What is the Legend of Zelda to you? Is it simply a game that you enjoy to pass the time with, or is it something more meaningful? Have you been enjoying journeys through Hyrule for most of your life, or have you only recently tried you hand at your first adventure as Link, the hero in green? We all have our stories, playing these games, finding inspiration from them and always wishing for more adventures to enjoy on the latest Nintendo hardware.

Mine happens to be one that starts a good decade into the lifespan of the series. But strangely enough, even though I started playing well into the Game Boy Advance/Gamecube era of Zelda, I kind of experienced things the way that many fans did who were around at the start of the series – struggling through a strange new kind of game with top-down, open-world gameplay, only to see things change along the way as 3D graphics, different control schemes, and new complex storylines come along. Plus, there was a whole lot to experience beyond the games themselves. It has certainly been interesting, so if you want to see how my perspective of the series has changed over the years, hit the jump.

Oh, and expect more Zelda Stories from our other writers in the coming weeks. Like I said, everyone’s got one!

The Legend of Who?

I guess you could say that I was a rather typical Nintendo fan way back when. I grew up with an SNES during the time of the Gamecube, and played loads of Super Mario and Pokemon (and a bunch of Sonic on PC on the side, but don’t tell Nintendo). One day, I was given a game called The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (on Game Boy Advance, which is funny, considering I had the SNES), and it was certainly not what I was used to. I had never played a Zelda game before, and I never really thought of the story or characters. I barely even thought of it as a “Zelda” game, as I didn’t know there were more. I was so used to games with less plot to them, and I was more focused on the action and gameplay. But this game was longer and more complex, and tested your puzzle-solving skills, inside and out of what I called “levels”, before I came to know the term “dungeon”. I was actually stuck for a very long time, and only after plenty of frustration and some word of mouth, I was able to go on to finish the game. A Link to the Past was also the first game that blew me away with music. As I’ve previously mentioned, I’d beat Ganon over and over just to hear that magical tune during the Staff Roll. A perfect ending, to an awesome game, but apparently, that was only the start. There was much more to see.

And yes. Four Swords was on the same cartridge. Taunting me. I had no one else to play it with me. I watched that intro video SO many times.

The Road to 3D

Once again, my parents graced me with a chance at another Zelda game, years after my time playing A Link to the Past. After renting it from the video store (yes, kiddies, that was something people did once), I needed to get my own copy of The Minish Cap. As a graphically superior game with the same kind of gameplay I remember from my last Zelda game, I was so excited to delve into a new story, with new dungeons, a new villain, and new gameplay elements. Over the coming weeks, I played through it non-stop, doing my best to beat Vaati, and save Hyrule once again.

Interestingly, the late days of my playthrough of The Minish Cap had me checking out walkthroughs online. This was new to me, as the Internet was a bit complex for one my age. Little did I know that I was checking out walkthroughs on a site that, over a decade later, would be the site where I post this very editorial. ZD has a lasting impact, I suppose. Once the game was over, and I had seen the sort of cinematic ending, I was hooked on the series. I began to take inspiration from Zelda as a whole, and started making fanart before I knew what “fanart” meant. As an artist, the in-game symbols and character art from the manual fascinated me. Soon, I wanted to know more about this world I had saved twice now, in the numerous games in this series I was still new to. Soon, though, I was given a new console for Christmas, and my view of these games would quickly change.

I got a Gamecube in the days just before the launch of the Wii, and in my search for games, the first game I saw on the shelf at Wal-mart, was The Wind Waker. With an intriguing title, golden box artwork, and the promise of 3D graphics for the first time, how could I resist? In essence, The Wind Waker was my Ocarina of Time. The jump to 3D graphics and a massive new world, on a system more powerful than I had ever played, had me engaged for hours on end. Though, funnily enough, the first several hours had me occupied with playing through Outset Island and Forsaken Fortress about a dozen times over. Young Jon failed to realize the need for a memory card before leaving the store with his fancy new game.

Once again, I was astounded at the game’s scale, and in my eyes, it still surpassed any of the other games I owned. Now, as I played this game, I did need some help from time to time, but with no point of reference for what to do (beyond an occasional online walkthrough), or what other people might have thought of the game, I was a bit stuck. In that way, Zelda partially led me to Nintendo Power, an amazing magazine that would not only assist me with the Zelda games I already had, but would also lead me to more later on, with its great original articles, and coverage of events I had never heard of, like E3. At this point, though, I was a long way from being blown away again. I had seen plenty, and I was ready to play new Zelda games, and have loads more fun. What I didn’t think of, were the other games that released well before I became a fan.

To Move Forward, You Must First Go Back

I must say, the next few games I would play in the series would act as a major wake-up call. The Minish Cap and The Wind Waker are, honestly, rather easy games, and I was about to see a GBA game on a store shelf that would prove that: The Legend of Zelda, part of the Classic NES collection. Things were tougher for gamers back in the day. I was still young, and would not work up the patience to beat the original Zelda until years later. What came up during that period was another challenge that, once again, my folks would give me (man, Mom and Dad knew what they were doing).

The dual-game disk containing Ocarina of Time: Master Quest gave me a chance at playing possibly the best game on the console I wanted so badly as a boy, the N64. Though, I like how since I played Master Quest first for a bit of a challenge, I actually got stuck for awhile early on in the normal quest version. Now, this was not my first 3D Zelda game, or even my first 3D game in general. In fact, 3D games were extremely common at that point, so I was not as starstruck as many were when it first released. For me, the impact was still great, but less impressive. Graphics were never of much importance to me, so the gameplay and story were what made me love it. Still, it was not the best thing I had ever played. Little did I know that saying such things in comment sections later would have me buried in hate comments.

And of course, as luck would have it, the next game to land in my home console would be one that took Ocarina of Time‘s storytelling style, and build upon it. We were back to Zelda blowing my mind, with Twilight Princess. I had extremely rarely played rated teen games, and this title’s brooding grittiness, along with awesome dungeons and combat, was a worthy game to sit on my shelf. Before its release, I had seen previews for months in Nintendo Power, and it was to be my first time being truly hyped for the release of a brand new game. It’s impact would have to last, though, as the next two games would not be all that… lovable, for me. Thankfully, a new world would open for me that would show me what effect Zelda had had on the rest of the population. I was about to discover the online community.

The Web, Fellow Fans, and More Classics

As I mentioned, I had looked for walkthrouths online before, but that was about it. My only other use for the internet was to find cool Zelda images that I would use for collages and stuff, the geeky artist that I was. During my time enjoying Twilight Princess, though, I finally was introduced to the online fandom, and man. There was a LOT to see. Growing up, no one I knew was into Zelda, and those that actually played games often made fun of Nintendo fans like me. But now… well. Fanart, walkthroughs, forums, timeline theorists, fan videos, fan games, online merchandise, and of course, online stores from which I could buy more old Zelda games! There was so much more to Zelda than I ever thought there was. There was a long wait until the days of Skyward Sword, but it seemed like I had more than enough to occupy me, and apparently I had some real catching up to do.

At some point I found a video series by GameTrailers’ called Zelda Retrospective, Part 1-6, which would later be succeeded by their Zelda Timeline video during the 25th anniversary. These videos had me reeling a bit. There was so much I had missed. From that first game two decades before, right up to Twilght Princess, which was about to release at the time of the series’ creation, these videos went through virtually everything there was to Zelda, and it gave me a new mission. I would go on to hunt down and buy all the Game Boy Color titles, Four Swords Adventures, and The Adventure of Link on GBA. The Wii’s virtual console service, as well as the 3DS eShop later, would prove useful in my hunt for classics, nabbing me Majora’s Mask and FINALLY a playable version of Four Swords. Heck, I even went hunting for more obscure Zelda content, like the Broadcast Satellite Zelda games, and the Tingle games. Things were looking great, to say the least.

But again, the games were the tip of the ice burg. Later, merchandise from posters to books to custom trinkets were catching my eye, and Zelda content from animators, YouTube theorists, talented artist, speedrunners and more were there for me to browse through, and one day, October 10th, 2010, that same site I kept coming back to for walkthroughs had a post about a new podcast it was starting. Z-Talk, the Zelda Dungeon podcast, had begun. After hearing their first roundtable discussion, I wanted to get involved, and I soon began submitting mailbag questions, and eventually my own segments. By the end of the 3+ years of submitting to and later working on podcast, it would be concluded at the end of 2013, and I would be made a writer on ZD. After that, well, most major Zelda events I came across were recorded by me or the other writers, but I continued to post audio segments on  YouTube for awhile. My days of “catching up” were over, and I was finally able to focus entirely on new games. Thankfully, there was a lot going on after the start of the podcast, and loads more than just games to see in the coming years.

Prosperous Days, and Many More To Come

In recent years, things have been beyond incredible for the series. Hyrule Historia, The Symphony of the Goddesses (Seen it twice. SO GOOD.), A Link Between Worlds, HD and 3D remakes, amiibo, Hyrule Warriors, Tri Force Heroes, and plenty of unofficial content worth seeing and buying. The 25th anniversary was a whirlwind of Zelda fan hype – one that would get me started as a collector – and would last for a very long time. But what now, five years later? At the moment, things seem almost bleak for the Zelda franchise with barely any word from Nintendo, more delays on a sweet new game, and little more than theories to go on. At times, people like me gripe about the huge lack of news from the Big N, but deep down, I know big things are on the home front. Twilight Princess HD, Zelda Wii U, and brand new official merchandise are already set for release this year for the 30th anniversary, and news on Nintendo’s next console is right around the corner. Things will always pick up eventually. The Zelda series isn’t going anywhere, and there will always be a new game to play, a new collectible to pick up, and new fans to go through the same kinds of discovery and mind-blows that we went through as kids. After all, whenever Nintendo doesn’t have something new to show us, the community always has something new and cool for us to see, from fan games, to artwork, to books and more. So I’ll keep my eyes open, and hopefully, there will be more to add to my shelves soon enough. Though, as you can see below, I may need a new shelf or two after the 30th anniversary.

Let us know your stories in the comments below, and expect more stories from our team soon!