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 "The
Legend of Zelda" is the
brainchild of creator
Shigeru Miyamoto. He's
the creator of many of
the world's most famous
games, such as Super
Mario Bros. and Donkey
Kong. Zelda games are
generally classed as
"Action-Adventure RPGs",
which sounds like a
complicated genre, but
actually, this natural
mix of exploration,
puzzles, fighting,
fantasy, and dream-like
storytelling creates a
smooth and highly
enjoyable experience.
The most famous of all
Zelda games is "Ocarina
of Time" on the Nintendo
64 console. After its
release in 1998, it was
constantly hailed as
"The Best Game Ever,"
and it was backed by a
strong international
marketing campaign.
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 The
Legend of Zelda is
encapsulated in the
metaphorical Triforce.
It is a legendary
artefact that consists
of three parts - Wisdom,
Courage, and Power.
These each correspond to
the three main
protagonists of the
Zelda series; Princess
Zelda, who possesses
wisdom, the Hero, Link,
who possesses courage,
and the Evil King,
Ganondorf, who possesses
power. Throughout the
generations, their
lineage is destined to
meet and battle over the
fate of their homeland,
the Kingdom of Hyrule.
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 No!
The hero is called Link!
Zelda is the Princess
and Link's the guy in
green who looks like an
elf. Yes, the name of
the franchise is a
little misleading,
especially as Zelda
doesn't feature in a few
of the games. That's
just the way it is.
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Simply, the Zelda series
is a AAA franchise. It's
not just that each
instalment is of a
higher quality than its
competitors, but the
Zelda series
consistently pushes the
boundaries of what
people expect from a
video game. It has
bought countless
innovations to gaming
world, and continues to
do so, with each release
becoming a landmark and
a milestone.
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So far, there have been
12 games in the main
Zelda series. In order
of release, these are:
It gets slightly more
complicated, however.
Some of these games have
been remade for other
consoles (A Link to the
Past for Game Boy
Advance and Link's
Awakening for Game Boy
Color, for instance).
There have been a couple
of spin-offs like Four
Swords and Four Swords
Adventures.
Also, Phillips obtained
the license to make
Zelda games for their
own console, the
Phillips CDi. During
their contract, they
released three Zelda
games of their own;
Faces of Evil, Wand of
Gamelon, and Zelda's
Adventure.
So, if you were to count
every last one of Link's
starring roles, there
would be at least 20
titles. But, Link and
Zelda have appeared in
many more games, either
as playable characters
or as cameos, so it's
really hard to give a
concrete number.
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The series has had at
least one title on every
major Nintendo console.
There are Zelda games on
the NES, the Super
Nintendo, Game Boy, Game
Boy Color, Game Boy
Advance, Nintendo 64,
GameCube, Nintendo DS,
and Wii. The easiest way
to play the home console
classics is to buy them
on Wii Virtual Console.
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This is a difficult
question to answer,
because many different
people have many
different theories. Here
at Zelda Elements, we
have come up with this
order:
-
Ocarina of Time
-
Majora's Mask
-
Twilight Princess
-
The Wind Waker
-
Phantom Hourglass
-
A Link to the Past
-
Oracle of Ages
-
Oracle of Seasons
-
Link's Awakening
-
The Legend of Zelda
-
The Adventure of
Link
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