21

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA (1986): RESCUING ZELDAS AND UNITING TRIFORCES

Like most of the games covered in this book, Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda needs no introduction. A gamer who'd never heard of Zelda would be as bizarre as a science fiction fan who'd never heard of Star Wars, or a fantasy buff who'd never read Tolkien. Love it or hate it, The Legend of Zelda is a foundational game, one of only a handful of titles that can truly be said to have helped to define the industry as we know it today. Its popularity and name recognition is rivaled only by the likes of Super Mario Bros. (Chapter 19, “Super Mario Bros. (1985): How High Can Jumpman Get?” also from Miyamoto) and Pac-Man (Chapter 13, “Pac-Man (1980): Japanese Gumption, American Consumption”). To say that it “influenced” the games industry is like saying that the biblical Moses “influenced” the Red Sea. It didn't just sell copies, it parted the Pacific Ocean, helping to open a critical link between Japan and America that has yet to close. If Miyamoto's Super Mario Bros., was the lure, The Legend of Zelda was the hook. It was a game that turned ordinary people into lifelong gamers.

But what was it about The Legend of Zelda that aroused such hyperbole? Maybe, you say, it was just a case of the right game at the right time, a simplistic action game with just enough role-playing elements to titillate the unwashed masses. After all, surely the plot—rescue Princess Zelda from the evil clutches of Ganon by assembling eight pieces of a magical artifact called the Triforce—is hopelessly cliche, more Mother Goose than Norman Mailer. And surely the gameplay is simplistic as well, having more in common with Space Invaders (Chapter 16, “Space Invaders (1978): The Japanese Descend”) than Ultima (Chapter 23, ” Ultima (1980): The Immaculate Conception of the Computer Role-Playing Game”). Perhaps the record-setting sales of The Legend of Zelda and its sequels say more about the naïveté of the buying public than the artistry of its creators: a masterpiece only of marketing.

Amazingly, legendary Donkey Kong and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto designed yet another “mascot” game in the 1980s that would spawn a huge mainstream phenomena and franchise. Screenshot from the original The Legend of Zelda on the NES that started it all.

But such claims, no matter how eloquently presented, would be as eccentric as a science fiction fan who hated Star Wars, or a fantasy buff who loathed Tolkien. They certainly exist. But nobody particularly likes them.

In this chapter, we'll explore the legacy of The Legend of Zelda, one of the most successful and long-lived franchises in the history of the industry. As we'll see, all of these games were instant best-sellers and were routinely given perfect or near perfect scores by all major critics. Zelda—at least in the eyes of its many fans—can simply do no wrong.

The first Zelda game debuted in 1986 for the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)—the Famicom—followed by a North American release in 1987. Often described as an “action-adventure,” the game put players in the role of a courageous lad named Link. Link's quest is to reassemble the eight pieces of a powerful artifact called the Triforce of Wisdom, which Princess Zelda had separated and hidden to keep them away from the megalomaniac Ganon, Prince of Darkness. Ganon learned of Zelda's deed and imprisoned her, but not before the wily princess sent her nursemaid (Impa) to search for a hero. Link saves Impa and learns of the threat to the land of Hyrule. Fortunately for Link, there are some people willing to help him on his quest, and they provide vital but often cryptic clues.

The gameplay is usually described as “action-adventure,” though some people wrongly consider it an RPG. Players spend most of their time exploring a tile-based map, shown from an overhead perspective comparable to early Ultima games. Many maps are swarming with monsters, who can be vanquished by swings from Link's sword. If Link's “life hearts” are at their maximum capacity, he can also throw the sword. Because the sword instantly reappears in Link's hand,¹ this aspect of the gameplay is similar to that found in the many “run and gun” games of the era, such as SNK's Ikari Warriors (1986; Arcade) and Konami's Contra (1987; Arcade). Link can also find an upgrade for his shield and a magical bow and arrows, as well as other character items that allow him to gradually access more areas, but there's hardly the emphasis on upgrading arms and armor found in most role-playing games.

Although The Legend of Zelda has much in common with many RPGs, such as a fantasy setting and the presence of magic, it lacks both a leveling system and tactical turn-based combat system, two of the quintessential features of the computer RPG genre. We can easily contrast it with contemporary games like Enix's Dragon Warrior, which debuted first in Japan as Dragon Quest in 1986 and a year later in North America under its new name. Though not nearly as popular here as it was in Japan, it still gave American NES owners a chance to play a true “Japanese role-playing game.” Dragon Warrior offered both the point-based leveling system and tactical combat that has characterized much of the genre ever since. A similar point could be made of Square's Final Fantasy (1987), another classic console RPG, discussed in Chapter 7, “Final Fantasy VII (1997): It's Never Final in the World of Fantasy.” Both Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior were hugely successful in Japan, but didn't seem to attract much attention in North America, where console owners at the time seemed to prefer action-oriented games.

It's important to bear in mind the state of the console market in 1987. Although the NES was more advanced than the last generation of American consoles, the bulk of successful console games still tended to be rather simplistic action games. This situation was in stark contrast to the computer games market, where adventure, RPG, and strategy games were far more abundant. Furthermore, the NES seemed targeted primarily to children, an idea that Nintendo reinforced with its strict censorship policies, cartoony mascots, and family-friendly advertisements. Although plenty of adults could enjoy games like Super Mario Bros. and the light-gun game Duck Hunt, these were simple diversions indeed compared to the latest offerings from Origin or Sierra On-Line. No doubt many publishers feared that a more sophisticated game would have floundered miserably in a market dominated by adolescents. On the other hand, Nintendo clearly needed more than run-and-jump games if it wanted to expand its North American user base.

Zelda II for the NES had random encounters, like so many Japanese RPGs of its era. Players could try to avoid these monsters if they wanted, but Link would miss out on the experience points.

Zelda II offered a 2D, side-scrolling view during combat and some exploration modes. Even though the game sold well, many fans consider it the worst game of the series on a Nintendo system.

The Legend of Zelda seemed destined to fill the gap. Like Super Mario Bros., it was simple enough for kids, but still compelling for adults. Miyamoto confessed that he was initially nervous about the game, because it “forced the players to think about what they should do next. We were afraid that gamers would become bored and stressed by the new concept.”² Fortunately for Miyamoto, console gamers were more than up for the challenge.

We've already alluded to the action sequences, which consist mostly of destroying or avoiding the roaming monsters with Link's sword or bow. Link also collects money as he slaughters foes, which can be used to purchase special items from merchants. The adventure elements are mostly finding keys and items, gathering clues, and navigating the large overland and dungeon maps. Naturally, magazines were quick to publish guides and maps, and there's no telling how many fans of the game compared strategies and shared insights with their friends.

The relative complexity of The Legend of Zelda raised the need for a key innovation: the battery backup system for cartridges. Before The Legend of Zelda, most console games were intended to be played in one sitting. If players quit and resumed hours or days later, they were forced to start over from the beginning. The only way around this limitation was a password system, but this was an often-cumbersome process. The battery in the shiny gold Zelda cartridges let gamers painlessly save their games, restoring them later with hardly any hassle. Although it's easy enough to trivialize such a detail, it was instrumental in narrowing the gap between console games and computers, the latter of which had the benefit of cassette and disk storage.

The success of The Legend of Zelda is hard to exaggerate. It not only sold millions of copies, but spawned a cavalcade of licensed consumer products like breakfast cereal and bedsheet sets. It also served, along with its first sequel, as the basis for a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon that ran in 1989. The game is still frequently played today in various incarnations and remains a popular entry on many of the Web's greatest game compilations.

The next Zelda game was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, released in the United States in 1988. Although wildly popular at the time, this title is generally considered the black sheep of the series and has a number of features that are found in no other Zelda game. The most noticeable change from the original was a shift to a 2D, side-view perspective reminiscent of Nintendo's popular run-and-jump games for combat and in-town scenes (the overhead perspective was maintained for overland travel). This is also the only Zelda game that qualifies as a true RPG, since Link now gains experience points and attack, magic, and life levels.

Box back for Atari's Secret Quest (1989), one of the last games released for the Atari 2600 VCS during its original commercial lifetime. Many feel that Secret Quest’s development and release was part of Atari's last-ditch attempt to demonstrate that the software library on their modest system from 1977 could still compete with more sophisticated systems like the NES and games like The Legend of Zelda.

The third Zelda game and the first for the Super Nintendo (SNES) is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, published in the United States in 1992. It returned to the overhead perspective of the first game, but took advantage of the SNES's superior technology to offer substantially improved audiovisuals. The game's enormous sales undoubtedly helped Nintendo's new platform establish itself in the market and eventually outperform its rival, the Sega Genesis—which had beaten Nintendo to the 16-bit era.

Box back (top) and screenshot (bottom) from Sega's Golden Axe Warrior (1991) for the Sega Master System. Though little known today, some fans of the game claim it is better than its obvious inspiration, The Legend of Zelda.

Sega, always struggling to outdo Nintendo, had also introduced a CD-ROM add-on for the Genesis in 1992, and new titles with full-motion video were attracting a great deal of buzz. Besides the Sega CD, there were several stand-alone CD-ROM consoles available, all of which proved to have minimal staying power. One of these was Philips's CD-i platform, released in 1991, which plays a small role in the Zelda story.

Nintendo famously wavered on the CD-ROM issue. On the one hand, CD-ROMs had enormous storage capacity and were very cheap to produce. On the other, Nintendo feared they would be much easier than cartridges to copy and distribute illegally. The company eventually decided not to release a CD-ROM add -on that it had commissioned from Philips,³ but agreed to let them develop and release software using Nintendo characters for the CD-i platform. Philips moved quickly to exploit the arrangement and in addition to developing Mario-themed titles, released three low-quality Zelda games for its console: Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon (both 1993) and Zelda's Adventure (1994). Like most early CD-ROM games, these were loaded with noninteractive full-motion video sequences (the first two are animated; the third has live actors). All three of these games were poorly contrived and had none of the polish and attention to detail that characterized Nintendo's games. Few fans of the series consider these wretched games worth playing today.⁴

The next official Zelda game was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a 1993 game for Nintendo's Game Boy. Despite its lack of color, the game was quite successful, selling millions of copies and receiving praise from nearly all major critics. Nintendo would continue to release Zelda games for its handheld platforms, such as The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons for the Game Boy Color in 2001, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance in 2002, which combined an update of the SNES game with a multiplayer game that could interact with the single-player game. One of the more recent handheld Zelda's is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS, which was released in 2007 and supported both local and online multiplayer. These games have not received as much media attention as the console versions, but are still must-haves for any serious fan and have all been top sellers.

Box back for one of the controversial Philips CD-i releases: Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.

Sega's 1991 Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe for their Game Gear, was very similar to Zelda II, featuring a traditional top-view overworld mixed with side-scrolling action sequences.

The next game in the console series, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 and is considered by many fans to be the best game in the series, if not of all time. Even though it was released in November 1998, it still became the bestselling game of that year, with more than 2.5 million units shipped.⁵ The game raked in dozens of awards and even today is one of the top downloadable purchases for the Nintendo Wii's virtual console.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past brought the beloved franchise to the Super Nintendo.

Nintendo was always eager to promote its new platforms by offering exclusive games based on its popular franchises, like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for the Game Boy.

Screenshots from the multiplayer Four Swords portion of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.

Ocarina of Time adapted the series for the 3D era, pioneered in Nintendo's earlier Super Mario 64 (see Chapter 18, “Super Mario 64/Tomb Raider (1996): The Third Dimension”). However, it also refined the formula with “Z-Targeting,” which let Link lock on to a target and perform strafing and other maneuvers without having to wrestle with the camera. Another nice feature was that the function of the controller's buttons, which were always displayed onscreen, changed depending on the context of the situation, creating a versatile but intuitive control scheme. The game also contained many puzzles, including several based on the titular musical instrument. Contemporary reviews of the game read like overhyped ad copy. Peer Schneider of IGN, for instance, wrote that “if you're making games and you haven't played this game, then you're like a director who has never seen Citizen Kane or a musician who has never heard of Mozart.”⁶ Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot was just as enthusiastic, writing that to call it anything but perfect “would be a bald-faced lie.”⁷

Screenshots from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time rerelease for the Nintendo GameCube, which also contained Ocarina of Time: Master Quest, featuring rearranged dungeons.

Nintendo followed up Ocarina of Time in 2000 with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, another game for the Nintendo 64. As the title implies, the main theme is a collection of masks that grant Link different powers and abilities. Three of them actually transform him into different creatures. Though the game had some novel concepts and sold millions of copies, it wasn't as well received as its predecessor. Jeff Gertsmann of GameSpot complained about the tedious side-quests and “meaningless minigames.”⁸ IGN's reviewers were less critical, but knocked off a tenth of a point for lacking any major innovations, including a remedy for the “sometimes-sluggish framerate and occasionally blurry textures.”⁹ Some gamers resented that the game required the system's memory Expansion Pak to even play, one of only two games to do so along with Nintendo's 3D platformer Donkey Kong 64 (1999).

There were two very different followups to the Nintendo 64 series: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006). Both of these were released for the GameCube, though a special version of the latter is available for the Wii. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of The Wind Waker is its distinctive and controversial aesthetic; its cartoon-like cell-shaded animation gives it a fresh appearance, though many gamers missed the darker tone of the previous games. There was also an option to connect a Game Boy Advance handheld. Once Link finds the “Tingle tuner,” the handheld can be used to view maps and hints as well as activate exclusive in-game abilities. Unsurprisingly, this game was also a massive hit for Nintendo and received a direct sequel on the Nintendo DS in the form of the aforementioned The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Twilight Princess, which returned the series to a darker and more traditional look, also boasted terrific audio-visuals and compelling gameplay. However, GameSpot's critic complained about its lack of innovation; it still relied on text for dialog, and the special features added for the Wii version seemed like afterthoughts. Of course, there are no shortage of supposedly critical reviews that declare it flawless. IGN's video review, for instance, called it the “the best Zelda, period,” and claimed that Wii controllers made the game feel more natural and satisfying.¹⁰

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the Nintendo GameCube, featured a controversial art style.

Although the Zelda series is one of the bestselling videogame franchises in the history of the industry, we have yet to see another developer successfully duplicate its formula with both critical and commercial success. Whereas other megahit titles like Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros., id Software's Doom (Chapter 5, “Doom (1993): The First-Person Shooter Takes Control”), Cyan's Myst (Chapter 12, “Myst (1993): Launching Multimedia Worlds”), and many others have seen whole genres and subgenres form in their wake, Zelda seems to stand alone. This isn't to say there are no clones, just that games like Hudson Soft's Neutopia (1990, NEC TurboGrafx-16) and Nextech's Crusader of Centy (1994; Sega Genesis) have seemed to pose little, if any, challenge to the epic franchise. Surely, no one would seriously prefer such games to the real thing.

Screenshot from the The Legend of Zelda-inspired Neutopia for the NEC TurboGrafx-16.

However, the games have perhaps exerted an indirect influence on RPGs for computer and console, which have moved far away from the stat-heavy, turn-based games of the 1980s. We can see this clearly in games such as Blizzard's Diablo (Chapter 4, “Diablo (1997): The Rogue Goes to Hell”), and might well have inspired the ill-fated push towards arcade action we saw in the latter King's Quest (Chapter 11, “King's Quest: Quest for the Crown (1984): Perilous Puzzles, Thorny Thrones”) and Ultima games. We might hunt for Zelda’s influence in other games classified as “action-adventures,” such as Tomb Raider (Chapter 18, “Super Mario 64/Tomb Raider (1996): The Third Dimension”) and even Capcom's Resident Evil (Chapter 1, “Alone in the Dark (1992): The Polygons of Fear”), though admittedly these linkages seem a trifle far-fetched.

Nevertheless, what seems to set the Zelda series apart is not so much its originality or innovation, which it had in spades, but its immaculate polish and sense of mysterious adventure. These are games that were built to stand the test of time. It's obvious that the developers took nothing for granted, scrutinizing every detail, even when occasionally reimagining a new entry in the series. Although it's of course possible to point out the occasional misspelling or questionable translation, these lavish productions heightened gamers’ expectations and have helped establish videogames as a respectable and even artistic form of entertainment.

¹In reality, Link's sword never really leaves his hand—it just shoots out a flashing replica.

²See http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman/interviews/230403.shtml.

³Nintendo initially contracted with Sony to develop the add-on, dubbed “Play Station,” but for various reasons the deal fell through and the relationship between the two corporations soured. Sony reworked the concepts into an entirely new console entitled “PlayStation,” becoming one of Nintendo's most powerful competitors.

⁴For a detailed overview of the CD-i games, see http://www.zeldaelements.net/cdiseries_foe.shtm.

⁵See http://ign64.ign.com/articles/066/066340p1.html.

⁶See http://ign64.ign.com/articles/150/150437p1.html.

⁷http://www.gamespot.com/n64/adventure/legendofzeldaoot/review.html.

⁸See http://tinyurl.com/3n4fl3.

⁹See http://ign64.ign.com/articles/151/151933p1.html.

¹⁰See http://tinyurl.com/4geha8.