Link: The Faces of Evil
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
The Zelda franchise has grown and matured like a human being. It was a difficult child on the NES - simple but stubborn. It grew a sense of humour during its adolescent years on Game Boy, and started to realise who it was as a young teenager on N64. It went a little bit insane at the age of 14 with Majora’s Mask, but we loved it anyway, and then as a lazy underperformer on GameCube we couldn’t decide whether it was showing cheeky charm or whether it was just “the hormones”. Now, as a young adult, its life has become slightly more complicated on Wii. But, as with any human being, there are times it would rather forget. With a serious tone it speaks of the “lost years” of its childhood, the horrific time when it was sold into slavery to an uncaring, incompetent master. This master forced the Zelda franchise into poor games that didn’t reflect its true personality. While the franchise has imprisoned the memories of these times into a dark box, locked away in the deepest, dankest area of its mind, details are surfacing that make for interesting reading.
While the franchise’s lowest point (Zelda’s Adventure) remains enigmatic, I’ve added fresh new media and details about the two Animation Magic instalments of the CDi Zelda games to their respective game pages.
The recent revelations that our very Wiimotes will become the Master Sword in Twilight Princess have led me to rethink a few things about an article I’m writing about the interactivity of the latest Zelda instalments in comparison to more open-ended games like Grand Theft Auto and The Elder Scrolls. It’s caused a bit of controversy; Nintendo originally scrapped the idea because testers were getting tired - poor things - and disgruntled fans are either crying “hypocrisy, sir!” or “jolly good show!” depending on their position.
My own stance is simple. If I had the opportunity to choose my method of death, it would certainly be through exhaustion from battling in Hyrule. Next time Link buries his sword in Ganon’s head, I want to feel physically, not just mentally, expired.
