As a child,
Nintendo master designer Shigeru Myamoto loved to go exploring. One fateful day
he stumbled upon a small forest cave carrying just a lantern – and the gaming
world has felt the influence of that single, defining memory ever since.
In 1987, Western
gamers got their first taste of Mario creator Myamato’s new adventure, The Legend
of Zelda, on the NES. Zelda’s ingenious puzzles, inventive items, memorable
characters and sheer epic exploration blew away the 8bit competition. A gaming
legend was born.
Though the
sequel, The Adventure of Link, was not as well received, 1991’s SNES Zelda: A
Link to the Past was unquestionably one of Nintendo’s finest games ever,
reasserting Zelda's importance to gamers everywhere – a fact bolstered by 1993’s
GameBoy classic Zelda, Link’s Awakening.
But it was
Zelda’s first 3D outing, the highly anticipated, oft-delayed N64 adventure The
Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time which redefined gaming. Since then we’ve
had no fewer than eight Zeldas across several different Nintendo systems, from
the controversial Wind Waker to multiplayer Four Swords Adventures and the
masterful Twilight Princess.
The Zelda
series has never been stronger – and with Zelda’s first DS exclusive release,
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, Link’s future as a gaming icon
looks assured.