Our great friends at Zelda Universe have come across an unusual find. A game is in development for portable Apple devices and may seem a bit too familiar to Zelda fans. While the game is not related to the Zelda franchise in anyway, it does share some common ground with a few games from the series. The all touch controls, cartoon style graphics, heart containers, and top down view of a young boy with a sword definitely brings Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks to mind.

The title of this Wind Waker look alike is Oceanhorn and aside from it borrowing a few aspects from the Zelda series, it looks like it would be a fantastic game for those who own an Ipad. Jump inside to read more and a watch some short gameplay footage.

Read more…

I’m back again with another new release from Casper, also known as CSGuitar89. He released his full length Zelda tribute album, Hymns of Light And Shadows several weeks ago. His intentions with this album was to have a full length album that lasted atleast an hour. He successfully met his goal when he finally released it with a full track list of 18 songs ranging from many different Zelda games and even gave the fans a chance to come up with their own title and cover for the album.

Since the release of the album, Casper has been releasing one video a week for each song on the album. Last weeks video was a relaxing version of Aryll’s Theme and next week’s will be a very heavy version of Goron City. This week however, the featured video is a melodic cover of Outset Island. Check out the video after the jump to listen to it for yourself.

Read more…

I definitely have a soft spot when it comes to anything Wind Waker, and I have to say that this piece of artwork is incredibly impressive. On Reddit, user Link546511 has posted some artwork they created for a project in their art class. The project itself is an entire booklet of the introduction of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, including pictures from the game and matching paper! The effort put into this book looks amazing and I would definitely make one if I had the skill set. Anyways, hit up the Reddit post here, or make the jump to check out some photos of the booklet!

Read more…

Machinima has came out with a comedic Zelda video. It’s a hilarious take on The Wind Waker that shows Link having problems trying to successfully catch a pig. When a small boy blows snot on him and Link drops the pig, everything starts going wrong.

You can watch the video after the jump, but keep in mind it is a bit gory.

Read more…

With Skyward Sword coming out in just a couple of weeks, fans are anticipating a whole new dimension of gameplay, and rightly so. The bits of storyline that have been revealed by Nintendo over the last two years of hyping the game have revealed quite a bit of information regarding the story and motivation of the characters within. Talk of starting out on a mysterious floating island in the sky and riding a bird across the clouds does sound like it would be an amazing and original experience for the Zelda Fan, especially in a series that has its roots in Medieval fantasy where one expects to find such things like horses and carriages as the main means of locomotion. Nintendo has decided to shake things up in the past, however. Normally in Zelda, players had to get around the overworld on boats, trains, or the occasional domesticated Dodongo. Through all the differences between the games, many of them still often share a lot of similarities. At a first glance Skyward Sword looks to be a completely new experience, with gameplay and story unlike anything we have ever seen before. Taking a closer look at the storyline, however, it might actually be a little too similar to what we have seen in the past. Ever since Nintendo started to provide little bits and pieces of the story of the game at E3 a little over a year ago, people began to think, doesn’t this sound familiar? And in many ways it did. There appeared to be a great many similarities between Skyward Sword and the 2003 classic The Wind Waker. To better point out the similarities, we should take a look and overview each game again.

Read more…

Another day, another year for the boys at Zelda Universe. Continuing their series 25 Years in 25 Days, they have reached a milestone year for Zelda: 2003, the year that brought us Wind Waker. As such, they have dedicated their entire article today to one of the most beloved yet controversial games in the series and the first major console game since the N64 days.

Jump inside for more in ZU’s article, as well as a little fanboy addition from me.
Read more…

2001 was a huge year, not just for Zelda, but for the gaming industry in general. This was the year that brought us the release of the Game Boy Advance, the GameCube, and Super Smash Bros Melee. Fans also got their first glimpse of The Wind Waker which many were not happy with and some people even got angry. Aside from things happening with Nintendo, in 2001, Sega became a 3rd party, the Sony Playstation 2 was going strong, and Microsoft had introduced us to the Xbox and Halo. For Zelda fans, the year meant enjoying two brand new Zelda games. Today, Zelda Universe’s 25 Years in 25 Days discusses how the games, Oracle of Season and Oracle of Ages, came to be. Be sure to head over to Zelda Universe to read the whole article and to leave your comments.

Read more…

In Nintendo Power’s November issue, they celebrated the GameCube’s tenth anniversary by creating a list of the console’s top 25 games. All three Legend of Zelda games released for the GameCube made the list. The Wind Waker came in second, Twilight Princess came in third, and Four Swords Adventure came in twenty-second. It’s hard to believe that the Gamecube came out ten years ago, especially when many of the games on the list are still talked about and played today. It helps that the Wii provides backwards compatibility so even if fans don’t own a Gamecube, they can still play the games. Along with all the Zelda titles, many other great games made the list. Make sure to check out all 25 after the jump.

Read more…

During our coverage of The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary concert we were able to show you many videos that were taken by the audience of songs that were played. Today, the folks over at The Bit Beacon have posted the full set list that they recorded from the Los Angeles show. With the exception of a few coughs from the audience, the songs are pretty good quality. Make the jump to hear all of the songs. You can also download your favorites for free!

Read more…

Rich George over at IGN had a chance to play Skyward Sword for 9 hours recently and he’s chiming in on his thoughts about the graphics of this latest Zelda epic. Many gamers have been skeptical about the graphical direction of Skyward Sword since the first glimpse of it at E3 2010. Many seeing it as a step backwards after the grittier and more realistic style of Twilight Princess. After his time with Skyward Sword, Rich argues that the game is graphically perfect! Check out some quotes from Rich’s article and my personal opinions of Skyward Sword’s graphics after the jump.

Read more…

Usually, the best Zelda articles can be found on fan sites devoted to Zelda, and if there are articles on larger gaming news sites, often they’re very bloggy, and about a singular person’s expirience with a game. This article is no exception, but I think it’s successful because it represents a journey that lots of Zelda fans went on with The Wind Waker and the graphical style that came with it.

Throughout the article, the author explains how wrong he, and all the Zelda fans, were when they initially assessed the game. Eventually Zelda fans came to like The Wind Waker’s original style and that its once disappointing graphics became its strength. Here’s how the author felt upon seeing The Wind Waker cinematic:

Read more…

An article was recently posted on Zelda Informer discussing the nature, power and origin of the songs used by Link in the Zelda series. The author points out that the songs themselves aren’t what holds the power, but more likely the power is borrowed from the gods whom Link calls upon when he plays one of the many songs from the Zelda series. He notes that some of the songs might have been taught to the people of Hyrule by the goddesses, but some are created by fellows such as Sharp and Flat from Ocarina of Time. He also notes that some instruments have more power than others. The most notable example of this is the Fairy Ocarina and the Ocarina of Time.

The author noticed this interesting anomaly in the series:

The Ocarina [of Time] is needed to open the Door of Time blocking the Master Sword. If this wasn’t the case, then why would Princess Zelda throw it to Link when she was being chased by Ganondorf? He already had the Fairy Ocarina. This is because the Fairy Ocarina did not have the power to pray to the Goddess of Time.
[...]Sometimes an instrument is not needed. Twilight Princess shows a different perspective. Link can use reeds and grasses to call his horse, Epona, and hawks respectively. And when Wolf Link talks to a hawk, it explains that it is compelled to do anything the player of the song orders, such as being launched at Wolf Link as a projectile. Wolf Link’s howls, on the other hand, can produce magical effects as shown by the summoning of the Hero’s Spirit who trains Link.

Read more…

These days we seem to be hearing more and more talk about the Zelda series getting stale. Nintendo reusing the same structure in each game is a good example. And I don’t just mean the game in general (collect three items, plot twist, collect some more items, final showdown). I’m also talking about specific elements, such as dungeon structure. Even other elements of the series have been reused again and again. Villains, items, plot twists, kidnappings, magical objects.

Some people argue that these elements are classic, and that they make the series what it is. I tend to agree with this for the most part, but I also agree with the other side: That the series really needs some freshness, But most of the time I hear people talking about radical changes. Switching up the gameplay entirely, adding more mature themes, making fundamental changes to Link’s character, etc.. I find that all a bit extreme, not to mention some of those things would be bad moves all around in my opinion.

But why don’t we just bring back the old qualities that have been lost since Ocarina of Time? Read more…

One big subject that comes up when talking about the rise (or downfall, depending on how you look at it) of The Legend of Zelda is the concept of magic. Magic is obviously one of the things that defines the Zelda franchise and makes it exciting. Some games were filled with spells, while others made use of mysterious items with arcane powers. Fairies, Wizrobes, maze-like woods, and items that start with the word “magical” are all prominently in Zelda games. Bottom line: magic is awesome. But many fans have asserted that magic played a huge role in the early games, and that its use has gone down dramatically, only to be replaced by technology. Sounds alarming. I’d like to take you through this and give you my thoughts. Read more…

Four Ways to Make Shops Important in Zelda Again

Hello everyone, this is ChargewithSword here, bringing in his first article about the shops of Zelda games. Lately as of most recent Zelda titles, the shops have become useless. This isn’t something that I’d call a big problem, but I find it to be a little annoying when you consider how you have thousands of rupees in your bags but nothing to spend them on. It sometimes makes you wonder why you have these things in the start. You buy something there once and then you ignore the shop for the rest of the game unless there is an especially desired item available. This makes the shops seem like an extraneous and unnecessary addition to the games, and recently it has been true.  It is here that I wish to discuss my concerns and suggestions on how we can escalate their use. Read more…