Tag: GaroXicon

Nintendo loves the number three. I can’t say I blame them; it’s a magic number, after all. When we think about sets, about grouping things together, there’s a sort of bizarre, inexplicable attraction to the number three. Movie franchises with only three films are exceptionally common, to the point that we even have a word for a set of three movies: Trilogy (the term “duology,” which is a set of two connected films or similar works, is hardly ever used,…

The last article I wrote began with a call to arms for Nintendo. They were being left behind in the new culture of gaming, I said, because of their reliance on gameplay to the detriment of their story. I pitched a grand vision of a single Link’s tale concluding in the upcoming game A Link Between Worlds. I talked about how they should allow that story to connect with the gameplay by allowing players to traverse a Hyrule changed since…

Let’s talk about stories. To those of you familiar with my article work on this site, you will know that I have a deep passion for storytelling, and specifically, story structure. I’ve written about the monomyth — or, as it is more commonly called, the “Hero’s Journey” — and how this literary phenomenon is reflected within the Zelda series. I’ve talked at length about Joseph Campbell’s theories and their pertinence to both the series and video gaming at large. It…

I’ve gone on the record as saying that Majora’s Mask is my favorite game of all-time. While that has changed recently (blame Bioshock Infinite), it remains one of my favorites and the single best game in the Zelda series by my vote. I could explain at great length the many reasons why that is, but what all of them boil down to is that the game is so wonderfully enigmatic, so incredibly intriguing in so many ways, that I can…

Let’s talk about Skyward Sword. I’ve been fairly vocal in the past about my gripes with this game, and while as a whole I will continue to insist that it is not a bad game, and is in fact a good one, I will also insist that it is one of the weaker titles in the series. Today, we’re going to discuss why I hold this opinion: poor skill scaling. Before we discuss how Skyward Sword specifically suffers from this,…

Genre is a peculiar thing. While most works have a clearly identifiable genre, people often disagree about precisely what that genre is; a film may be classified as action, adventure, superhero, thriller, or even film noir depending on who you ask. But despite this variation in perceived genre, none of these responses are wrong, because – like most things – genre can’t be objectively defined. At base, genre refers to a category that a work of art can be placed…

We’ve previously discussed Robert McKee’s theories of the archplot, miniplot, and antiplot, and how they apply to the Zelda series. Today, we’re going to continue delving into McKee’s theories with a discussion of our perennial protagonist, Link. He’s been the player character in every canon Zelda game to date, and though we’ve seen many incarnations of him throughout the years, he’s still been the same character at his core. McKee’s theories of the protagonist are, at their base, about desire….

Happy Halloween! It’s that time of year again; children dress as goblins, ghouls or zombies, and go door to door requesting tricks or treats (but only ever get treats); and adults throw on the nearest article of rarely-worn clothing and make up some kind of costume for the party they’ll be attending. It’s also that time of year when we all consider things that we fear. In the spirit of the season, today we’ll be talking about fear in the…

The idea of a film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda series has been tossed around numerous times throughout the years, though to date no official adaptation has been produced, and many fan-based adaptations have been met with mixed reactions. To many, the idea of a Zelda film is very foreign, as the core tenets of the Zelda series do not lend themselves well to the cinema upon first glance. Looking closer, however, there are a number of interesting parallels…

Joseph Campbell was one of the foremost literary critics of his time, and one of the most influential men of the 20th century. In his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Campbell outlined his unifying theory of mythology, one that has been referred to by many names – monomyth, cosmogonic cycle, the Hero’s Journey – and applied by many different artists since its publication. We’ve previously discussed how the Hero’s Journey can be seen in The Legend of Zelda….