Legend of Zelda News, Updates & Articles

Top Five Scenes in the Legend of Zelda Series

Featured Articles September 21, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

The Legend of Zelda series is well known for its stellar game-play, mind boggling puzzles,and captivating stories that draw in its audiences. Every Legend of Zelda game to date (cd-i does not count) is met with high praise and it is because of these such things and more. The first article of our Top 5 article series will look at the cut-scenes in the Legend of Zelda games that have helped to make the Zelda series so memorable.

Many games out there use cut-scenes as a way to lengthen the gaming experience and gamers often find this irritating. In fact, the recently released Metroid Other M has received a lot of negative reviews regarding their excessive and drawn out cut-scenes. However, the Legend of Zelda series has managed to include a lot of scenes into their games while avoiding this criticism because every scene in the Zelda games serves a vital purpose and helps to draw its fans into the game.

This article will now look at the top 5 scenes in the Legend of Zelda series and explain why they are so great.

Link’s Awakening – The Wind Fish Awakens

Number 5 on our countdown is the ending scene to Link’s Awakening. This cut-scene was a brilliant way to wrap up a fantastic game. Link’s Awakening was the first hand-held game in the Legend of Zelda series and it was a huge success in all regards. In fact, Link’s Awakening was the very first Zelda game I ever played and its touching story is what got me hooked to the series. Once defeating the Nightmares and waking the Wind Fish, Koholint Island begins to disappear because the island and all of its inhabitants were nothing but a part of the Wind Fish’s dreams.

This ending has led to many fan debates about whether or not the events of Link’s Awakening did or did not actually happen as Link awakens at the end on the tattered remains of his raft. However, a figure that looks highly similar to the Wind Fish flies above Link’s head suggesting that it was not just part of Link’s own dreams. So it is up to you to decide. Was the entire thing just the dreams of Link? Or was Link part of a dream and actively involved in the awakening of a powerful Wind Fish?

Either way, the ending to Link’s Awakening is one that is highly memorable and worthy of number 5 on our list.

Darunia Shows He Can Dance

Our number 4 choice is the classic Darunia Dance from Ocarina of Time. For those of you who have not played Ocarina of Time (shame on you) and seen this, then you are in for a treat. The Goron ruler, Darunia, is feeling a bit down and he is needing something to get him moving. By playing Saria’s Song, Link promts Darunia to start what may be the funniest moment in Zelda history.

Darunia’s dance moves makes this scene our number 4 choice.

Is Sheik a Guy or Woman?

The question that many Zelda fans to this day are still unsure about. Is Sheik a guy or girl? For those of us who completed Ocarina of Time, we know Sheik was in fact the alter-ego of Princess Zelda making her a woman. However, this was a big deal back when Ocarina of Time had just came out. Throughout Link’s adult adventures, the rather manish Sheik would appear and offer Link words of wisdom.

It was not until late in the game that it was revealed that Sheik was actually just a now grown up Zelda in disguise. This shocking revelation earns the number 3 spot for being a huge twist in the game that fans today still talk about.

Ganondorf Goes for the Gold…and Fails

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was a game that was filled with vibrant and incredibly well done cut-scenes. However, this scene from the final segment of the game is the one that most stood out to me. In this scene, Ganondorf, for the first time in the series, is actually given some depth. In all other games he is primarily presented as a power hungry tyrant who is just out for blood and glory.

In this scene however, Ganondorf finally explains his motivations. Being part of the Gerudo tribe, Ganondorf and his people live in the dry and barren wasteland of Gerudo Desert. Ganondorf merely was jealous of the rest of Hyrule and to keep with the theme of the game, he coveted the wind of Hyrule.

Then to make this scene even better, Ganondorf has finally acquired all three pieces of the Triforce and is ready to bring Hyrule up from its underwater grave and claim it for his own. And just when he is about to do so, the king of Hyrule steps in and quickly touches the Triforce, claiming it as his own and wishes for Hyrule to be washed away for eternity. Ganondorf at this point begins to lose it in hysterical laughter as he seemingly starts to go insane with his wish falling apart right in front of him.

The combination of the Triforce being put together and Ganondorf showing some actual character makes this cut-scene our number 2 choice.

Midna ****’s Link and Seals Away the Twilight Realm

Our last, and number 1 scene in the Legend of Zelda series is the ending scene to Twilight Princess. In this final cut-scene, Midna, Zelda, and Link have gathered and are saying their good-byes. At this moment, Midna begins to say something to Link that has led to fan speculation and many a fan-fic.

Is she saying that she loves Link? Maybe. Who knows, as she quickly censors herself and sheds a tear. That tear then floats into the mirror, which connects the Twilight Realm with Hyrule, and shatters it into thousands of pieces. Midna leaves Hyrule forever with all connections to the Twilight Realm seemingly gone.

Returning To The Stone From Which Zelda Was Hewn

Uncategorized September 8, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

The Legend of Zelda, the first game of the series, was first released in Japan on February 21, 1986 on the Famicom Disk System. A cartridge version, using battery-backed memory, was released in the United States on August 22, 1987 and Europe on November 27, 1987.

Through this awesomely inspired masterpeice of video gaming, a world-changing franchise was born, creating a playing experience that has never been captured by any other game. However, since the first curve of the series (roughly the first four games), Zelda has lost many of the attributes from this first title that made it so spectacular.

The premise of Zelda 1 is the most realistic one of any adventure game to date. From the introduction, the player is shown the problem–Ganon’s seizing of the Triforce in order to gain arcane power. The objective is simple: find the shards of the Triforce of Wisdom before Ganon and defeat him. How you go about it, however, is left entirely up to the gamer. He enters the world with nothing but a shield. No map, no Navi, nothing. The manual yields some hints on how to pass the first dungeon as a small token to those wise enough to read it, but that’s still only about 6% of the entire game. You had to discover what to do. And how did you do that? You had to explore. For instance, if your curiosity functions like that of a normal human, you entered the cave immediately to the upper left corner of the screen. Within, you found a mysterious old man who bestows upon you the sword. Why didn’t you just start with a sword? Because it added an entirely new level of gameplay. If you never thought to enter the cave, you could have gone on your merry way, never knowing what you missed. Indeed, the game’s final boss can be reached without ever getting the sword.

This dimension of exploration added an imperceivable depth to the game, and thus enhances its realism. You were thrown into a world which needs saving. You have no ideas, no answers, not even a weapon. Has any true hero ever gone out on an epic quest to redeem the land, knowing exactly what to do and when to do it? Of course not. Imagine yourself in such a situation. You would be utterly clueless as to the means to reach your end. Thus, you would resign yourself to explore. And that’s what Zelda 1 is all about. You make the game. The dungeons can be done is almost any order, and very rarely does lacking a certain item prevent you from progressing (with a few exceptions, for instance, the silver arrow is required to kill Ganon) Hyrule is laden with secrets that only a savvy adventurer will find–riches in rupees and other diamonds in the rough.

Now, exploration is not dead in Zelda. To the contrary, the game’s entrance into the three-dimensional realm enhanced this trait in ways unprecedented. However, how many of you never knew what all exactly Ocarina of Time’s world had to offer until after you’d beaten the game? Navi, and any help system in other titles, constantly shoving instructions down your throat killed your sense of adventure. Only after you saved the world already is your sense of urgency eased enough to enjoy the enchanting scenery of the game, be it nature or people. What if we built the mystery and exciting adventure of Zelda 1′s map in a breathtaking 3D environment? What if you had to wander and weave within a gorgeous Hyrule and actually found for yourself temples and lakes, mountains and castles?

Many will surely object, “But if there is no help system, what will the less-experienced Zelda players do when they get stuck?” Firstly, I would like to point out that the less experienced Zelda players should perhaps become more experienced. The audience referred to in that question has almost certainly never played a Zelda game that was not cel-shaded, except perhaps Twilight Princess. There’s an entire world of Zelda games out there, and although made before their birth or during their toddler years, are incredibly valuable for the series. Quite so, as many of us prize them above all the others. Again, one may retort, “But these kids can’t just go buy a NES, SNES, and an N64, as well as all those games!” Perhaps not. (although if you look in your local retro gaming stores, I doubt you’ll find it too difficult) But with the Wii’s Virtual Console, one can obtain the first six Zelda games (minus Link’s Awakening) for about $4-5 each. Although not the genuine article, these legendary titles can be played for around $40 in Wii Points.

However, it stands that these simplistic Zelda fans need to reach beyond the cel-shaded, easy hurtles of Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks, and Phantom Hourglass. It is important not only for their growth as a Zelda player but for their academic and mental growth that they learn to solve deeper puzzles and conquer greater obstacles. Anyone can look up the statistics showing the benefits of video games. The Pokemon series gave kids a personal pet to take care of, love, care for, and fight alongside. Video games are now being produced for very young children. Shigeru Miyamoto is quoted saying, “Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock and roll.” Surely we understand the value of video games. Moving on to more difficult games is parallel to moving on to more difficult subjects in one’s academy. It is necessary, beneficial, and in Zelda’s case, fun.

Therefore, a re-institution of Zelda 1 would fulfill this much-needed role.

Because Zelda 1 was a primitive video game there were many aspects that were lacking, and some that weren’t even thought of. Zelda has certainly evolved over the ages. Ocarina of Time defined the series in several ways, and led the series in a lot of different creative directions. The game’s story line slowly underwent a metamorphosis from a primitive hero, princess, pig beast, and a yellow triangle into something of beauty, dear to us with its magical story of a Golden Power corrupting a dark prince Ganondorf, who in turn distorted the ancient Hyrule by his petulent rule. Thus, a mystical princess endowed with beauty and wisdom aides an unknown hero to rescue the land and restore law across it. It was rightly said in the commercial for Wind Waker, “Every game has a story; only one is a legend.”

What if we took this profound story and wrote it into the first Zelda? What if we transformed this puzzling map into a 3D panoramic paradise? To do so would fully develop Zelda 1 into what would perhaps be the perfect Zelda, surpassing even the sacred Ocarina of Time. If we took the original gameplay concepts that launched the Zelda series into stardom, and combined them with the story that will forever be our treasure, we have the most transcendent Zelda experience to date. Let’s advance Zelda 1′s character development beyond “Here, take this sword.” into something of brilliance. Let’s add on to what is already there. And the effect of such a game would lead us out of the shadow of Ocarina of Time. No longer would the creative forces of Nintendo be limited by the scope of that single relic. We would start afresh: Zelda would be as youthful in concept and idea as it was back in 1986, and it would free us to imagine a world before, and perhaps even without, Ocarina of Time. The older gamers would experience a sweet nostalgia for the game that started it all, and the younger ones would discover that there was, in fact, a Zelda before The Wind Waker.

Skyward Sword to be Released in April?

Skyward Sword August 30, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

I have a friend who works at Gamestop, and owns our affiliate site, The Knights of Hyrule and she just sent me this photograph showing that Skyward Sword, according to their records, is set to to be released on April 1, 2011. However, this date is not set in stone as Gamestop puts “SD” next to the games with a finalized release date. This image also is showing that Skyward Sword will be bundled with a Wii Motion Plus addon.

Skyward Sword is the Next Wind Waker

Skyward Sword June 17, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

Not too long ago, last week to be precise, I wrote an article discussing why Nintendo should make the upcoming Legend of Zelda title be like The Wind Waker. The article received mixed feelings from many, some who agreed and some who was vehemently opposed to the idea. The most obvious objection was that of the graphics.

The Wind Waker has always been a controversial Legend of Zelda title due to Nintendo’s cartoony cel-shading decision. The game after all looked like he popped right out of the Disney channel with Link’s big eyes and vibrant surroundings. With this in mind fans were skeptical of the idea and those people, who could not appreciate that style of graphics, wished that the next Zelda title would have nothing to do with cel-shading.

This brings us to our next point. Why was that article written in the first place? Was it to help launch Version 3 of LegendZelda.net? Or was there something else going on? In actuality, we were dropped some information that Nintendo was about to do something big at E3 that would be unexpected. We received a hint that the next Legend of Zelda game would not be as mature or realistic as many were led to believe after last year’s E3 official art release. However, we here at The Hidden Triforce do not like to jump on board the rumor train and without official confirmation we did not want to make an update claiming to know something that nobody else did.

So we waited patiently until Tuesday at 12 P.M. EST to see whether or not the leak we were provided was true. The night beforehand Hyrule.net made the lone update in the Zelda community posting that a brief clip was shown displaying Link in his current colorful glory. At that time it time it began to appear as if maybe there was some truth behind the information we were provided.

Now what is my point with all of this? Our last article argued how Nintendo would be wise to make the next Zelda game, what we now know as Skyward Sword, like The Wind Waker. I argued that this would be a good decision because Nintendo always produces their best games when they shock and surprise us. Nintendo makes their best games when they go out on a limb and gives us something new. And that is exactly what the Skyward Sword E3 presentation did.

Ever since this image was released at last year’s E3, fans automatically assumed that the next Legend of Zelda game would be using a graphical style comparable to that of Twilight Princess. After all, the image depicts an older, more mature Link and a very similar graphical style.

And though I was a huge fan of Twilight Princess and its realistic graphics, something felt out of place. The Legend of Zelda series is not supposed to be super realistic. The games are about the struggles that take place in the magical kingdom of Hyrule. Everything about the game is supposed to be rooted in fantasy, and I found that Twilight Princess just didn’t convey that feeling.

Of course, the decision to scrap the realistic graphics in favor of cel-shading has upset many of the fans, but it is honestly the best decision that Nintendo has made for the series in years. Remember, they do everything best when they are innovative and surprise the hell out of us.

Remember the Space World Demo? We were all expecting this.

But instead we got this.

And though not all fans will agree with this, The Wind Waker’s graphics were a much better choice than those presented at Space World. The Wind Waker ended up being, by far, the most visually expressive game in the entire Legend of Zelda franchise. For the first time ever, Link was able to effectively display more complex facial expressions and emotions. The Wind Waker immersed gamers in one of the most wide-open overworlds ever allowing for additional hours of exploration. The Wind Waker did every that was mentioned in the last article.

Now, lets move forward to more recent events. As already stated, most of us were expecting a Link that was comparable to that of Twilight Princess.

What we expected…but more detailed.

What We Got Instead

Instead of the overly realistic graphics, unfitting for the Zelda series, we got this beautiful substitute. In fact, many people are calling this new graphical style a combination of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The world is more rich and vibrant than ever before. Though the game looks cel-shaded, it isn’t as cartoon-like as before, which allows for way more creativity. Nintendo has already gone on the record and stated that if they would have used the graphics of Twilight Princess, then the game would be finished. It is, in fact, their decision to use this new form of graphics that has delayed Skyward Sword into next year. Nintendo is making sure that Zelda Skyward Sword will be one unique experience unlike the past games.

Ever since the Nintendo press conference, various interviews and round tables have revealed more, though still limited, information on the game, all of which shows that Nintendo is getting creative with the series. It has only been two days since Skyward Sword was revealed, but we have already seen many things that show us that Nintendo is going in a brand new direction with the series and that we are in for one hell of a ride.

“Though Zelda Skyward Sword is, of course, not going to be anywhere close to the same game as The Wind Waker, in terms of development and innovation, it is. Nintendo has once again pulled one over us and the end result will most likely be nothing short of epic. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is bound to be one of the best Zelda adventures yet.

Why Zelda Wii Should be Like The Wind Waker

Featured Articles, Wii June 7, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

With E3 less than a week away Zelda fans are wetting themselves in anticipation over Nintendo’s press conference. At E3 with year Nintendo has promised to give us the first shred of real information about the game since they released a piece of art at least year’s E3.

With rumors running amuck every fan has their own ideas for what Nintendo needs to and should incorporate into what could be the most revolutionary Legend of Zelda game since the release of The Ocarina of Time. And like everybody out there, we too have our own beliefs on what Zelda Wii should be like.

What We Know About Zelda Wii

As previously stated, little is currently known about the upcoming Legend of Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii. What we do know however is that the game will use the Wii motion Plus and that the Wiimote will most likely be used for combat in a much more influential way than the Twilight Princess Wii port. Interviews and quotes from Zelda developers have also hinted that Zelda Wii will ‘be the end of Zelda as we know it.’

So we know next to nothing about Zelda Wii which leads us to our next point.

What Should Zelda Wii Be Like?

A large percentage of the Legend of Zelda community would love to see Nintendo make another Zelda game that is comparable to The Ocarina of Time. After all, The Ocarina of Time was and still is one of the highest reviewed games of all time. However, in this writers personal opinion, Nintendo should make Zelda Wii more like The Wind Waker.

Though The Wind Waker receives mixed feedback from Zelda fans, it is one of the best games in the series in my opinion, for a variety of reasons.

Graphics

The Wind Waker’s cartoony vibrant graphics are probably one of the biggest reasons that many fans were turned off from the game. Nintendo had previously showcased a Game Cube capability demo that portrayed a much more realistic Legend of Zelda, which led fans to believe that a game was in the works that would be darker and more realistic than ever before. However, Nintendo shocked fans around the world when The Wind Waker was first shown in his cell shaded cartoon glory that would later be dubbed ‘celda.’

But Like it or not, The Wind Waker was one of the most beautiful and graphically rich games released for the Nintendo Game Cube. By using the cell shaded technology Nintendo was able to capture the world and Link’s expressions in ways never possible beforehand. Even today the graphics of the Wind Waker stand out as being absolutely gorgeous.

So what am I getting at? Do I want Nintendo to release another home console cartoony Zelda game? Well personally yes I do but that is not my point. My point is that Nintendo just needs to look outside the box again and deliver the unexpected. We were all expecting a realistic Legend of Zelda title but instead we got the rich and vibrant Wind Waker. In my opinion that is one of the best qualities of Nintendo, the ability to always surprise their fans.

We would all get our realistic Zelda with Twilight Princess so patience is key here. What Nintendo needs to do is release a game so graphically astonishing that it will surpass our first 3D experience of Ocarina of Time, surpass the beautiful and colorful world of The Wind Waker, and surpass the detailed and realistic world of Twilight Princess. I have heard from many fans that they would like Nintendo to reuse the Twilight Princess graphics. In my opinion they should not. Keep it fresh and keep it innovative as always. Give us another surprise like we got with The Wind Waker.

Music

Though music is often not considered to be a vital part of the gaming experience, with the Zelda series it is. The quality of a game’s musical compositions are not often mentioned in gaming reviews. Graphics and game-play of course steal the spotlight, but thankfully Nintendo has generally had a great track list to go with the Legend of Zelda games.

Once again, in my personal opinion, the musical score of The Wind Waker was the best in the series. From the Title Screen to the Overworld, and to Outset Island, all of the songs in The Wind Waker were fantastic. Nothing can ruin an experience quicker than a god awful song in the background that makes you wonder ‘what were they thinking?’ The Wind Waker managed to avoid that scenario and provide gamers with an uplifting Irish blend sound to all of the songs that perfectly conveyed the atmosphere.

A commonly agreed idea across the Zelda community is that Nintendo should give us a fully orchestrated musical experience. I myself would love to hear this myself, as I thought the music in Twilight Princess was a tad bit of a let down, but whatever the case, a brilliant track of songs like the one from The Wind Waker would add another piece of the puzzle to Zelda Wii.

Bring Back the Great Sea

No, I am just kidding about this one. However, in all honesty the Great Sea was one of the best things ever to happen to the Zelda Overworld. A common complaint about The Ocarina of Time is the vast nothingness that is Hyrule Field. There is literally next to nothing to do in Hyrule Field in The Ocarina of Time and just a tad bit more in Twilight Princess. The Great Sea from the Wind Waker however was wide open and filled with treasures and islands to explore.

Now many of you are probably remember how long it took to sail across the Great Sea and again how devoid of enemies the Great Sea often was. That was a problem with me as well, but Nintendo can take the best of it and add on to make one spectacular overworld. The Wind Waker’s Great Sea was a 7 X 7 quadrant overworld. Each coordinate of the sea had an unique island of its own waiting to be explored. Scattered throughout the sea was also a variety of things to find and explore. There was treasure to be fished up, submarines Link could enter, watch towers to climb, and much much more.

So while I do not want to see another water-based Zelda adventure, I would like Nintendo to take the aspects of the Great Sea that made it so much fun to explore and use that to make an even better Hyrule that can keep fans drawn in and entertained.

The Plot

Perhaps the best part of The Wind Waker was its often puzzling plot that opened up a huge time-line debate in the Zelda community. The prologue of the game explains that all of Hyrule was flooded because the great Hero did not appear when evil threatened the land. But why not? Where was this hero, who we can all presume was supposed to be Link?

The story of The Wind Waker is filled with interesting questions like this. Why did the water-based Zoras possibly evolve into the flying race of the Ritos? Why didn’t the gods just stop Ganon instead of flooding the entire world?In fact, the very creation of The Wind Waker has led to the split time-line theory for the Legend of Zelda series. After Ocarina of Time there are now two paths of events that take place with games fitting onto one path or the other.

What also made this story so great is that you start the game off as an unsuspecting boy who is just trying to celebrate his birthday with his family, but a twist in events forces Link into an adventure that would later save the world from the evil Ganondorf once again.

If you haven’t caught on yet, the plot of The Wind Waker got fans speculating and kept them guessing. An to reiterate that is what Nintendo does best and perhaps that is why fans are so drawn into the Zelda series. The story and premise itself is shrouded in mystery which leads to a a greater fan base. In the Zelda community there is a large amount of time-line theorists, many who take it very seriously, because of Nintendo’s ability to capture its fans imaginations and to keep us guessing.

So for Zelda Wii, the plot needs to be like The Wind Waker’s. The plot should be well developed but at the same time leave it open to the fans to come up with their own ideas on the concepts. Zelda is after all just a legend. And legends are interpreted in different ways by different people and Nintendo needs to keep it that way.

Wrapping Things Up Here

Nintendo’s best Zelda games are those which revolutionize the series in some imaginative way and in my opinion The Wind Waker did that the best. The Wind Waker was an overall masterpiece and one of the best games in the series. The mysterious plot, risky but beautiful graphics, amazing music, and the exploration based overworld helps to make The Wind Waker as extraordinary as it is.

If Nintendo can take the elements of the Wind Waker, that made it so great, and apply those concepts to the upcoming Legend of Zelda title for the Wii, then we will have ourselves one of the, if not the, greatest Zelda games ever made.

Why The Legend of Zelda Series Will Never Be Respected

Featured Articles February 12, 2010 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

This article is a fan submission and does not represent our views. With that in mind, please enjoy.

With The Legend of Zelda series being one of the most successful gaming franchises to date, what I am about to say will probably come as a shock, but none the less, it is all true. In its current state, The Legend of Zelda franchise will not ever be, and is not currently respected by the average hardcore gamer. It is my intention to state what elements of the game that needs changed to bring the series up to par and make it more worthy of respect. While stating all of this however, I will not deny the success the series has had thus far, nor will the fan be belittled. With all disclaimers out of the way, here is why the Zelda franchise just can not be respected.

Let’s face it, since the Gamecube onwards, Nintendo has not given us much to look forward to as a Zelda gamer. The Windwaker was an interesting adventure, anyone can admit that, but it definitely did not win the series more fans with its graphical style. Regardless though, since then we have had what? Toon link, toon link, toon link and again toon link. The only moment we had to actually get excited about was Twilight Princess. In these amazing trailers we saw the graphical genius that Nintendo’s systems could actually produce and we saw action beyond anything Nintendo had every provided us before.

When we played the game though, it was all an illusion. In the videos Nintendo gave the impression that Hyrule field would be filled with enemies, there would be organized assualts against Link, and epic battles. What we got instead was a rare gathering of 3 or 4 enemies who do not know how to aim arrows at you and have the combat skills of that Pidgey outside of Pallet Town. Yeah… I said it, those level 2 Pidgey’s have more combat experience.

Whether it is Nintendo’s desire to make their games easy for the “casual” aka the old people seconds away from death we see in their commercials and the 5 year olds who do not realize the toy in their mother’s drawer is not the 2nd Wii mote, or whether it is Nintendo’s just plain laziness or uncaring attitude, the series suffers from how easy they have made the games.

Respectable games do not have vast open field of nothing, aka E.T. on the Atari. If the series was actually respectable, the landscape would have been filled with more enemies, more random or surprise attacks and actual action. We are suppose to believe that Ganon, who knows Link is coming, sat down with 8 huge bosses and told them to sit and wait inside of one room, and that is to be his line of defense? Hell no! If serious about plot development, Nintendo would have had Ganon sending out forces to stop Link, and the open Hyrule field would have been the place to be. Why should Link be allowed to just walk right into his castle and last line of defense?

As stated before, Twilight Princess did have some well developed graphics, but again, the series will never be respected until it maintains that standard. Everyone was talking about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s graphics as being some of the best out there, but no one in their right mind has said that about a Zelda game in a long time. Yes, graphics are not everything, but in the age where game memory and space can be pushed to new levels and almost anything can go on a small disk, why isn’t Nintendo delivering? Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks… not impressive in the graphics department. They did not even do toon link too well in those games. Nintendo has even gone on record saying they made Zelda into a spirit so they would not have to design a lower body for her. That is called lazy, and Nintendo’s refusal to give gamers the graphics that most modern day games are being made at, is why The Legend of Zelda can not be respected.

Finally, the series is getting a little stale. How many times can Link kill Ghoma? How many times does he go into a forest, then fire, then water… dungeon? Why does he even have to enter dungeons? We are suppose to believe that all the bad guy can do is hide keys inside of a huge cave? The formula may work, and it may keep selling and making Nintendo money, but it is making the games repetitive and hardly worth buying (kind of like the new Halo’s). You have a magical realm of Hyrule, with parallel lands, so many people to talk to and “interact” with, weapon possibilities are unlimited, story lines can be anything, but Nintendo keeps with the exact same stale story. *Sorry, making the boss a demon train is not a huge leap forward. What happened to the day of Link’s Awakening? 100% unique. What happened to Majora’s Mask type stories? Because of the refusal to do ACTUAL innovation, the series will undergo the Halo effect, where people may keep on buying the games, but we all know there is no real difference between Halo 1,2,3 or any of the recent spin offs.
Nintendo is sitting on top of a gold mine and is treating the beloved Zelda franchise like it can be a sub-par series such as Donkey Kong. A new game may come out every once in a while, but each time less hype exists and each time the exact same disappointments are delivered. Until Nintendo addresses very simple concepts like the ones mentioned above, it will not get the same type of respect from the gaming community. It will just have the negative connotation that Nintendo has in most hardcore gamer’s eyes. Appealing to seniors and kids, and old schoolers, but never achieving a higher respect status.

Who is the Demon King?

Featured Articles November 12, 2009 Noah Glaser 0 Comments

Writer’s Note: This article is highly opinion based and does not represent the views and opinions of this site as a whole.

It started with a screenshot, followed by a trailer. Rumors of Ganon’s return began to spread across the net. Then, to our surprise, the Spanish site for Spirit Tracks gave it a name- Mallard. Finally, it appears we now have confirmation courtesy Neogaf that it is in fact NOT Ganon. So who is the Demon King, and what role will he play in Spirit Tracks?

In an attempt to answer this question, let us see whether the Demon King has someone below him. In A Link to the Past, Agahnim was merely a tool of Ganon. In Four Sword Adventures, Vaati was also a pawn of Ganon, and in Twilight Princess, Zant filled this role. As one can see, it has become increasingly popular in recent years for Zelda villains (specifically Ganon) to enlist henchmen. So, who’s working under the Demon King?

Everyone knows gingers are evil.

Chancellor Cole is the obvious answer, for, not only is he a ginger, he’s also the most widely seen antagonist in the screenshots and character art Nintendo’s released thus far. And if that isn’t enough, multiple sources have already confirmed that the Chancellor’s goal is to revive the Demon King. So, if the Chancellor is simply an underling of the Demon King, it is likely the Demon King is the main villain in Spirit Tracks. Who he is, however, is a completely different story.

As noted earlier, the Demon King is no longer thought to be Ganon. What little we know of him is that he ruled the land Spirit Tracks is set in before it was taken over by Hylians, and that he is a demon. The demon line could imply that he was once a living being, possibly from one of the races in the game. The truth is we don’t really know who the Demon King truly is just yet, so why am I devoting an entire article to this question?

Timeline theorists have been analyzing every piece of news that has come in about Spirit Tracks these past two weeks. The reason being, many believe Spirit Tracks will answer longstanding questions about where other games fit into the timeline. Thus, understanding who the Demon King is will likely be integral to answering such questions. In the meantime, the best we can do is try to find something the others missed and be the first to solve this great mystery!

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Choose Your Adventure

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Legend of Zelda News

Filter by Category

Latest Articles

Link’s Awakening – The Wind Fish Awakens

Darunia Shows He Can Dance

Is Sheik a Guy or Woman?

Ganondorf Goes for the Gold…and Fails

Midna ****’s Link and Seals Away the Twilight Realm

What We Know About Zelda Wii

What Should Zelda Wii Be Like?

Graphics

Music

Bring Back the Great Sea

The Plot

Wrapping Things Up Here

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