Category: Daily Debate

Most Zelda titles conclude with a climactic final test. Dungeons serve as the primary obstacles throughout these games and it is only sensible that they also house the endgame challenges. The final dungeons are, however, are often quite unique. Sometimes they are comparably enormous, include elements of every previous dungeon, and culminate with the final boss. While they differ in presentation and style, they typically align toward a single goal; close the player’s experience with a sense of urgency and satisfaction. Which…

From the inception of the Zelda franchise, the concept of a magic arrow that banishes evil has been present. In The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, this role was fulfilled by the Silver Arrows, which would deliver the final blow to Ganon after he was exposed with sword strikes. Starting with Ocarina of Time, that dichotomy would be reversed and the Silver Arrows would become the Light Arrows. Plenty of fantasy worlds have mystical projectiles crafted from silver, but the Light Arrows…

It’s my birthday! And to celebrate my birthday I want to know what your favorite Zelda item you’ve ever received as a gift was. It could be a birthday gift, a Christmas gift, or a “you’re super cool, just because” kind of gift. I love wishing for Zelda items to add to my collection around my house, and I’m sure that others do too. So what is your favorite Zelda gift? You would think as an adult I would wish…

It’s officially spooky season! Many celebrate the month of October with scary movies, fun costumes, and even scary video games. Since it’s spooky season it begs the question, what is the scariest Zelda enemy? As a kid I had a terrible fear of Redeads. Ocarina of Time Redeads specifically. This Zelda enemy always freaked me out, and I remember after the first time I played Ocarina of Time that they gave me nightmares. When they appeared again in The Wind…

Ganon is one of the most iconic villains in video game history, but  the character has been quite a chameleon over the decades. Unlike fellow Nintendo antagonist Bowser, the Great King of Evil has taken vastly different forms throughout his glorious and destructive history. Ganon’s first appearance on NES was as a monstrous porcine beast, but the antagonist has morphed from bestial to humanoid depending on the game. While Ganon’s human form (often referred to as Ganondorf) has become very…

Nintendo Switch Online has always been a slightly different animal than the Playstation Network and XBox Live. It’s part game chat solution, part cloud service, but mostly it’s a way to access Nintendo’s classic library. NSO has also been the most recent example of Nintendo stubbornly carving its identity out from the public’s expectations. Put simply, Nintendo zigs when they are expected to zag. And until now it was easy to argue as a pretty sweet deal. So maybe it’s…

With the recent release of Mario Golf Super Rush, I got to thinking. If Breath of the Wild had contained a golf-themed mini game, where in Hyrule would you put the course? With the kingdom’s massive topography, that there are hundreds of spots to set up a series of holes. The rolling plains of Central Hyrule certainly look the part. The land is picturesque and green, though the Guardians could make “playing the ball where it lies” a little difficult….

From Clock Town in Majora’s Mask to Skyloft in Skyward Sword, Zelda games typically have a home base for Link to recuperate from battles. It is a familiar place where the player can perhaps buy potions, embark on side quests, and enjoy a bit of peace amidst the hectic adventure. Breath of the Wild went back to the roots of the series by establishing several different towns like in Adventure of Link, dotting the expansive open-world of Hyrule with different…

After Ganon turned the Guardian robots against their masters, Central Hyrule and the Great Plateau were eviscerated within mere hours. The destruction of the kingdom’s hub spread the surviving population to the periphery and necessitated makeshift defenses against the swarming hordes of Blins and Lizalflos.  After Zelda sealed Ganon inside the castle, the ferocity of the invading army was greatly diminished and a century-long cold war began. After so much time, the various peoples began to gradually rebuild their lives…

Every Zelda fan has a favorite game in the series, and often those favorites are listed in the top tiers of best-selling lists even outside of the Nintendo brand. Understandably, as groundbreaking as Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild, and other 3-D titles were in the gaming industry, it’s no wonder that major releases in the series like those are common favorites among long-time and newer fanatics. But with 19 official titles in the series as of 2021, many games are…