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The Legend of Zelda (series)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Computer & Video games

   The Legend of Zelda series logo

   The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説, Zeruda no Densetsu^ ?) is a Nintendo video
   game series created by the celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
   The games are primarily set in the fantasy world of Hyrule, although
   some have been set in different countries or other worlds. The gameplay
   consists of a mixture of action, adventure, role-playing, and
   puzzle-solving, and occasional platforming elements. The series is
   known for its beautiful and inspiring settings, creative gameplay,
   interesting characters, stirring original music, and high overall
   production values. It is widely considered one of the most influential
   video game franchises ever created, and has earned a spot as one of the
   company's flagship franchises alongside such notable series as Mario
   and Metroid. As of September 2005, the Legend of Zelda series has sold
   47 million units.

Overview

   The Legend of Zelda games feature a boy named Link as the central
   playable character and protagonist. Link is frequently called upon to
   rescue Princess Zelda, after whom the series is named. The main
   antagonist in the series is a powerful creature known as Ganon,
   sometimes appearing as Ganondorf (the more recent villain Vaati has
   appeared in multiple Zelda games as well). The action usually occurs in
   the land of Hyrule and involves a divine relic known as the Triforce, a
   set of three magically bound golden triangles of great power. In story
   terms, the earlier games did not deviate much from the standard "save
   the princess" theme, but later installments have diversified their plot
   and added twists and turns to the tale. One Zelda game, Link’s
   Awakening, did not feature Zelda at all (although she was briefly
   mentioned), and in Majora’s Mask, she was only seen in a flashback. The
   protagonist in each game is not always the same boy named Link,
   although occasionally the same Link is controlled across multiple games
   (see "Nature of the protagonist").

   The games' fantasy world of Hyrule includes many different climates and
   terrains, and is home to many different races and tribes of monsters
   and sentient beings. There are significant geographical differences
   from game to game, but several distinctive features recur, such as the
   Lost Woods, Lake Hylia, and Death Mountain (including Spectacle Rock
   near the summit).

   The Zelda games feature a mixture of complex puzzles, strategic action
   gameplay, and exploration. These elements have remained fairly constant
   throughout the series, but with refinements and additions featured in
   each new game. This successful formula has been a primary factor in
   making the Zelda franchise one of Nintendo's most successful game
   series. The player is frequently rewarded for solving complex puzzles
   or exhaustively exploring areas. The musical jingle when finding a
   hidden treasure (or other secret) has become one of video gaming's most
   memorable themes.

   Nearly every Zelda game involves locating and exploring maze-like
   dungeons until reaching the dungeon's boss. Each dungeon generally has
   one special item hidden inside which will be required later in the
   game. Some items are found in almost every game, while others are
   exclusive to a single game (see " Weapons and items from The Legend of
   Zelda series"). In the later games in the series, the item(s) found in
   each dungeon are usually used in some way to fight that dungeon's boss.

   The Legend of Zelda was principally inspired by Miyamoto's explorations
   as a young boy in the hillsides surrounding his childhood home in
   Kyoto, where he ventured into forests with secluded lakes, caves, and
   rural villages. According to Miyamoto, one of his most memorable
   experiences was the discovery of a cave entrance in the middle of the
   woods. After some hesitation, he apprehensively entered the cave and
   explored its depths with the aid of a lantern. This memory has clearly
   influenced Miyamoto's work, as cave exploration is a major element of
   most Zelda games. Other than Miyamoto's childhood, Norse and Japanese
   mythologies have played a large role influencing the series, as well as
   Medieval European culture. Miyamoto has referred to the creation of the
   Zelda games as an attempt to bring to life a "miniature garden" for
   players to play with in each game of the series.

   Hearing of F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife Zelda, Mr. Miyamoto thought the
   name sounded "pleasant and significant." Paying tribute, he chose to
   name the Princess after her, and titled his creation The Legend of
   Zelda, even though she is not the protagonist.

History

   The first game, The Legend of Zelda, was first released in Japan in
   1986, and in the United States in 1987. Though relatively simple by
   today's standards, it was quite advanced for its time. Innovations
   include the ability to use dozens of different items, a vast world full
   of secrets to explore, and the cartridge's ability to save progress via
   battery-backed memory. The game also features a "Second Quest",
   accessible upon completing the game, where the adventure can be
   replayed with a similar, but somewhat altered overworld with new, more
   challenging dungeons. Besides the game's technical innovations, the
   gameplay (finding items and using them to solve puzzles, battling
   monsters in real-time, and exploring a vast environment) was a
   successful formula and became widely copied. The game was wildly
   popular in Japan and North America, and many consider it one of the
   most important video games ever made. A modified version known as BS
   Zelda was released for the Super Famicom's satellite-based expansion,
   Satellaview, in the mid-1990s in Japan.

   The second game, known as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was released
   in July 1988, and was a departure from the concept of the first game.
   It exchanged the top-down perspective for side-scrolling and introduced
   RPG elements (e.g., experience points) not found in other Zelda
   installments. It is also the only Zelda title until Four Swords
   Adventures in which Link does not collect rupees. Because of these
   fundamental changes, many consider it the " black sheep" of the series.
   Both this and its predecessor were notable for their gold-colored game
   cartridges, which stood out amongst the system's usual gray cartridges.

   Four years later, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, returned to
   the top-down view (under a 3/4 perspective) and added the concept of an
   alternate dimension to explore, a land known as the Dark World. The
   game was released for the Super NES in April of 1992. It was later
   re-released for the Game Boy Advance on December 9, 2002 in North
   America, on a cartridge with Four Swords, the first multiplayer Zelda.
   This game also had a Satellaview version that was later released in
   Japan, called BS The Legend of Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban.

   The next game, Link's Awakening, was the first Zelda for Nintendo's
   Game Boy handheld, and the first to take place outside of Hyrule. It
   was re-released for the Game Boy Colour in 1998 as Link's Awakening DX
   with some additional features, including an extra colour-based dungeon
   and a photo shop that allowed interaction with the Game Boy Printer.

   After another hiatus, the series made the transition to 3 D with the
   installment Ocarina of Time which was released in December 1998. This
   game, initially known as Zelda 64, retained the core gameplay of the
   previous 2D games and was very successful both commercially and
   critically. It is considered by some to be the best video game ever
   made, and scored perfect scores in several video game publications,
   including the first 40/40 score in Famitsu (a prestigious Japanese
   gaming magazine). It recently ranked by Nintendo Power as the best
   Nintendo game ever created. The title was originally slated for the
   ill-fated, Japanese-only 64 Disk Drive, but was ported to a cartridge
   with the advancements in memory compression technology. Innovations
   include the use of lock-on targeting, a new gameplay mechanic that
   focuses the camera on a nearby target and alters the player's actions
   to be relative to that target. Such mechanics allow precision-based
   swordfighting in a 3D space, and were a revolutionary development for
   the time.

   Ocarina of Time saw a limited re-release on the GameCube in 2002 when
   it was offered as a pre-order incentive for The Wind Waker in the US.
   However, Europe continues to receive it free in every copy of The Wind
   Waker, except for the discounted Player's Choice version. Also included
   were parts of a previously unreleased 64DD expansion known as Ura
   Zelda. The disc was titled Ocarina of Time Master Quest. Ocarina of
   Time was ported again in a Collector's Edition Zelda compilation in
   2003.

   The follow-up title, Majora's Mask which was released in November 2000,
   used the same 3D game engine as the previous Nintendo 64 game (dropping
   the Fixed 3D elements), but added a novel time-based concept, leading
   to somewhat mixed reactions from series fans. It was originally called
   Zelda Gaiden, a Japanese title loosely translating to Zelda, Another
   Story. Gameplay changed significantly; in addition to a form of time
   limit, Link could use masks to transform into different creatures with
   unique skills. While Majora's Mask retained the graphical style of the
   landmark Ocarina of Time, it was also a departure, particularly in
   atmosphere. The game is much darker, dealing with death and tragedy in
   a manner not previously seen in the series, and has a sense of
   impending doom as a large moon slowly descends upon the land of
   Termina.

   The next two games, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, were released
   simultaneously for the Game Boy Colour. The games were loosely
   connected, and by various means they could be combined to form a single
   extended story. They were developed in conjunction with Flagship under
   Capcom, with supervision from Mr. Miyamoto. The games were originally
   intended to be a trilogy known as The Triforce Trilogy, consisting of
   updated remakes of The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link, plus
   an original third installment. After consulting with Shigeru Miyamoto,
   however, the studio decided to make an all-new trilogy. When the
   password system linking three games proved too troublesome, the concept
   was reduced to just two titles. Fans initially criticized the Oracle
   series for "selling out" by copying the Pokémon strategy (two similar
   versions of a game coming out simultaneously to increase profits). Such
   claims faded when the games were released and their radical differences
   were noted. Ages is often seen as a puzzle-based adventure while
   Seasons is more action-oriented.

   The next Zelda, for the GameCube, was initially believed to be a
   realistically styled adventure because of a technology demo shown at
   Nintendo's SpaceWorld expo in 2000. However, Nintendo later surprised
   many fans with the revelation that the new game, The Wind Waker, would
   be fully cel-shaded (a cartoon-like style of colour design first seen
   in games such as Sega's Jet Set Radio). Initial fears that this would
   affect the quality of gaming experience were eased when the game was
   released to critical acclaim in Japan in 2002 and elsewhere in 2003. It
   features gameplay centered on controlling wind and sailing a small boat
   around a massive, island-filled ocean, and inventive puzzles requiring
   the use of NPC's.

   Next in the series came Four Swords Adventures (FSA) for the GameCube,
   which was released in the first of half of 2004 in Japan and America,
   and in January 2005 in Europe. Based on the handheld Four Swords, FSA
   was another deviation from previous Zelda gameplay, focusing on
   multiplayer gameplay and "level-based" action (like many Super Mario
   Bros. titles). The game contains 24 individual stages and a map screen;
   there is no connecting overworld. For the multiplayer features of the
   game, each player is required to use a Game Boy Advance system linked
   to the Nintendo GameCube via a GBA-GCN cable. Although it focuses on
   multiplayer, the game also features a single player campaign in which
   using a Game Boy Advance is optional.

   FSA is really two games in one, Hyrulean Adventure (with a storyline
   and action somewhat similar to traditional Zelda adventure) and Shadow
   Battle (a free-for-all melee "battle mode" which pits Links against
   each other as the players struggle for dominance in Hyrulean arenas).
   The Japanese version includes a third segment, known as Navi Trackers
   (originally designed as the stand-alone game Tetra's Trackers), which
   is not included in any other incarnation of the title. Trackers
   contains an important first for Zelda, as the game has spoken dialog
   for most of the characters.

   In November 2004 in Japan and Europe, and in January 2005 in America,
   Nintendo released a new game for the Game Boy Advance, The Minish Cap.
   The central concept of Minish Cap is Link's ability to shrink in size
   with the aid of a mystical sentient hat named Ezlo. While tiny, Link
   can see previously-explored parts of a dungeon from a new perspective,
   and enter new areas through otherwise impassable openings. Link is able
   to switch from big to small at special portals throughout the land,
   once again giving Link two "worlds" to play in.

   In November 2006, Twilight Princess arrived as the first Zelda game on
   the Wii. During the following month, December 2006, it will be released
   for the Nintendo GameCube as well. The new game once again strives for
   a realistic look, improved even beyond the aforementioned SpaceWorld
   demo. This game chronicles the struggle of a more mature Link to rid
   Hyrule of the "Twilight Realm", a mysterious force plaguing the land.
   When Link enters this realm, he transforms into a wolf and the gameplay
   shifts radically. Twilight Princess also relies heavily on horseback
   transportation and mounted battle scenarios (including boss battles).

   “ Zelda DS” was once rumored to be a new “Four Swords” game, but
   Nintendo later retracted those statements. Instead, at the 2006 Game
   Developers Conference a trailer for Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo
   DS was shown. The trailer revealed standard Zelda gameplay optimized
   for the DS’s features, a cel-shaded graphical style directly recalling
   The Wind Waker, and a Majora's Mask-style feature which allows Link to
   turn back time with the use of the titular hourglass. At E³ 2006,
   Nintendo confirmed its status as a direct sequel to Wind Waker, and
   debuted an extensive playable demo including a multiplayer mode
   reminiscent of Pac-Man Vs. with " capture the flag" elements. The
   Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is scheduled to be released in 2007.

Fictional universe

   The Zelda series has developed a deep story and wide universe over its
   many releases. Much of the backstory of the creation of Hyrule was
   revealed in the games A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time.

   According to the in-game stories, long ago three goddesses descended
   and created the world of Hyrule. Din, the fiery red goddess, with her
   powerful, flaming arms, cultivated the empty space, and created the red
   earth. Nayru, the beautiful blue goddess, bestowed her divine wisdom
   upon the land and created the skies to give a sense of justice and
   order to the world and to guide the people in the goddesses' absence.
   Farore, the gentle green goddess, endowed Hyrule with her powers so
   that courageous living beings would follow this justice.

   After their work was completed, the goddesses left a magical artifact
   called the Triforce which could grant the user a single wish. It
   consisted of three golden triangles (each also called a "Triforce" -
   one of Wisdom, one of Power, and one of Courage), held in proximity by
   a magic force. However, because the Triforce was inanimate and could
   not judge between good and evil, the goddesses placed the Triforce in
   an alternate world called the "Golden Land" (or "Sacred Realm"), hoping
   that a worthy person would one day seek it.

   According to legend, if the discoverer of the Triforce has a balance of
   power, wisdom, and courage, they will receive the Triforce as a whole.
   If they are unbalanced, they will receive the part of the Triforce that
   represents the characteristic they most have. The Triforce was first
   distributed as such starting in Ocarina of Time, as the Triforces of
   Power and Wisdom were held by Ganondorf and Princess Zelda,
   respectively, and the Triforce of Courage was held by Link. In
   Adventure of Link, the Triforce of Courage was first introduced, being
   obtained by Link at the end of his quest. A Link to the Past, coming in
   after Adventure of Link but before Ocarina of Time, featured the
   Triforce but made no mention of its three qualities or distribution
   beyond Ganon obtaining it.

   The fictional universe established by the Zelda games sets the stage
   for each adventure. Many games take place in lands with their own
   backstories. Termina, for example, is a parallel world accidentally
   made as a side effect of the goddesses' creation of Hyrule.

Chronology

   The precise chronology of the Zelda universe is hotly debated among
   fans. As the series progressed and more games were released, the exact
   order of the games in an overall timeline became complex and heavily
   disputed. Bits and pieces of definitive information connect certain
   games to each other, but there is no official explanation of how every
   game fits within in a standardized timeline of events and therefore it
   it is impossible to be certain in which order the games are to be
   placed with in The Legend of Zelda's Chronology (with exceptions such
   as The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, where the
   manual of the latter states its position after the original).

   Here is a list of the Nintendo-published games in order of release,
   with their release years from , along with some additional information.
     * The Legend of Zelda (1987) was released first in the series, though
       most of the games released since then take place in earlier time
       periods.
     * Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1988) takes place years ("several
       seasons" in the manual) after the original game. It stars the Link
       of the previous game, nearing his 16th birthday.
     * The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992) the first in the
       series to have a story line told within the game. Link is asleep
       one night and hears pleas of help from a Princess Zelda in Hyrule
       Castle. Link is awoken by his uncle and told to stay in the house,
       the adventure begins from here.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993) occurs soon after the
       events of A Link to the Past, according to the game's instruction
       manual. It also states that Link left Hyrule on a journey of
       enlightenment after defeating Ganon.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998) is considered by many
       to be the first story in the timeline depicting the Master Sword
       and the Triforce. This is supported by the fact that Ganondorf's
       backstory and origins are revealed, and he had not yet gained
       possession of the Triforce of Power (which he has in many
       subsequent games).
     * The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000) takes place very shortly
       after ( or by some definitions, during) the events of Ocarina of
       Time, and stars the same Link after returning to his youth,
       according to the in-game story.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda:
       Oracle of Ages (both 2001) are connected via a password system, and
       one takes place immediately after the other. They can be played and
       regarded in either order. Many characters from Ocarina of Time and
       Majora's Mask also make cameos. Dialogue suggests that this
       particular Link and Princess Zelda featured in these games meet for
       the first time during the adventure.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2002) The versions of Link and
       Princess Zelda featured in this game are childhood friends.
     * The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003) takes place hundreds of
       years after Ocarina of Time, and some time after Twilight Princess.
       Hyrule has been lost for hundreds of years and now all that remains
       of its civilization are a few scattered islands on the Great Sea.
       The game begins with Link coming of age and watching his sister's
       capture by a massive bird from Outset Island.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004) takes place an
       unspecified amount of time after the events of Four Swords. It
       includes some background information about Ganon. Early in the
       game, he is called Ganondorf (and has his human form) before
       obtaining his trident and becoming the pig-like monster Ganon.
     * The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap takes place long before Four
       Swords and Four Swords Adventures. If the "Palace of the Four
       Sword" (a bonus dungeon featured in the Game Boy Advance version of
       A Link to the Past) is canon then The Minish Cap also takes place
       some time before A Link to the Past.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was released on November 19,
       2006. Members of the development team have stated that it takes
       place decades after Ocarina of Time, and prior to The Wind Waker.
     * The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has yet to be released, but
       Nintendo has confirmed that it takes place directly after The Wind
       Waker and will star the same Link.

   The creators maintain that the series has a set timeline, but due to
   the poor translation protocols in the 1990s and debate over what counts
   as "canonical" material, the available information continues to be
   disputed. Aonuma has since promised he will do his best to patch it all
   up and reveal the timeline someday, and Miyamoto stated in a 2003
   interview that there is a master document containing the timeline, but
   this document has not been seen publicly.

Nature of the protagonist

   According to the official website, Link is described as humble but
   brave, attributes appropriate for the bearer of the Triforce of
   Courage. Sometimes Link will bear a special title, such as "Hero of
   Time" or "Hero of Winds". A long-eared Hylian that resembles an elf,
   Link is usually a boy of 12 years (though he has also been portrayed as
   an adolescent and a young man). Link always wears a green tunic, an
   undershirt and a long, floppy green cap, for at least part of each
   adventure. Most incarnations of Link are left-handed.

   Although some fans believe all Zelda games feature the same characters,
   others adhere to a misquote suggesting that every single game features
   different characters. The official line is that there are numerous
   heroes named Link throughout Hyrule's history, and unless otherwise
   indicated, each adventure is that of a new protagonist. Some of the
   games are linked chronologically and take place in a clear continuity,
   while others do not. For example, the Link in A Link to the Past is
   clearly not the same Link who donned The Minish Cap. On the other hand,
   Majora's Mask directly states that the Link character is the same one
   from Ocarina of Time. There is evidence in Nintendo Power and the
   official Japanese Zelda website that the Link in Link's Awakening was
   the same Link who defeated Ganon in A Link to the Past, and this
   connection is considered concrete by many fans. The Link from Adventure
   of Link is the same as the original Legend of Zelda, although somewhat
   confusingly, a different Princess Zelda is involved. Eiji Aonuma has
   confirmed that every time a new evil plagues the land of a Hyrule, a
   new hero must rise up to confront it.

   Link never speaks in any Zelda game, though he produces grunts, yells,
   and other such sounds, and some of his thoughts (or possibly speech)
   may have been printed in Zelda II. In some cases the player must answer
   a question with a choice from a list, though no voice acting
   accompanies these instances. In 2002, Link broke the silence by
   speaking his first discernible words in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind
   Waker. When it was released in the English-speaking world in 2003, the
   phrase was “Come on!” In recent years, the advancement of technology
   has allowed the creators to give Link more personality and character.
   The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess put special emphasis on Link's
   facial expressions as he reacts to certain circumstances.

   Although the character's accepted name is Link, the player can name the
   hero in each game and characters will address him by that name in the
   text rather than not being able to if the characters spoke.^[ original
   research?]

Side quests

   In addition to the primary quest of saving the land from destruction or
   domination by an evil force, Zelda games often feature lesser quests
   upon which Link can embark at the discretion of the player. These "side
   quests" usually reward the player with items that make the primary
   quest easier to complete (such as Pieces of Heart, new weapons, etc.),
   and are occasionally necessary to complete the game. This gameplay
   device is not unique to The Legend of Zelda, but it is fairly
   consistent in the series.

   The longest of these side quests, present in several games, is the
   "trading sequence". In such a sequence, Link first obtains an item from
   either a store or an in-game friend. He then takes that item to a
   character in the game who needs it, and trades it for something else.
   This otherwise unhelpful item is then traded to another character for
   something equally useless, and so on. The trading sequence may consist
   of as many as fifteen separate items, and usually ends with the player
   finally trading for a powerful new weapon or a critical item. The most
   famous example of this is the trading sequence in Ocarina of Time
   required to receive the Biggoron Sword.

   Other side quests include races, a search for hidden items or
   characters, or extra puzzles. Majora's Mask in particular relied
   heavily on side quests, ranging from short quests for a Piece of Heart
   to a long, arduous side quest to collect numerous face masks (and
   complete several challenging dungeons) needed to obtain the powerful
   Fierce Deity's Mask.

   The Minish Cap had a large number of minuscule sidequests in the form
   of searching for "Kinstone pieces", medallion fragments which could be
   fused with those owned by in-game characters to magically trigger
   various events (opening a hole in a tree, providing a new path, making
   a beanstalk grow, making new characters appear, etc.). Usually these
   events allowed the player to obtain secret items, but it was sometimes
   necessary to collect Kinstones to advance the game further.

   Both The Wind Waker and the Minish Cap featured figurine collecting as
   a side quest. The Minish Cap's figurines could be bought with
   seashells, whereas the Wind Waker required the player to take a photo
   of the subject upon which the figurine would be based.

Critical reception

   The Legend of Zelda series is widely regarded as one of the greatest
   video game series of all time. Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker have
   both received a perfect score by Japanese Famitsu magazine, making
   Zelda the first series with multiple perfect scores. GameFAQs has also
   held a contest for the best video game series ever, with The Legend of
   Zelda claiming the top position; along with Nintendo Power's Top 200
   countdown, in which Ocarina of Time took first place, and a few other
   Zelda games placed in the top 20. Moreover, the editors of Game
   Rankings have declared Ocarina of Time the highest-ranking game of all
   time by compiling every major numeric review given to the game upon its
   release.

Other incarnations

   There are a number of Zelda video games and other media creations that
   have been officially licensed by Nintendo but not acknowledged by fans
   as part of the series canon.

Cartoons

   Animated series logo

   The Legend of Zelda was made into an animated cartoon as a "show within
   a show" in the semi-live-action Super Mario Bros. Super Show TV series
   produced by DiC. The animated Zelda shorts were aired each Friday
   instead of the usual Super Mario Bros. cartoon that aired during the
   rest of the week. The series loosely followed the NES Zelda games,
   mixing settings and characters from those games with original
   creations. 13 animated Zelda shorts were featured within the show's
   65-episode run. The show's incarnations of Link and Zelda also appeared
   in various episodes of Captain N: The Game Master during its second
   season.

Comics and manga

   Valiant Comics released a short-lived series of comics featuring
   characters and settings from the Zelda cartoon as part of their
   Nintendo Comics System line. In addition, manga has been created based
   on the many of the series' games, including A Link to the Past, Link's
   Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, the Oracle series, Four
   Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.

CD-i games

   A trilogy of video games were developed and released for the Philips
   CD-i in the early 1990s as a product of a compromise between Philips
   and Nintendo after the companies failed to develop a CD-based
   peripheral for the Super Nintendo. Created with minimal influence from
   Nintendo, the games ( Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of
   Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure) are infamous for having poor gameplay
   and animation.

LCD games

   Two Zelda-themed LCD games were created in the late 1980's. The "Zelda
   Game Watch" was released first, and was an actual digital watch with
   primitive gameplay based on the original Legend of Zelda. The similarly
   titled "Zelda Game & Watch" was a dual-screen handheld electronic game
   similar in appearance to today's Nintendo DS. It featured gameplay
   based on The Adventure of Link, and has also reappeared as an
   unlockable extra in Game & Watch Gallery 4, a 2002 compilation for the
   Game Boy Advance.

Unreleased games

   In the lifetime of the Zelda series, several video games have been in
   development that, for various reasons, were ultimately abandoned. Such
   titles include The Triforce Trilogy (Game Boy Colour), Mystical Seed of
   Courage (Game Boy Colour), and Four Swords DS (Nintendo DS).

Cultural influence

     * The original Legend of Zelda was featured in VH1's I Love the '80s
       3-D
     * The Toysite brand (owned by Bensussen Deutsch & Associates, Inc.)
       created a number of high-quality Zelda figures in 2000 including
       Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link. Many figures were never released
       including Sheik, Darunia, Young Link, Gold Skulltula, Phantom
       Ganon, and Stalfos. What exactly happened to Toysite is unknown as
       their website was under renovation for years before being
       incorporated into the BD&A site (being greatly reduced in content
       in the process).
     * Tomy also released set of figures with Ganondorf riding a black
       horse(with a trident and a Phantom Ganon Mask), young Zelda and
       Impa riding a white horse, and adult Link riding Epona. The horses
       were the same model with differing coloration and saddles.
     * First 4 Figures is producing statues based on the Zelda franchise,
       including characters from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
       The first statues are planned for a release in the third quarter of
       2006.
     * Hot Topic produced a series of retro T-Shirts featuring classic
       Nintendo icons from the 1980s. Popular examples include "Don't Make
       Me Go Zelda On You" with items on the front, and "Pure Gold" with a
       gold Zelda cartridge on the front, as well as sweatshirts depicting
       a Hylian Shield with two Biggoron Swords.
     * An episode of The Powerpuff Girls features the Mayor of Townsville
       playing a spoof of Ocarina of Time, where he accidentally kills
       Navi.
     * Joe Pleiman created a song parody of the main Zelda theme for his
       album The Rabbit Joint. The song is commonly mis-attributed to
       System of a Down or The Rabbit Joint.
     * The character of Xandir from the animated series Drawn Together is
       also based a lot on Link. In the pilot episode, when he plays a
       flute, a tornado carries him off (hitting trailers on the way), a
       reference to the flute in the original Legend of Zelda. In
       addition, one of his characteristic catchphrases is "I'm on a
       never-ending quest to save my girlfriend!", parodying Princess
       Zelda's frequent peril. The episode titled A Tale of Two Cows
       features a cheat book called The Legend of Xandir.
     * In the 1999 movie Durango Kids, the boys are playing Ocarina of
       Time in their hideout. However, the soundtrack doesn't match the
       level.
     * In the 2006 movie Grandma's Boy, a character mentions, "I did beat
       The Legend of Zelda before I could walk."
     * In The Kids in the Hall TV series, the character Gavin, portrayed
       by Bruce McCulloch, sports a Zelda baseball cap.

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