My first introduction to The Legend of Zelda was sometime in the early 90’s when I played A Link to the Past at my cousin’s house. It piqued my interest immediately and is still my favorite game in the franchise. I love this game. The freedom and exploration was something I’ve never seen before. There’s RPG elements, numerous and varied weapons and items, and expertly crafted dungeons and puzzles. It’s almost the perfect game and there are more games in this classic franchise that are just as good! But what makes them so good? With Super Mario Bros. we get new releases every few years that seem like new levels to the same old game. Whereas with Zelda we get a similar plot and structure, but each game feels different from the last and manages to stay fresh with each new iteration!
A link between worlds…
One of the features that cement Zelda as a timeless franchise is the setting. The woodland fantasy never gets old. It captured our imagination years ago and stands up to continued recycling and use. This type of fantasy setting is certainly nothing new and its endless potential is something we never seem to tire of experiencing. You can see the proof in countless video games, novels, and movies.
Link, you can do it! Save the princess…
Zelda borrows familiar tropes from various fantasy sources, but one of the main ones they use in every game is a basic “hero’s journey” story structure. Like the setting itself, this is another widely used structure that lends itself to so many variations. We see the “hero’s journey” in every medium as well, some good examples of it can be seen in: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Lion King and many others. In the “hero’s journey” the hero overcomes various trials and adversities and achieves great deeds on behalf of a civilization, tribe, or group. That’s an extremely simplified definition, but many games in the Zelda series follow this structure.
It’s dangerous to go alone…
Another way the Zelda series manages to stay fresh is the exploration aspect of each game. Each game has you traverse a large map that’s full of labyrinthine forests, dark caves, sprawling bodies of water, and secret areas in each one. This aspect invokes the feeling of exploring a new world. There are new things to discover around every corner. When I play A Link to the Past today, I still discover new things; which is significant since I’ve been playing this game for more than 20 years! The exploration aspect, as well as the art style, keeps each game feeling different from the last. Each map is unique with its own secrets to uncover.
One cannot exist without the other…
The final point I want to touch on is the art style. I love that one game looks vastly different from another. They run the spectrum of being cartoonish (The Wind Waker) to semi realistic (Twilight Princess). Each game has such a different look and this helps the games stay and sets a specific tone. For instance, The Wind Waker, with its cell shaded graphics and chibi-esc character models, initially comes off as more light hearted and family friendly (a style that was originally panned by fans when it was first unveiled). Compare that to a game like Twilight Princess that had a much more realistic tone that helped darken the series.
Each game has its own unique look and touch to it, and these aspects please audiences without becoming stale. There’s such a familiar, but different style and feel to each one that has me returning to be a part of the legend as it continues to grow.
– The Marshall
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