ve all heard about the game franchise known as The Legend Of Zelda. It’s one of the most successful game franchises ever. But do you really know the rich history behind this franchise. I’m going to explain more about this legendary franchise. The Legend Of Zelda is basically a combination of fantasy, role playing, puzzle, adventure and action. Now as for the name of the main character and the characters in the series. The name of the hero is Link. The common villain in most all Zelda games is Ganon or Ganondorf. Zelda is the princess of a place called Hyrule. There are some wonderful characters in each game of the series as well. The series commonly involves a relic which is known as the triforce. This is defined as a set of three golden triangles of omnipotence. The interesting thing is that Link holds the triforce of courage, Zelda holds the triforce of wisdom and Ganon holds the triforce of power. Believe it or not, the first game of the series was released back in 1986. That’s before I was born making it a 24 year old gaming franchise since I was born in the year 1987. The game and series was created by Japanese game designers by the names of Shigeru Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It was released in the US back in 1987. From my research I have discovered that as of April 2010, the series has sold over a staggering 59 million copies. Nintendo is the publsher of this whole series. I’m a huge fan of the series and I’ve played all system versions of the game with the exception of one of maybe two. I am going to list some of the games (not all of them) and a bit about the plots and information for some of the games that make up this legendary gaming series. Also listed are the platform(s) that you can get the games for. I just hope I can do this series justice on this blog for this is truly an amazing gaming series. I also included videos of the commercials for each game listed as well. Enjoy!

The Legend Of Zelda-Platform (NES)-Release Date For US-1987
This is the very first one. This game has sold at or over 6.51 million copies. I myself have played this game and it was quite a ride. This game was re-released for Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance, Gamecube and is also on the Wii shop channel as well. A bit about the plot is that the king of evil who is known as Ganon breaks free of the dark world and captures Zelda. But before Zelda is captured she manages to break the triforce of wisdom and scatter it into 8 pieces which are scattered throughout hyrule. Your adventure starts off with you going into a cave and picking up a wooden sword. Throughout the game you will gain different and more powerful weapons. You will be giving the task to fight tough enemies along the way. You have to gather the 8 pieces of triforce and save princess Zelda by defeating Ganon and therefore destroying ganons evil plans. Trust me this game is not that easy to beat. For more please play this game you will not be disappointed if you’re a fan of the series.


Zelda 2 The Adventure Of Link-Platform (NES)-Release Date For US-1988
I’ve played this game as well. This game has sold at or over 4.38 million. This is the Second installment of The Legend Of Zelda for the NES. This Game was re-released for Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance, Gamecube and is on the Wii shop channel as well. This Game is also on Nintendo This game uses the experience points system. What that means is that when Link defeats enemies he gains points which he can then use to upgrade his attack, magic and life. A bit about the plot is that Link basically has to restore crystals to palaces and awaken the sleeping princess Zelda in which she is under a powerful sleeping spell. In this game there are more character interactions and it’s quite a bit different from the very first one. You will be as always given the task to fight some tough enemies. For more please play this game you will definitely enjoy it if you’re a fan of the series.


The Legend Of Zelda A Link To The Past-Platform (SNES)-Release Date For US-1992
This is actually the first Game of the series that I ever played. After this one I became hooked on the series. This is probably one of the best ones if not the best of the entire series in my opinion. This was the very first Zelda game to hit the Super Nintendo and the only as well. This game has sold at or over 4.61 million. This Game was re-released for Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance and is on the Wii shop channel as well. A bit about the plot is that at the beginning Zelda is captured and Link has to save her from the first castle in the game. Then after link saves her he is given the task of collecting three pendants to get the master sword which is in the woods. After getting the master sword Zelda is captured again. Link will have to go in and out of the light world and the dark world to fight evil, rescue princess Zelda and destroying Ganons evil plans. Along the way you will get different and more powerful weapons. There are some pretty tough enemies in this game as well. Again, this is a must play game for fans of the series.


The Legend Of Zelda Link’s Awakening-Platform (Gameboy)-Release Date For US-1993
I’ve played this game as well. This game has sold at or over 3.83 million copies. I’m not going to discuss the plot for this game but this game just like the rest are must play games for the fans of this series. This game was re-released on the Gameboy Color with to my knowledge more added things to the game including color. The re-release was entitled The Legend Of Zelda Link’s Awakening DX which was released in the US in 1998 and has sold at or over 2.22 million copies.


The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time-Platform (Nintendo 64)-Release Date For US-1998
I’ve played this game as well. This game has sold at or over 7.60 million copies. This is arguably the greatest Zelda game of all time. It had some stunning 3D graphics and great gameplay. The weapons and all are amazing as well. This was the first of two Zelda games to hit the Nintendo 64. This game was re-released for the Nintendo Gamecube and is on the Wii shop channel. The plot is basically that Zelda get’s captured by Ganon and you have to save her and destroy ganon yet again along with his plans. In this game Link must travel back and forth through time as a boy and as an adult. This game can get very difficult. It has a place on the game that you can fish as well which is very fun along with the rest of the game. This game is an absolute must play for fans of the series and I can’t stress that out enough.



The Legend Of Zelda Majora’s Mask-Platform (Nintendo 64)-Release Date for US-2000
This is another one that I’ve played. This is the sequel to The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time for the Nintendo 64. This was the second Zelda game released for the Nintendo 64. It was not as good as Ocarina Of Time in my opinion but it’s definitely a great Zelda game nonetheless. It has sold at or over 3.36 million copies. To play this game you were required to have an expansion pack for the Nintendo 64. This game was in 3D as well of course. This game was re-released for the Nintendo Gamecube and is on the Wii shop channel. The plot is basically that you are to be lead at the beginning of the game to a different world that resembles Hyrule which is called Termina. This is where a skull kid has stolen an ancient mask and can control the moon’s landing and the moon is falling slowly towards Termina and you have 3 days before everything will be destroyed. This game is a pretty amazing game and I definitely recommend all fans of the series to play this game. It has a good depth to it.


The Legend Of Zelda The Wind Waker-Platform (Gamecube)-Release Date for US-2003
This is another one that I’ve actually recently played. This is the very first Zelda game released for the Nintendo Gamecube. This game was outstanding. You can not only play this game for the Nintendo gamecube but you can also play it on the Wii because Wii is backwards compatible with gamecube games. This game has sold at or over 3.07 million copies. The plot is basically that your sister gets kidnapped around the beginning of the game and you set out to rescue her. You travel by water in a boat. You can use the windwaker to control the wind once you obtain it. And I wouldn’t want to spoil anything telling you more. All I’ll say is that the storyline is extremely good. Another must play for the fans of this series.


The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess-Platform (Gamecube/Wii)-Release Date for both US-2006
I am actually playing the Nintendo Wii version of this game on occasion as of now. This game is far beyond outstanding. It was released for both the Nintendo Gamecube and the Nintendo Wii platforms. This game sold at or over 5.26 million copies on Nintendo Wii and at or over 1.56 million copies for the Nintendo Gamecube. A bit about the plot in this game is that Link goes back and forth being a wolf and a person. Link is trying to prevent Hyrule from being engulfed by twilight. This game get’s very deep and has a wonderful storyline. If you don’t play any other Zelda game in the series or if you don’t find any other Zelda game interesting play this one and you may change your mind about the series as a whole and you may start enjoying the other Zelda games as well.

The funny thing about this commercial is that it was for the gamecube as well.

The Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword
This game is the next installment in this series of The Legend Of Zelda. I heard rumors that it would be out in 2011 for the Nintendo Wii. Let’s hope they push it sooner. This game is going to be using the Wii motion plus to the fullest which means it’s going to make this game absolutely incredible because now you can swing your sword as you would like with realistic timing with the Wii motion plus.


If you have anything else you would like to add or any information feel free to post it in the comments section. I did not include some of the games for this series in this blog such as the Zelda games for the DS, the Oracle Of Ages/Oracle Of Seasons for Gameboy Color, The legend of Zelda A Link To The Past/Four Swords, Links Crossbow Training and The Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures





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