News: Happy 25th Birthday, Legend of Zelda Page 1

Happy 25th Birthday, Legend of Zelda

First Nintendo's household Plumber turned a quarter of a century. Today Hyrule's finest princess, hero, antagonist and man-in-cave turn 25.

It's the birthday of the first ever release of The Legend of Zelda in Japan on the Famicom Disk System/FDS on February 21st 1986.

Created by a legend himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, the game was and is still considered the title to help start many conventions in action/adventure RPGs - a huge, non-linear overworld, an attack button with animated weapon, and even battery-based saving inside the cartridge to avoid the dreaded scribbling of passwords.

The game also gave birth to many recurring elements - including the land of Hyrule itself, the powerful Triforce, Dodongos, Darknuts, Keese, Octorok and Leevers.

Image for Happy 25th Birthday, Legend of Zelda

Since his debut in Japan on this day 25 years ago, Ninteno fortunately decided to bring the franchise to the NES a year later, spawning fourteen sequels including upcoming Wii adventure, Skyward Sword, and a host of other media - the cult classic animated series, manga, toys, board games and more.

It's been a rather epic journey full of boss battles, head-scratching and moments of pure gaming bliss. Here's to another twenty five years of Hylian love! Don't forget those notoriously cheesy adverts too...

What have your favourite moments in The Legend of Zelda series been?

The Legend of Zelda (NES)

Developer

Nintendo

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Action Adventure

Players

C3 Score

6/10

Reader Score

8/10 (21 Votes)

Out now

Out now

Out now

Out now

Comment on this article

Comments

«s previous1next »

Wolvesgod 21.02.2011#1

My favorite moment, was finally learning that Link was who he was. XD I always thought that Link was the title name, Zelda. it wasn't till I was 7 - 10 i learned that Link was a male, my first home console, that was my own, was a GC. and the family system, was oddly the NES.

When all is bad don't look for a easy way out. Because you wont know what to do once your out

SirLink 21.02.2011#2

Happy 25th Birthday, The Legend of Zelda, the videogame series that got me into gaming!! Smilie

My favorite moment was, without a doubt, the unveiling of Twilight Princess. No matter how many times I watch it, the reaction of those people still amazes me everytime. It was the only time I've ever seen grown men get so excited over a videogame and that really says something. Smilie

PS: I picked a non ingame moment on purpose because I couldn't possibly write down my favorite moments since I greatly enjoy every moment while playing Zelda games. Smilie

Twitter | Backloggery

Mush 21.02.2011#3

Happy Birthday, Link and Zelda! You may be older than me but you have certainly played a huge part in my life and for that I'm glad.

I'm a big Zelda fan and I've played most of the games in the series. There's been a lot of great moments for me.

I'd have to say that the greatest moment for me was when I beat Ocarina of Time before my dad could. (I was like 5!)

( Edited 21.02.2011 12:56 by Mush123 )

Dennis (guest) 21.02.2011#4

Miyamoto's best game. They it all repeated itself with prettier (sometimes) graphics...

Lynk 21.02.2011#5

My first experience with LoZ (to my knowledge) was seeing my friend running round OoT's Kakariko village catching Cuccoos. It was magical, despite me not even realising what it was (I was ignorant back then, but this enthralled me).

Add me on anything. I'm always looking for new friends/opponents/town visitors/chances to appear more popular than I actually am.

PMD 21.02.2011#6

OoT really was a magical game, but I loved Majora's Mask more. The situation, the music, the dungeons, everything was so good. I also like the situation for Wind Waker, but I think they made the dungeons too boring and the locations too similar. Twilight Princess was the opposite- fantastic dungeons but otherwise dull.

I really want a Zelda game where you can just explore the environments. Seeing the previous story about Hyrule Field and now this one reminded me of how Zelda began the whole "open world" concept but never pushed it too the extent that Western developers did.

I would like to see a less linear game. Not like a WRPG exactly, but maybe be able to do the dungeons in any order, have side dungeons with random rewards, or have the entire world in one map with either quest-related barriers or "get the right item" barriers.