Photo credits: Michael O’Connell / Patch, Katherine Gross / Guinness World Records
Tucked away in an obscure basement in Fairfax, VA lies the largest collection of Zelda memorabilia anywhere on the planet, and it might have still been a secret to everybody if it wasn’t for the Guinness Book of World Records making it known.
The impressive treasure trove belongs to Constantine Adams, software engineer by day and huge Zelda fan by night. (Well, okay, maybe all the time.) The collection totals a whopping 3,918 units at the time of this writing, which more than doubles the last record holder of 1,816 units by Anne Martha Harnes of Norway. It’s gotten to the point that Adams is almost running out of space in his basement, but he doesn’t mind.
Like many Zelda fans, Adams has long been quiet about his passion until Guinness contacted him about the record in July. “It was just a goal, right? There was something challenging to do, and I enjoyed it,” says Adams. “It was hard at times. I’m not jumping up and down, because of it. But, now’s my time to show it off and say, ‘Here it is.’”
Adams’s collection began with a simple love for the series as a young child with his older brother Eric. “I have a brother that’s 4 ½- years older than me, and I would just watch him play video games. I loved doing it,” said Adams. “If I got out of bed and heard the video game music, I would run downstairs just to watch him play video games for hours.” The young Adams did not feel confident enough and was even too afraid to play video games by himself at the time – until he was given a GameBoy and a copy of Link’s Awakening on his ninth birthday in 1993.
That adventure in Koholint left a palpable mark of courage on Adams. “I remember playing in the car, and it was the first game I ever played through,” he said. “I fell in love. And after that, I was just playing games and games and games and games.” Adams later began collecting a broad spectrum of video game memorabilia when he was sixteen, which amassed a large collection spanning from the NES to the Playstation 2. He remained a huge Zelda fan at heart, but it wasn’t the games that spurred him on to growing his Zelda collection – it was the Zelda amiibo.
Like any sort of blunder encountered on an epic quest, one failed Craigslist debacle at buying a large lot of amiibos drove Adams to complete the entire Zelda set, which he did later on. “I developed a particular fondness for the Zelda-themed amiibo, which opened my eyes to the vast and vibrant community of Zelda collectors and the world of memorabilia beyond the games themselves,” Adams explained. By 2019 his quest was made clear, and Adams awakened to his destiny as a Zelda collector. So much so, that over 90 percent of his funds from video game merchandise sold on Ebay in 2021 was used to build his Zelda collection!
When asked by local Patch news reporters why he focuses on collecting Zelda merchandise in particular, Adams said, “Zelda has so many games involved and I just really like the genre, the play style, I really like the collecting of assets in the game.” The collecting doesn’t stop with the Guinness record, of course. “I scan websites every single day for four or five years now, looking for this stuff. I know when I see something that I’m not going to see again for another four or five years,” said Adams. “That is a big factor on if I bite the bullet and when to stop trying to bargain and just pay the money.”
Adams dedicates the record to his son Lucas, who is now also a Zelda fan. Like his father, young Lucas would sit and watch their own Hyrulean quests together while learning the names of each boss. Lucas has a passion for reading Guinness World Record books, too. “He would just sit there in his bean bag and scream from upstairs and tell me about the records he’s reading about,” Adams said. “He was really just into it. We would get him these books for his birthdays and things like that.” Between his parents and his son and younger daughter, Adams’s three-generation-deep family support inspired him to submit his collection to Guinness.
Not surprisingly, the items in Adams’s collection are impressive. It contains a graded, sealed Exin Castillos Ocarina of Time building block set, a vintage lucite promotional sign featuring Link’s face, an authentic Zelda themed Accutime wall clock, two promotional physical hourglasses for Phantom Hourglass, and a complete set of three promotional scrolls that were exclusive to certain Zelda contests in Australia. The latter is perhaps the rarest Zelda memorabilia of all, with only a total of 26 thought to be ever made in the world.
But the most favorite item of all in Adams’s collection is actually not official Zelda merchandise. It’s a one-of-a-kind custom Link’s Awakening themed claw machine that Adams made himself! It took one year for him to make it. “I laid out all the artwork, which pays homage to the game, and programmed a Raspberry Pi inside to play music from both the 1993 original and the 2019 Switch remake, all controlled by a classic Nintendo controller,” said Adams with a grin.
After many months carefully documenting his Zelda collection, Adams submitted his Guinness application in July. He figured he would get a response in a few months. He was shocked to hear from them two weeks later.
How does Constantine Adams feel now that he made history holding a world record for his Zelda collection?
“I don’t feel much different. I haven’t really even made this public on my groups yet,” Adams admitted. “Usually someone would say, ‘Hey, I got it.’ I kind of wanted this to just come out officially and then I’ll say, ‘Hey, here’s the link to it.’”
In the spirit of Adams’s wishes, the link to his Guinness World Record can be seen here and in a special YouTube video below. The collection began 25 years ago and is still growing. One could even say it’s Adams’s own Link’s Awakening saga of self discovery.
