Features

I was ten years old back in 1998, and Nintendo released the Game Boy Color. There was already so much love for the Game Boy back in those days, but the Game Boy could only take the imagination so far. Limited to just four colors in varying shades of olive and black, games were still…

So Shona emails me a couple weeks back and asks if I could write an article for this “History of Zelda” countdown. Obviously I said yes, since you’re reading it right now. It sounded like a neat idea and, let’s be honest, what else were fans going to do to celebrate the 30th anniversary other than…

Nothing happened in 1996. Okay, that’s actually somewhat of a lie. But really, when it boils down to it, 1996 was an extremely slow year for Zelda for both Japan and the rest of the world. Admittedly, there are a few footnotes to be found in the margins of the Book of Mudora for the year,…

What can one say about 1995? Still in the midst of the long Zelda drought with several years to go, and this time even America and Europe wouldn’t get the benefit of crappy Zelda games on the CD-i to tide us over. I’m not honestly sure if that’s better or worse really, but it certainly would…

1994, at least for gamers outside of Japan, was the beginning of what would be the longest drought of Zelda games so far in the history of the entire franchise. Even worse is the fact that, unlike the three-and-a-half-year gap between The Adventure of Link and its SNES successor A Link to the Past, the…

If there’s a single year that should have been the best year for The Legend of Zelda out of all 30 of them so far, it should have been 1993. After having received the joy of A Link to the Past and after several years of Zelda cartoons and comics, the last thing that anyone…

1992 was what I’d call one of the golden years in Zelda’s history. The glory from the NES era was yet to fade and despite the years that had passed since the release of Zelda II, non-game material such as merchandise, cartoons, and comic books kept Zelda and Nintendo very much in the spotlight. Most…

I’ve seen my share of games across the ages. My first gaming experience was back around 1985 when my parents purchased our very first computer, the Macintosh 512K. And from that moment, I was hooked.  I then quickly progressed to the Atari 2600, the Apple IIe, the NES, and eventually to a computer where you…

The Legend of Zelda series didn’t have a new game released in 1990, but despite this Zelda fans were not left with nothing to hold them over. The Zelda cartoon series had already lived its short 13-episode life in 1989, however Link, Zelda, and Ganon would return in two mediums: television and comic books. Nintendo cartoons…

By 1989 Zelda – and Nintendo in general – fever raged high. Although the next game in the official Zelda series wouldn’t be released until 1992, 1989 was anything but a quiet year for Zelda fans. Merchandise was widely available and the Zelda fans of 1989 could start their day by eating Mario and Zelda cereal,…

Hey, it’s time to reminisce about 1988! What interests me most about video games besides the experience, is all the cool (and not so cool) official merchandise that’s released. Stuff like T-shirts, toys, and other collectibles. The late 1980s was when Nintendo really latched onto the popularity of The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario…

Imagine you’re back in 1987. Three Men and a Baby was the number one film. Leg warmers, shoulder pads, and big hair were in style. In the video game market, Nintendo was the top dog. The previous year, The Legend of Zelda became a smash hit. A sequel was demanded by the masses. Zelda II:…

Welcome to the first in a series of articles that will be released over the next few weeks. 30 Years in 30 Days takes a look back through the history of the Zelda series as we count down to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Zelda series on February 21. A good number of people…

For the second time this year, we’ve received a new Legend of Zelda game. Unlike the first, this new game is not a remake of a fan favorite. Instead, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes heralds the return of cooperative multiplayer gameplay; a feature last seen over ten years ago in Four Swords Adventures. In…

Here on Zelda Universe, we enjoy highlighting people who show amazing skill and knowledge in the literal Zelda universe. One such person is Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and Majora’s Mask speedrunner, DuncanKneeDeep. We were recently able to catch up with Duncan and get his thoughts on recent Zelda happenings. Duncan is one of the most skilled and…