Every now and again there comes one great person with a great talent that stuns people all around the world in one simple upload. Today is no exception. Today I present to you exactly what the title of this post says, the Zelda theme on an accordion app for the iPad. Music is such an integral part of the Zelda series that it’s almost refreshing to see the songs we love come back to the light in a different form. The video is after the jump and if you only want to see the Zelda theme skip ahead to 0:29. Read more…

Gameplay is without a doubt the most important feature of a Zelda game. Nearly every release has emphasized it over every other aspect — with the exception of Twilight Princess, which was designed to be a more cinematic experience — and rightfully so. Gameplay is the main feature of video games in general. The interactivity video games provide is something that no other visual medium can hope to recreate, making it an important factor in any video game, even if story is a major part of the identity of some games (such as the Metal Gear Solid franchise). There’s no way around it; if the gameplay of a Zelda game suffers, then the most fulfilling part of the experience is shot. This means developers must attempt to provide gamers with polished and fleshed-out mechanics when developing a new title. But what exactly does it take to achieve a goal like that? What must a Zelda game have in order to make its core gameplay a success? In this article, I’ll be presenting my thoughts on that very topic. I’ll be going over specific features that I feel Zelda needs the most for its core gameplay to be at its finest and will provide examples from various Zelda titles to help get my points across. I’ll start with what I feel is the most important thing for the Zelda series to get right.

Combat

First and foremost, the combat needs to have solid design. Stimulating combat is an absolute must-have for any game with lots of action in it, and Zelda obviously meets that criteria. There are two features that I believe need to be present for Zelda’s combat to be at its best, and they are as follows:

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An interview was recently conducted with Shawn Jackson of Precursor, the studio working on the new title, Shadow of The Eternals, the spiritual successor to the GameCube Cult classic Eternal Darkness. He was questioned about the upcoming game and what kind of characters would be in the game, the episodic format of the game and so on. Near the end of the interview he was asked if given the opportunity to work on any Nintendo franchise which one it would be, to which he responded “The Legend of Zelda!”

To see the full interview and more hit the jump!

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We’ve known for a while now that the two Oracle games (Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons) which were originally released on the Game Boy Color handheld, will be released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in North America at some point “this Summer”. Well, in this morning’s Nintendo Direct, we learned not only the specific date, but also specific pricing for the two games as well as a special sale price for three weeks.

Jump inside for the details as well as two new trailers for the upcoming games.

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And so we reach the end of our journey, the last week of the Flute Boy’s Meadow Overworld series. This week, we come to the last category I detailed two months ago in the inaugural post for this series: Menu Overworlds. I had originally said these were “hardly worth the title ‘overworld’” and claimed I may not even give a post in attention to them, but in the end something changed my mind.

As I detailed before, there are only two games in the Zelda series that have a Menu overworld: Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures. They receive that title because they do not have a large, interconnected overworld for Link to travel from place to place in. Instead, they have a menu screen. Still, at least one of these games still offers a good selection of overworld music, so jump on in to see what makes them worth it!

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Released in March of last year and originally recorded as the background music to the Zelda art show in Portland, Oregon, composers Jake Fleming and Corey Warning created an 8-bit remix album in tribute of a variety of Zelda songs. Available on Band Camp, the duo known as Piasa, have deliberately allowed buyers the option of setting your own price. Though it is recommended and otherwise much appreciated to contribute a few bucks, the group also welcomes downloading the album for free, meaning you could very well set the price to $0.00

Hit the jump for more details! Read more…

Hey there guys! I’ve got your mailbag for this week. This time around the questions are pretty well-balanced again… not really sure why I got so many Zelda 3DS questions last week when I didn’t the week before that or this week! Anyway, there are 11 questions in all, covering Zelda 3DS, Zelda Wii U, as well as numerous other games, with a few extra for Ocarina of Time. Enjoy! You can watch the video here or check out the embed after the jump.

Questions and timestamps:

(00:28) – What was your favorite race in Ocarina of Time and why?
(01:14) – Do you have a defining moment in the Zelda series?
(02:27) – If Zelda Wii U was going to have voice-acting, would you try out for any of the characters?
(02:45) – Is it a possibility that Zelda 3DS is just a quick way to get money?
(03:50) – A Link to the Past is on the “hero dies” timeline, so might we see a new sort of Hero’s Shade?
(05:22) – What did you think about the addition of fairies? Do you think they’ll be in future games?
(06:02) – Would you like a game where it showed what Sheik did in the seven years Link slept?
(06:55) – Have you ever noticed that only two out of seven Sages are male?
(07:04) – Can you only 100% Oracle of Ages and Seasons by beating both twice?
(07:45) – Do you think that Fierce Deity Link deserves a backstory on how he was created?
(09:15) – Do you think the upside-down Triforce on Demise’s sword was supposed to be like an upside-down cross?

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Many outlets on the internet are devoted to gamer fashion and accessories. From Tumblr blogs, such as gamerfashion101, to online stores like the ever-present, artisan Etsy and to some extent Hot Topic and Amazon. Because of this wave of brilliant gamer and nerd clothing, there’s always something to draw attention to. The newest of these gamer fads comes from Etsy artist and designer DisturbinglyAdorable. From her diverse gallery of elegant and geeky bags, purses, jewelry, shirts, and even underwear, we have picked out this increasingly popular purse inspired by the fourth Zelda title, Link’s Awakening.

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Hi fellow Zelda Dungeon fanatics and welcome, once again, to another Timeshift Thursday feature! This week I’m looking forward to sharing and discussing a climatic battle scene with you from Link’s latest adventure, Skyward Sword, in which I’ve found the combat before the corresponding final battle to be a richer, more difficult experience. Because Skyward Sword doesn’t include the most amount of highlights for a Zelda game, in my opinion, I haven’t leaned toward writing a feature revolving around the title. Yet, because we are discussing famous Zelda battles now, I do want to write about, possibly, my favourite part of Skyward Sword.

Today, we’ll take a look at the extensive Horde Battle brought about by one of Link’s main antagonists in Skyward Sword, Ghirahim. This section of end-game battle sequence truly tests Link’s reasons as to to why he is blessed with the Triforce of Courage. It is an outstanding test of courage and we shall see that further along the article!

If you want to read more about Link’s excruciating battle with Ghirahim’s minions then click the jump below and take the full descent toward the Sealed Grounds!

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Yesterday was a whirlwind of excitement and confusion over the Wind Waker remake for the Wii U and a supposed press release coming from Nintendo UK. The supposed press release claimed that Nintendo UK was aware of some of the changes fans would like to see made in this upcoming remake, and while they could not say that these changes were going to be made, they listed some of the most common requests. The supposed press release went on to pose the question “What changes would you like to see?” Even if this press release had been legit (it wasn’t, as it turns out) at no point was it stating that Nintendo was soliciting fan suggestions, yet somehow that’s the “news” that got spread around by several sites. It was just saying that Nintendo UK was supposedly aware of these more common request.

However, as it turns out, the press release wasn’t even real. So what’s the deal? Jump inside to find out!

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Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess as most Zelda players would know are on a very different scale when it comes to graphics and art style. With Skyward Sword looking like a water color painting whereas Twilight Princess is very dark to fit its “Twilight” atmosphere. A very passionate Zelda fan has recently come up with a mod pack which gives Twilight Princess the graphics and bright color of Skyward Sword. This has created a very interesting mix of the games, read more after the jump!

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Welcome to another edition of Zelda Fanart Spotlight. Today we are looking at Treasure Hunting by Swedish artist Axel, an inspiring digital painting depicting the Hero of Winds and the King of Red Lions from The Wind Waker fishing for treasure. While the composition is simple, the artist does such an amazing job rendering the calm ocean waves that it looks like it came straight from the game. Axel creates a real sense of unity with the excellent color choices; from the vast blue ocean that seems to melt into the soft fluffy white clouds on the horizon to the small details like the glow of the water reflecting onto Link’s face and the bottom of the boat.

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[UPDATE 05/15/13 1:37pm: It turns out the following supposed press release was bogus.]

Ever since the announcement of The Wind Waker remake for Wii U a few months back, there has been a lot of speculation from fans about just how much will go into the updated version of the game. Our sister site GenGAME even published an article detailing how this is the perfect opportunity for a “Director’s Cut.” Still, it is difficult to tell whether Nintendo is actually paying too much attention to fans’ hopes for the game… or are they?

Recently, Nintendo UK’s public relations team (referred to as MEC) released a statement essentially summarizing exactly what most fans have been hoping for the game. At the end they give a discussion question asking fans their thoughts. It seems that they are not really soliciting feedback and are actually aiming more for friendly discussion among fans, but you can see for yourself by clicking the jump.

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Link is kind of a ladies’ man; tons of Zelda girls adore Link. And who could blame them? It’s a generally understood fact that effeminate guys are often found especially attractive, and let’s face it: Link is a little bit of a girly dude. But he’s also manly and heroic, so clearly he’s quite a catch. Because of their abundance, it’s honestly pretty hard for jokes about Link’s many admirers to make me laugh anymore. The gag isn’t just a cliche in the Zelda series; it’s been done to death in tons of other stories — particularly anime. I’d never complain about it in the Zelda series and I always enjoy these moments, but I’d be lying if I said that they really can make me laugh most of the time; the joke’s done enough that it takes something extra special to make it really funny again.

Like making his admirer a tree. That would be hilarious!

Seriously though, Oracle of Ages is one of the few Zelda games or stories in general to actually make me laugh at this joke again. When it comes time for Link to seek the Maku Tree’s aid, he must first venture into the past to protect the Maku Tree from being destroyed by monsters while she’s just a sprout. After she’s saved, she says almost word for word the phrase I’ve seen a thousand times:

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Welcome to Majora’s Memes, where we bring you memetic madness weekly!

Like scouring Hyrule Field for bushes that hopefully contain Rupees or bombs or arrows, we search the Internet for Zelda-related laughs. Not much to say this week, although in meme-news, the “Zelda reaction” meme was confirmed on Know Your Meme recently. I thought I’d feature one this week to commemorate it, but I couldn’t find any that weren’t really trite. Oh well, on with the memes as usual!
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