Does Legend of Zelda exploit nostalgia?
PBS Game/Show discussess whether the Legend of Zelda series exploits our nostalgia, having first played a title in the series at a young age.
The Legend of Zelda series was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and is primarily developed and published by Nintendo. Some titles were fully or partially developed by third-party development studios like Flagship, Vanpool, and Grezzo.
The series has the player control the role of Link, who armed with his sword and shield, must embark on an adventure through towns and dungeons in order to defeat bosses and save the day. The most common scenario involves Princess Zelda being kidnapped by Ganon (also known as Ganondorf). The world often revolves around the Triforce, a sacred relic which can bestow great power on the one who finds it.
Blending together the gamepley elements of action, adventure and puzzle-solving, the Legend of Zelda games began as a much more simple affair and later evolving along with many other brands from flat 2D planes to full, lush 3D worlds.
The Legend of Zelda series - evolution
Television
The series spawned a 13-episode television series in 1989 and is notorious for two main gags:
- In every episode Link and Zelda nearly kiss, but something always prevents them from doing so.
- Link's line, "Well excuuuuse me, princess" is especially infamous due to its repetition and fingernails down the board like ear-grating sound.
It also spawned a number of comics, manga and officially endorsed books and novels.
Series Profile
- First entry
- The Legend of Zelda - released February 1986 for Nintendo Entertainment System
- Key personnel
- Shigeru Miyamoto (co-creator)
- Takashi Tezuka (co-creator)
- Koji Kondo (composer)
- Eiji Aonuma (designer, director)
- Yoshiaki Koizumi (designer, director)
- Hidemaro Fujibayashi (director, writer)
- Yusuke Nakano (artist)
- Number of canonical entries
- 15 (as of December 2011)
- Best selling entry
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (7.6 million copies1, not including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D sales)
Trivia
Actor Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda after the character from the series2
The 2010 film "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" uses music from the series in a dream sequence. Director Edgar Wright wrote to Nintendo to obtain permission, insisting "this music is like nursery rhymes to a generation".3
