The Legend of Zelda - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda
2D origins (1986–1993) 2D origins (1986–1993) The first Legend of Zelda game appeared on the in 1986. It was later converted into a cartridge game for the American NES.
, the first game of the series, was first released in Japan on February 21, 1986, on the . A cartridge version, using battery-backed , was released in the United States on August 22 and in Europe on November 27, 1987, respectively. The game features a "Second Quest", accessible either upon completing the game, or by registering one's name as "ZELDA" when starting a new quest. The "Second Quest" features different dungeons and item placement, and more difficult enemies.
The second game, , was released for the in Japan on January 14, 1987, and for the in Europe in November and North America in December 1988. The game exchanged the for (though the top-down point of view was retained for overworld areas), and introduced elements (such as ) not used previously or thereafter in the series. The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II were released in gold-coloured cartridges instead of the console's regular grey cartridges. Both were re-released in the final years of the with grey cartridges.
Four years later, returned to the top-down view (under a ), and added the concept of an , the Dark World. The game was released for the on November 21, 1991. It was later re-released through Nintendo's Virtual Console service on January 22, 2007.
The next game, , for Nintendo's , is the first Zelda for a , and the first set outside Hyrule and to exclude Princess Zelda.Transition to 3D (1998–2002) Transition to 3D (1998–2002) , the first 3D-styled game of the franchise.
After five years without a new game, the series made the transition to with for the , which was released in November 1998. This game, initially known as Zelda 64, retains the core gameplay of the previous games, and was very successful commercially and critically, considered by many critics and gamers to be the , and ranking highly on IGN and EGM's "greatest games of all time" lists, as well as scoring perfect scores in several video game publications. In February 2006, it was ranked by as the best game released for a Nintendo console. The game was originally developed for the poorly selling, Japanese-only , but was converted to cartridge format when the 64DD hardware was delayed. A new gameplay mechanic, lock-on targeting, is used in the game, which focuses the camera on a nearby target and alters the player's actions relative to that target. Such mechanics allow precise sword fighting in a 3D space. The game heavily uses context-sensitive button play, which enabled the player to control various actions with Link using only one button on the Nintendo 64's controller. Each action was handled slightly differently but all used the 'A' button to perform. For instance, standing next to a block and pressing 'A' made Link grab it (enabling him to push/pull it), but moving forwards into a block and pressing 'A' allowed Link to climb the block. The game featured the first appearance of Link's horse, , allowing Link to travel quickly across land and fire arrows from horseback. Those who preordered the game received a gold-coloured cartridge in a limited edition box with a golden plastic card affixed, reading "Collector's Edition". In some stores that had this "Collector's Edition" quickly sell out, a small and rare Zelda pin was given instead. It is the sword and shield emblem with "Zelda" written on it. Very few of them are known to remain. Ocarina of Time was available through the 's service. Nintendo re-released it for the Virtual Console in July 2015.
Ocarina of Time's follow-up, , was released in April 2000. It uses the same as the previous game, and added a time-based concept, in which , the protagonist, relives the events of three days as many times as needed to complete the game's objectives. It was originally called Zelda Gaiden, a Japanese title that translates as Zelda . Gameplay changed significantly; in addition to the time-limit, Link can use masks to transform into creatures with unique abilities. While Majora's Mask retains the graphical style of Ocarina of Time, it is also a departure, particularly in its atmosphere. It features motion-blur, unlike its predecessor. The game is darker in tone, dealing with death and tragedy in a manner not previously seen in the series, and has a sense of impending doom, as a large moon slowly descends upon the land of to destroy all life. All copies of are gold cartridges. A limited "Collector's Edition" cartridge label was offered as the . Copies of the game that are not collector's editions feature a normal sticker cartridge label. Majora's Mask is included in the , and was available on the Virtual Console.
When Nintendo revealed the on August 24, 2000, the day before Nintendo's 2000 exposition, a software demonstration showed a realistically styled real-time duel between and . Fans and the media speculated that the battle might be from a Zelda game in development at the time.
At Spaceworld 2001, Nintendo showed a Zelda game, later released as in December 2002. Due to poor reception, nothing further was shown until a playable demonstration was ready. Miyamoto felt The Wind Waker would "extend Zelda's reach to all ages". The gameplay centres on controlling wind with a baton called the "Wind Waker" and sailing a small boat around an island-filled ocean, retaining similar gameplay mechanics as the previous 3D games in the series.
Ocarina of Time was re-released on the in 2002, when it was offered as a for The Wind Waker in the U.S., Canada and Japan. It includes the canceled expansion for Ocarina of Time known as Ura Zelda during development. Named , the game was given reorganized dungeon layouts for greater difficulty. Europe continued to receive this "Two-Game Bonus Disc" free in every copy of The Wind Waker, except for the discounted version. Following this came for the GameCube in 2003, which included the original The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Wind Waker. noted that Majora's Mask suffered from a frame rate which appeared choppier and inconsistencies in the audio. This compilation was never sold commercially, and originally could only be obtained by purchasing a GameCube bundled with the disc (in North America, Europe and Australia), by registering a GameCube and two games at Nintendo.com, or by subscribing or renewing a subscription to (in North America) or in Sweden. In the UK, 1000 copies were made available through the Club Nintendo Stars Catalogue program. After these were quickly claimed, Nintendo gave a copy to customers who mailed in from select GameCube games.
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