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Legend of Zelda Celebrates 20 Years

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the triforce-for-200-alex dept.

The Legend of Zelda is one of the most beloved gaming franchises Nintendo has created. It is also celebrating two decades of life this week. 1up has a great feature on the anniversary, exploring the different games in the series with a list of 'stuff to love'. From the article: "Twenty years ago this week -- February 21, 1986 -- thousands of Japanese gamers played The Legend of Zelda for the first time, and their perspective on gaming was forever changed. Here was a huge world, a massive quest, an open-ended odyssey that demanded exploration. When we Americans first placed that golden cartridge in our Nintendo Entertainment Systems a few months later, we learned what our friends overseas had already discovered: Zelda was addictive. It was adventurous. It was ambitious. It was amazing." Four Colour Rebellion also has commentary on this auspicious occasion, with a Happy Birthday look back and some fond remembrances.

11 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. The Legend of Zelda was awesome ... by nbvb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wow, 20 years ago.

    Man, I feel old.

    This was one of my favorite games many years ago. Who am I kidding? It still is!

    What a BLAST it was. Always something new to find, explore, or otherwise.

    I bet I could still remember which trees to burn so I could buy cheap shields; and which ones took your money. :)

    Fun times; I guess I'm getting old. The new games just don't do it for me anymore. Too complicated.

    I still somewhat regularly plug in my Intellivision and NES, but that's about where I stop. The newer games are all show, no go. There's just no gameplay compared to, say, Astrosmash. Or Super Mario Bros (1, 2 or 3, take your pick!) Or for sports games, try Super Sprint. Or of course, Intellivision Baseball (one of the best games ever written, anywhere, by anyone -- except for that annoying get-the-run-in-before-the-third-out-and-it-still-c ounts bug. :)

    Good stuff; I think the gaming industry today should be locked in a room with these old games to remind them how to make the games FUN!

    1. Re:The Legend of Zelda was awesome ... by spectre_240sx · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Sentiment and nostalgia may play a part, but the big thing about those old games is that they were acutally fun, where the games on the market now are just about graphics.

    2. Re:The Legend of Zelda was awesome ... by Gulthek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now that's just silly. Are Kirby: Rainbow Run, or Advance Wars: Dual Strike or Trauma Center all about the graphics? How about lumines? How about geometry wars?

      I think your case is hardest to argue when I mention games like the excellent "Spider and Web" or "Photopia."

      Nostalgia is great, but there have always been crap games and good games. Then and now. But you have to admit that in general the ratio of crap to good was much higher in the 80s. Or did you enjoy "endings" that were one sentence long? Or playing Tiger Heli? Or Yo! Noid?

    3. Re:The Legend of Zelda was awesome ... by bombadillo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or did you enjoy "endings" that were one sentence long? Or playing Tiger Heli?

      TIger Heli was pretty good in the arcade. Never played the home version...

  2. Props. They haven't lost it, either. by ianscot · · Score: 3, Insightful
    My two twelve-year-olds are currently eagerly anticipating "Twilight Princess." They've had it on their lists at Amazon for months. They delay in its release gave the two of them fits.

    Maybe Windwaker wasn't to everyone's taste -- it was mine -- but Zelda has to be up there with the best of the best. What other series has lasted nearly as long, producing a mid-arc title (in Ocarina of Time) that's regarded as one of the best games of all time?

    Aside from the various EA sports titles, you don't have anything else with near as much longevity, and Madden and company partly just sell you updated rosters every year.

    --
    "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
    1. Re:Props. They haven't lost it, either. by Relic+of+the+Future · · Score: 2, Insightful
      "you don't have anything else with near as much longevity,"

      ::cough::Metroid::cough

      --
      Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
  3. Ahh by pHatidic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Zelda was good, one of the best even. But it still doesn't hold a candle to NetHack.

  4. My First Love: Legend of Zelda by Avacar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I won't lie, I love the Legend of Zelda. With each new game that comes out, there always seems to be this 2-4 year waiting period, by the end of which I'm ready to explode with anticipation. Will the next game live up to expectations? Will I find it challenging?

    the answer, again and again, has been 'Yes'. I have yet to play a Legend of Zelda game I don't like. Sure, there have been some games which I liked less than others, but I'd still rather play any Legend of Zelda game over Generic FPS #284. From that point of view, though, each Zelda game has similar themes, weapons and play styles, yet in the twenty years I've been playing it, it has yet to get old.

    Being an '80's child, I feel like I grew up with The Legend of Zelda. As I got older, the games matured too, changing in play style, or gaining new features. While I'm incredibly frustrated at the constant delays of the upcomming Twilight's Princess I will still be lined up the day it comes out, and inevitebly lose a week of productivity as I play through it.

    To all other Zelda fans out there, I hope your memories are as fond. Happy Birthday.

  5. Today I Turn 29.... by DavidD_CA · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... and I learn that Zelda turns 20. As if I didn't feel old already!

    On a related note, I was thinking that someone should make a movie based on the Zelda series, in the same light as LoTR.

    And then I watched Doom and thought, "Oh god no. Please don't ruin Zelda by turning it into a movie."

    --
    -David
  6. Re:Do you remember when Nintendo Power went color? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    That was when Nintendo Power became Nintendo Power. Before that, it was Nintendo Fun Club.

    Anyone who had purchased a game around that time could send in a card and get a free copy of Issue #1. Oddly enough, my card came from The Legend of Zelda. (It was the first game I bought.)

    Ahh... good times...

  7. Re:A better sentence in the story by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The American NES also had extra pins on the cartridge connector to give the cart direct access to the expansion slot on the bottom of the console, which was never used for anything.