As part of the ongoing 30th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda celebrations, Nintendo has put some of the original design documents for the first Zelda online. The documents feature a series of drawings used for planning out some of the dungeon rooms and overworld screens, and a couple that compare the sketches with the final in-game rooms. There’s also a short YouTube video showing off the overworld map sketch. Drawings by Takashi Tezuka and Zelda’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto himself are included.
I wonder if the folks who worked on these drawings more than 30 years ago had any idea that they were truly creating a video game legend? For more insight into the origin and development of the first Zelda on the NES, check out our history article about 1986.
