Category: A Link to the Past

The Zelda series is full of vibrant starting areas that make you feel right at home. From the lush Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time to the majestic islands of Skyloft in Skyward Sword, there are plenty of places I would pack my bags for and visit in a heartbeat. There are, however, a few in-game starter locales that don’t quite make my bucket list. Hyrule in A Link Between Worlds/A Link to the Past, for instance, doesn’t quite hit…

Welcome back to a very special edition of “Storytelling Through Sound,” a series of editorials dedicated to the analysis of the major musical themes from the Zelda franchise. In this month’s edition, we’re not talking about just one piece of music. We’re not even keeping ourselves limited to just one game! For this month’s installment, we’ll be taking a look at three different pieces of music that have stayed tried and true throughout the franchise: “Princess Zelda’s Rescue” from A…

If you ask Zelda fans what their favorite game in the series is, you’ll find that many pick the first Zelda game that they completed. My first Zelda game was Breath of the Wild in 2017, despite me being in my early 30s at the time and a gamer since childhood. Though I never experienced Zelda as a kid, I have a son who is eight years old and a big Zelda fan. He loves reading the Hyrule Historia trilogy…

With a video games series as long and as storied as The Legend of Zelda, it can be difficult for first-time players to know where to start. How can they know which game will give the best experience to someone who has no experience? Which game relies the least on a familiarity with themes and staple gameplay elements, so that anyone can jump in with relative ease? This might be a tough question to answer because The Legend of Zelda…

Nintendo released the pre-recorded Zelda Orchestra Concert on February 9, 2024 for music enthusiasts and Zelda fans around the world to enjoy. Nearly 30 minutes long, the concert featured a variety of songs from Zelda games old and new, such as main theme from Tears of the Kingdom, “Ballad of the Goddess,” “Zelda’s Lullaby,” “The Ballad of the Windfish,” and many more. The concert was pre-recorded without an audience, and this was admittedly pretty noticeable at the beginning and in…

Whether you’re heading back to school, returning to work, or just missing December’s holiday cheer, the start of a new year can be a stressful time. For that reason, it’s always important to unwind and find a sense of calmness. For many, that pursuit often takes the form of listening to music. Musician Lucas Cooper recently released this bundle of lo-fi Zelda remixes “to study or relax to,” celebrating the third anniversary of his first album, A Storm of Songs….

Back in December, it was announced that, due to persistent threats to staff and spectators alike, the 2024 Nintendo Live event to have been held in Tokyo, Japan had been cancelled. While Nintendo confirmed that the tournaments scheduled for the event would be postponed, the fate of the scheduled Legend of Zelda live orchestral concert remained uncertain… that is until just a little over two weeks ago, when Nintendo revealed that we would still be getting the performance, but in…

There is just one video game weapon that has proven time and time again that darkness is no match for it, and that is the Master Sword. Zelda fans from all over continue to admire the beauty of the Blade of Evil’s Bane, and artists are no exception. One particular artist who really appreciates how special this weapon is looks to finish their sword-related artwork with some upgrades. The artist we’re talking about today is Ivan Ramirez from the YouTube…

We can all agree that Tears of the Kingdom is a sprawling game. With the Sky Islands and The Depths to explore, along with the morphed landscape of Hyrule, the sheer level of content and routes you can take as a player is almost overwhelming. I give the game huge props for telling a compelling story around Princess Zelda, and for introducing new threats and elements to the gameplay, but I can’t help but feel like exploring the same map…

Pieces of Heart have been a staple of the Zelda series since they debuted in 1992’s A Link To The Past (full Heart Containers were available in the first Zelda game). Outside of Heart Containers, Pieces of Heart were the only way for the player to increase Link’s health. For the majority of the Zelda series’ history, players have been required to collect 4 Pieces of Heart to upgrade their health; Twilight Princess deviated from this format by requiring 5…