Nintendo Power’s 2009 award winners have been revealed and Spirit Tracks was able to take home two prizes. Spirit Tracks won the award for DS Game of the Year and also won the award for Best Adventure Game. Additionally, Nintendo Power put together their Best of the Decade list.
1. Super Mario Galaxy
2. Resident Evil 4 (GCN)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
5. Super Smash Bros Brawl
6. Metroid Prime
7. Elite Beat Agents
8. Metroid: Zero Mission
9. Mario Kart Wii
10. The World Ends With You
In terms of primarily single player Zelda titles, we’ve gotten 8 Zelda titles this decade. While I don’t think that the top two were Twilight Princess and the Wind Waker, it was nice to see two Zelda titles make the list.
Here we have another awkward commercial for Link’s Awakening. This commercial is a rap, which goes with the theme of the early-mid 90’s where rap was becoming more popular here in the United States. Nintendo must have tried to capitalize on this by incorporating rap into their video game commercials. The end result? Yet another Zelda commercial that we can look back on and laugh at.
I’ve added this video to our Zelda Commercial section of the website. The section now has five different commercials from some of the early Zelda games and we will be adding more over the course of the next few weeks.
Today I’ve gone ahead and updated our Nintendo Power Archive collection adding two new magazines with all the Zelda references that there are. We now have the first 8 issues available in our Zelda Publications area of the site.
The first 8 issues of Nintendo Power each had some Zelda references with at least 7 of them having specific material dedicated to the games in the form of secrets revealed, strategy guides, a comic strip, etc… If you’re an old school gamer like myself, it really has a nostalgic feel to it when you glimpse through these old magazines.
Issue #007 – July / August 1989: View at Gallery
–The Adventure of Link has a tip about walking through walls in the Great Palace, found in the Classified Information section.
–The Legend of Zelda also has tip in the Classified Information section about leaving one enemy alive in the overworld to avoid enemy respawns.
–Listing of all six 1-up’s found in the Adventure of Link.
Issue #008 – September / October 1989: View at Gallery
–A question about how to get the hammer in The Adventure of Link is answered in the Counselor’s Corner.
–A secret tip in the Classified Information section about how to avoid monster scenes in the Adventure of Link.
–The Adventure of Link reaches #1 on the Nintendo Power Top 30 while the Legend of Zelda sits at #4.
We will be adding these on a relatively frequent basis over the next couple months. If you really enjoyed these, let us know by posting in the comments below. Also, remember you can make individual comments about the images with the image gallery. Read more…
If there was a live action Zelda movie officially released, who would you want to see in it? We recently got to see the low budget fan film The Hero of Time, in which the cast was filled with no-name actors. All the way back almost two years ago we got a fake Zelda movie trailer from IGN, in which the cast was filled with more unknown actors. What if it wasn’t? What if we could make our own dream cast of Movie stars to fill the role of the Zelda characters?
The guys over at 8daysageek have done just that. The man you see pictured to the right is Jamie Campbell Bower, and that is their choice to play Link. Listed below is their full roundup of their dream Zelda cast.
The guys over at The Kartel have put together a list of their top 10 games from the 90’s that have aged quite well. Most of the games are from the Super Nintendo era and we even got one Zelda title on the list; A Link to the Past. This is what they had to say about the Zelda classic.
This game perfected the dungeon-adventure-RPG formula. Taking lessons learned from its previous iterations and adding in new features and abilities to keep things fresh. This entry into the series saw the birth of many features now commonplace in the franchise. The introduction of a “Dark World”, Link could travel to at any point added new depth to puzzle solving along with the design of multi-level dungeons.
New items like the Master Sword, Heart Pieces, the Hook Shot, Pegasus Boots, and the ever popular Spin Attack technique all came from this game. The staples of the franchise today can find their roots in a Link to the Past, which not only created them, but implemented them in unique ways that are still copied and used in the latest Zelda games.
The above video was created via the power of computer animation. Alan Warner Grieve created the video using Twilight Princess character models as well as models from World of Warcraft. Quoted below is what Alan wrote concerning this project of his.
At the end of my postgraduate studies, I was required to create a short film that demonstrated “sophisticated, original and articulate animation”. Game models were taken from “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” and “World of Warcraft”, rigged using TSM2 and animated in Autodesk Maya.
NOTE: This article is a Biological view towards fictional animals in the Zelda series. That means I don’t use magic and the goddesses as possible explanations for behaviors or adaptations. A basic knowledge of biology is needed to understand some terms in this article.
Gorons can often be found in the Death Mountain region ever since Ocarina of Time. In the Zelda world the Gorons are strong fighters and good miners, but in the world of biology they would be one of natures evolutionary mistakes. If we examine this race closer, what is devastating for the survival of the Goron?
While there might be some hesitation by Nintendo in confirming a 2010 release date for Zelda Wii, that is the time frame they are shooting for. Whether the game releases in 2010 or not, we will be playing it before then, at least that’s what Eiji Aonuma wants. Eiji recently had a an interview with Famitsu and within the interview, he talked about wanting to have Zelda Wii playable at this year’s E3. Below are a few quotes from Eiji in the recent interview.
“I’d like to show something playable.” (Referring to Zelda Wii at E3 2010.)
“We’ll work hard in order to get you playing it as soon as possible.” (When pressed about a release date in 2010.)
“We’ve progressed in development since last year. At present, the core areas have come into clear view.”
It really seems like they are quite along the way with Zelda Wii and the team is really going to be pushed for a 2010 release. I still think there is a legitimate chance that we do not see Zelda Wii until 2011. Either way, it looks like we are going to get a good idea what Zelda Wii is all about when E3 roles around this year. Mark your calendars as E3 is just 4 months way, scheduled for June 15th-17th.
Are you an artist that likes to dwell in the world of romantic artwork? Then this is just for you! Here at Zelda Dungeon we are hosting our second Zelda Fan Artwork project, and this one has a Valentines Day theme!
What we are looking for is to try to gather plenty of romantic Zelda artwork to put together in our image gallery, as well as making a cool collage of all the submissions that we do get. There are just two simple requirements.
1. Let’s make artwork with a romantic theme. This can include artwork with Link, Princess Zelda, Malon, Midna, Anju/Kafei, or any other characters in the Zelda series.
2. Let’s be creative, but let’s not be overly revealing.
That’s it! If you are interested in submitting artwork for the project you can do it in one of many ways. The best way to submit your artwork is by simply e-mailing me at mases26@gmail.com. You can also post links to your artwork in the comments of this post, or you can post them at the Valentine’s Day thread over at our forums. Thanks ahead of time for any submissions you do send in and I’m looking forward to looking at all the work! Read more…
The last few days we have uploaded numerous audio tracks to our YouTube Channel and just recently we added a ton of new Link’s Awakening content to the site. It seems almost fitting that today we have for you all the full soundtrack for Link’s Awakening now streaming at YouTube!
The playlist contains 79 different tracks from the game, including everything from the classic overworld theme, to music from all of the dungeons in the game. Check out the full Link’s Awakening Playlist to listen to the entire soundtrack.
We will be uploading a bunch more music to our YouTube channel over the next few weeks, so be sure to subscribe if you have not already. We’ll also be working to edit our music pages here at Zelda Dungeon, providing numerous ways for you to listen and download all the various songs from the Legend of Zelda series. Stay tuned… literally!
Whew, I have been working hard for the past week, but in the end the results have been worth it. I have created the last four Link’s Awakening pages for your viewing pleasure. They are as follows:
The Link’s Awakening Walkthrough has also been upgraded in several ways. All of the Heart Pieces, Seashells, Items and Bosses boxes have been upgraded with links to the specific guide they are in. The links take you to the exact section of the guide that they’re in. The biggest one is that it has been read through and contains little to no spelling/grammar errors now.
A few acknowledgements, I did not do all of these guides by myself you know. Nearly a year ago, MrMosley wrote a Pieces of Heart and Secret Seashell guide for this game. It was full of text and pictures, so nearly everything on those two pages belong to him. Also, the majority of descriptions on the boss page were written by Yumil. Alder wrote the enemy guide a long time ago, remember? I couldn’t of done it without you guys. Go on our forums and thank them for me!
Anyways, for the future I am done with Link’s Awakening. I have one more project in mind for it, but it won’t be published on the site itself, let’s just say that. I have already planned and confirmed my next game, but you’ll just have to wait and see what it is! I thank everyone who has given me positive comments on all of the work I’ve done, I’ve been working here ten months from today after. Have a good one. Read more…
The music uploaded is NOT the same songs from the Sound and Drama soundtrack. Instead, I made a few minor changes such as adding a few tracks that fall more into the category of sound effects. Examples include the Warp Between Worlds and the Extended Flute Theme, which is a personal favorite of mine.
I hope you enjoy the music and please subscribe to our YouTube Channel! Also, in the near future we will be completely revamping all of the music based pages here at Zelda Dungeon and will provide numerous ways that you can stream or download individual tracks or full soundtracks. So stay tuned!
The third quarter financial reports briefing has been posted online and it gives a hint as to what Nintendo has planned for the coming year. A majority of the report talks about sales figures and also has tons of different software and hardware charts, showcasing the Nintendo Wii, DS, and their competitors. Towards the end of the report there is a brief segment about upcoming software releases. In particular Metroid Other M has been revealed to have a Summer 2010 release date, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will launch later this year, and the Legend of Zelda will be shown off at this years E3.
Super Mario Galaxy 2, a Mario action title in 3D world, will be launched this year. And, we will show the new Zelda title for Wii at this year’s E3.
While Nintendo mentioned both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and the Legend of Zelda, they failed to affirm that Zelda would in fact be launching in 2010, while they did mention this about the next Super Mario title. It seems Nintendo is very confident that the new Metroid and Mario titles will ship this year, but the Legend of Zelda is still a hope for a 2010 release and not something that can be etched in stone. Read more…
Noah over at The Hidden Triforce has put together a short article discussing several enemies of the Zelda series that have since been lost over the years. In particular he looks at five enemies that once played a more vital role, but are now just another enemy in the grouping.
Where has Goriya even gone? This ugly but ever so lovable enemy has not been seen since A Link to the Past. Goriya got his start as a Boomerang throwing foe in The Legend of Zelda and repeated this performance for The Adventure of Link. Goriya even made several appearances in the notoriously good Legend of Zelda cartoons. InA Link to the Past he was weakened and made to just mimic Link’s moves. Bring Goriya back. Zelda Wii could use a Boomerang touting enemy.
I personally would like to see the Lynel’s from the original Legend of Zelda make a return. We saw them in A Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons, and Oracle of Ages, but they have since disappeared. I always thought that they were some of the more challenging overworld enemies and it is a shame that such a cool looking and difficult enemy has disappeared.
So what enemies out there do you think should return to the Zelda series? What older enemies do you think should play a more vital role in the games? Post your comments below! Read more…
The live stream is now over. Thanks for watching everyone, and if you enjoyed it, please feel free to comment and tell us what you think!
Notice: A full update concerning the results of the Countdown will be available shortly. Here is the master list of the songs
25.) The Hidden Village (Twilight Princess) 24.) Farewell Hyrule King (The Wind Waker) 23.) Temple of Time (Ocarina of Time) 22.) Overworld (Legend of Zelda) 21.) Termina Field (Majora’s Mask) 20.) Title (The Wind Waker) 19.) Title (Legend of Zelda) 18.) Cloud Tops (The Minish Cap) 17.) Dark World Death Mountain (A Link to the Past) 16.) Molgera (The Wind Waker) 15.) Title (Ocarina of Time) 14.) Spirit Temple (Ocarina of Time) 13.) Overworld (Spirit Tracks) 12.) Legendary Hero (The Wind Waker) 11.) Midna’s Desperate Hour (Twilight Princess) 10.) Tal Tal Heights (Link’s Awakening) 9.) Song of Healing (Majora’s Mask) 8.) The Great Palace (Adventure of Link) 7.) Ballad of the Wind Fish (Link’s Awakening) 6.) Dragon Roost Island (The Wind Waker) 5.) Gerudo Valley (Ocarina of Time) 4.) The Final Hours (Majora’s Mask) 3.) Ending / Credits (A Link to the Past) 2.) Stone Tower Temple (Majora’s Mask) 1.) Dark World (A Link to the Past)
The folks over at Zelda Universe have posted up an article discussing their desire for Nintendo to open up a bit, and offer more exploration to the overworld, much like the games during the pre-Ocarina of Time era. Here is an excerpt from the article.
Aonuma has even said he wants Zelda Wii to make the gamer feel like “they’ve really been on an adventure.” If that’s true, allow the player more freedom to explore Hyrule (or as rumor has it, somewhere other than Hyrule) wand make their own discoveries. Allow the player to make their own decisions based off what they discover and what little information they are given. Don’t tell the player that the next dungeon is in Death Mountain; let the player discover it for his or her self.
Response: I cannot agree more and I think the linearity of Zelda has really been a problem. I think Ocarina of Time did a good job in terms of having somewhat of an open overworld. While the story was linear, at the very least, you were able to explore different parts of the overworld at different times. In games like Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks, this exploration seems to have been erased. The game is very linear and you only are allowed to go to certain areas of the game after defeating previous portions.
I also think that the open overworld exploration has never quite been perfect on the 3d games. I think the overworld for a game such as the Oracle of Ages was still fun to navigate. Going between the two time periods and noticing the differences in the landscape was interesting. Especially how past events effects the future. I think that type of overworld exploration and interaction is what we need to see more from the future Zelda games, and hopefully we see that with the upcoming Legend of Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii.
The image to your left is a short comic created by Cory Godbey. It’s a pretty sweet little Zelda piece that somewhat mocks the inventory system of the Zelda series. You can click the image to get a better version of the piece.
You can also check out the rest of Cody Godbey’s Bit & Run series by looking at his blog. While this is the only Zelda related one that I found, he does have a few Mario based comics which are pretty sweet. Definitely worth a look.
I particularly liked one of his images of some classic Mario enemies discussing what Mario has been up to lately. It’s pretty cool and gave me a quick little giggle, so hopefully you like it.
Several new images that claim to be of the upcoming Legend of Zelda title for the Nintendo Wii have surfaced. While it seems unlikely that these are real, there are a few things to note in these screenshots.
One of the images depicts what looks like Roc’s Cape from The Minish Cap. In earlier interviews with Eiji Aonuma, he mentioned, and also laughed about the idea of possibly including a flight mechanism in the game. The idea came from his son, and it falls in line with the steamboat and train progression.
Additionally, the figure that was in the artwork released over 6 months ago is shown as being an item that is equipped to the d-pad. However, the image shown on the d-pad seems to be like a complete cutout from the artwork of the Fairy Queen from The Wind Waker.
Another one of the items shown to be equipped is a rod-like item that is numbered. In one of the screenshots there is just 12 of the item, but in another screenshot we see the number 9. The item has been used, just like the traditional bombs or arrows. It’s uncertain what the image is supposed to represent.
Jump inside to check out all of the apparent screenshots that have been leaked.
The image to your left is the background image and it was once again created by staff member Steve. However, the original background image was created by Melora of History of Hyrule. For those of you that are YouTube subscribers, you might have noticed that the entire soundtrack was uploaded, removed, and then re-uploaded. It turns out that we completely missed the fact that the legendary Koji Kondo was NOT the composer for the music for Adventure of Link and we incorrectly labeled that the first time around. The correct composer is the much less known Akito Nakatsuka. Hope you guys enjoy the music and be sure to check back for more music in the near future. We are currently looking into completely revamping how we currently offer and display our music soundtracks and downloads and that should be popping up in the next few weeks.
Reminder – With music the hot topic right now, I want to remind you all that tomorrow we will be hosting a LIVE stream right here at the site where we will be counting down the Zelda Dungeon Top 25 Zelda Songs! The stream will begin at roughly 5pm US Central Time. A video will be embedded right here on the site along with an embedded chat room right next to it where you can interact with us. Following the countdown we will have a live stream of the Adventure of Link. It’s sure to be a fun day and I look forward to broadcasting. Hope to see you there. Read more…
Some exciting things have been going on over at the Zelda Dungeon YouTube Channel lately. Just this past week we hit the milestone of 5,000 subscribers! It took us quite awhile to get there but we’ve really been on a roll lately. Thanks to all of the subscribers out there and for those of you who aren’t ones yet, you should certainly subscribe today!
We have recently uploaded the full soundtrack for the original Legend of Zelda for the NES. It includes 12 tracks and each video includes the artwork that you see to the right. The image was created by our staff member Steve and the background artwork is the work of the great Melora of History of Hyrule. Over the next few weeks we’ll be uploading a ton of more Zelda music and remixes to the channel.
Also, we have quite a bit of other video material appearing. Caleb is just about near the conclusion of his well done Ocarina of Time Video Walkthrough and is also in the process of uploading smaller video guides for the game. Additionally, we have numerous other walkthroughs planned and they should be popping up over the next few weeks. Lastly the video talking points that I have posted at the site recently are at our youtube channel and more of those should be appaering in the near future.
All in all our Youtube Channel is really starting to pick up and we should be posting numerous videos each week in the foreseeable future so stay tuned and subscribe! Thanks for the support guys. Read more…
