If there’s one word that perfectly summarizes and encapsulates Zelda Universe, it’s “community.” From the bustling activity on the forums, to the regular emails sent to our inbox, to the constant engagement from our social media followers, we’re all reminded daily of how many fans are interacting with the website and its many projects.
This community has now grown, evolved, and thrived over 20 years. It would not be a true 20th-anniversary celebration without letting the community voice its favorite moments of Zelda Universe’s double-decade history, and if you’ve been kicking around the site for a while yourself, strap in for a nostalgic ride in part one of our community roundup!
Big Bro Davidia
So, let’s see — where does one begin? I first joined this forum when I was 19, so I was actually one of the oldest members at the time (pretty sure, at least). I never intended to become a part of this community. In fact, I only joined to keep a protective watch over my then-11-year-old sister who had joined. I also figured it was a way for me to keep in touch with her while I was away at university. Little did I know, I would get sucked into a whole new realm. Quite literally, Zelda Universe changed my life.
I took on the mantle of ZU Counselor (with my own AOL Instant Messenger “office hours” and all), had incredibly deep and personally challenging conversations with people from all over the globe, nearly went to Britain for a physics internship, and learned smatterings of languages with what ultimately would be the only “social media” venue I ever stuck with.
I could name member after member who has influenced my life. All of them are part of my story and helped me grow. I’d like to think I helped a few along the way, as well (though I also hurt a couple). And here I am almost precisely 17 years later (I joined on January 13, 2003), making more new friends and reconnecting with old ones.
Over all these years, my favorite memory of “Zed-You” is when I was an astronomy research assistant creating ForTran programs to number crunch subdwarf star data. I’d be on the mIRC channel as I waited for programs to compile, debug, and spit out graphs. I’m pretty sure I actually have an old screenshot hidden away somewhere from that time, just to show what my life was like. For me, ZU (which I’d always otherwise call “that blue site”) became a constant, a getaway, a refuge, a painful reminder, a mixed blessing, a new horizon, a new home: all these things and more.
Blind 90
Heartfelt congratulations on this 20-year milestone! I didn’t find out about Zelda Universe until about 2016. Back in 2001, all we had for Zelda was just guides and forums — we have those today, but now we have so much more! Twitch wasn’t even a thing yet!
My favorite memory was a column written by Stephanie where she dreamed of “Zelda the musical”! After that dream, she said that Zelda should never be made into a musical! Does anybody remember that?!
@BrettSalapa
I have had such wonderful times with ZU! I watched ZUthon for the first time in 2018, and it has been such an honor to contribute to such great causes. It is a group of very special people, and I can’t thank you all enough for all the amazing work that you do. Happy 20th, ZU!
Ryan Haney
I started reading Zelda Universe after Twilight Princess was announced and the “Nintendo Revolution” was officially named the Wii. Then I found out the CD-i Zelda games existed…
Gregory Henry
My favorite Zelda Universe memory is the day I first discovered your group. I’ve never been what I would describe as an “avid” or “committed” gamer, but I’ve been playing Zelda since I could hold a controller and I’m still playing it now. I can’t wait to introduce the series to my son when he comes of age, it was a treasure to find a group who shared the same love and appreciation for the concepts and stories that I have, happy 20th ZU!
Lozzie
I came onto ZU in 2002 while I was in a class in high school, looking for Zelda images for a project. Even back then, ZU had some of the best images and media on the net. I found what I needed and wasn’t planning on sticking around. Here we are, 20 years later, and I am posting now my 9,837th post telling you how I wasn’t planning on staying!
I have so many memories of ZU that I could spend months telling them all. From the Cody for Webmaster campaign to all the friends I have on my Facebook from here, this site has been a part of my life for the majority of it. But my absolute favorite memory, of course, will always be that April Fool’s Day. You know the one.
I can’t remember the exact year we pulled it off, but the entire staff and mod team decided that for April Fool’s Day, we would “sell” the site to GameSpot. Everyone was to create a separate account and we would make sweeping changes to the forums to make them more like GameSpot. Having GSTrey being called “GS Ash Trey” was an amazing show of support by the forum.
I know that a lot of the people on the boards caught wind of the fact that it was April Fool’s day, but it was still fun to pretend and take part in an amazing April Fool’s day prank. I have never been able to pull off a prank of that magnitude in my life before or after. It’s amazing that I got to be a part of that experience. I love that this site has endured for 20 years and I know that, as long as The Legend of Zelda is a thing, this site will be here to report the news and media that goes along with it.
Zelda Universe is now celebrating its 20th birthday! Be sure to check out more of our memories from the site’s two-decade history.
