The Legend of Zelda (NES) News Articles
Friday9th Jul 2021
News Nintendo Plugs Its NSO Zelda Games Ahead Of Skyward Sword HD's Release
Experience Link's classic adventures while you wait
Next week sees the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD on the Switch. Although it's only an updated version of a 2011 Wii title, Nintendo has been promoting it non-stop since it was originally announced. It's now using the lead-up to the game's release to promote Link's classics...
Tuesday15th Jun 2021
News There's A Zelda Game & Watch Coming This Christmas
Featuring four games
Did you like the Super Mario Game & Watch? Well you're in luck, because Nintendo is bringing out another Game & Watch title which contains Zelda games. And guess what?
Wednesday26th May 2021
Random This 3D Version Of A 2D Zelda Took Two Months To Make
It's a secret to everybody!
Everyone loves 2D Zeldas. Everyone also loves 3D Zeldas. But what about 3D-2D Zeldas? Best of both worlds, in our opinion. Prolific YouTuber CodyCantEatThis makes a lot of videos with titles like "I made (video game) but with (interesting twist)": over the last year, that's included Minecraft but made of LEGO, Sonic the...
Monday22nd Feb 2021
News Game Devs From Riot To Xbox Spoke About Their Love For Zelda, And How It Influenced Them
Huh, we didn't realise Zelda was so popular
In celebration of Zelda's 35th anniversary, journalist Imran Khan spoke to 18 different game developers across the industry for Inverse, including members of Riot Games, Capy, and Phil Spencer himself, the head of Microsoft's Gaming division and the face of Xbox. Although Spencer's quote was a little dry,...
News Nintendo Ignored Zelda's 35th Anniversary This Weekend, But Fans Are Celebrating In Style
Not even a quick social media mention
Yesterday, 21st February, marked the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, the very first game in one of the industry's most successful, popular, and important series. Despite heavily celebrating Mario's 35th last year with remastered games, merchandise, and more, Nintendo has been surprisingly quiet on the...
Sunday21st Feb 2021
Feature The Legend Of Zelda Is The Robinson Crusoe Of Video Games
We start our 35th anniversary feature series at the beginning... and the end?
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, we're running a series of features looking at a specific aspect — a theme, character, mechanic, location, memory or something else entirely — from each of the mainline Zelda games. Today, Alan looks back at the...
Saturday27th Jun 2020
News Someone Created A Hand-Drawn Guide For The Original Zelda And It's Breathtaking
Puts Navi to shame!
Back in the 1980s, the original Legend of Zelda for the NES was a massive success. People all over the world were journeying into the land of Hyrule for the very first time, figuring out its puzzles and spilling its secrets on the playground, in the breakroom, at the pub, you name it. Many of its riddles were extremely cryptic...
Sunday22nd Dec 2019
News Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto Honoured By His Hometown In Japan
One of four citizens recognised
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is a living legend and an individual responsible for many of the most famous video game series of all time. He currently acts as a 'Creative Fellow' at the Japanese company and passes his ideas and knowledge onto the next generation of video game designers. Now, Miyamoto has been...
Monday15th Jul 2019
Random 'Princess' And 'Zelda' Mentioned On US Game Show Years Before The Game
Contestant randomly links words four years early
Here's a funny little thing. A clip from an episode of Password Plus - a US game show where celebrities would team with members of the public to guess 'passwords' from single-word clues - shows a contestant referring to a 'Princess Zelda' years before the world ever met Nintendo's princess. Mention...
Sunday5th May 2019
News Forgotten Interview With Miyamoto Sheds Light On A Classic Zelda Production
A link to the past
A forgotten interview dating back to 1992 has been spotted on archive.org. It's from issue 25 of the publication Electric Brain and features the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto talking about the development of The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past along with the first two Zelda entries on NES. Throughout the interview, Miyamoto...
Monday25th Mar 2019
News The Switch Famicom Controller's Microphone Actually Works, Just Like The Original
Could future Joy-Con have a mic built-in?
As you may well remember, to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo Switch Online - Nintendo Entertainment System collection, both NES and Famicom-style wireless controllers were released for the Switch for online subscribers only. The Famicom versions are exclusive to Japan - just like the system on which...
Thursday21st Feb 2019
News The Legend Of Zelda And Famicom Disk System Are 33 Years Old Today
Seems like there's an anniversary every year...
As time marches on inexorably - week after week, year after year - it should come as no surprise that The Legend of Zelda is 33 years old today. No, not the cartridge version - that wouldn't make an appearance until July '87 in North America - we're talking about the Famicom Disk System original. The...
Monday28th Jan 2019
News Modder Tries To Create A First-Person 8-Bit Zelda Game Inside DOOM Engine
A new perspective
The Legend of Zelda series has taken some interesting new steps in recent years - Breath of the Wild was an entirely different take on the franchise's usual setup - but one thing we wouldn't expect to see is a first-person adventure. And especially not a first-person adventure with NES-style graphics. As it so happens, though,...
Thursday3rd Jan 2019
Video Unlocking The "Minus Worlds" In The NES Version Of The Legend Of Zelda
Exploring the uncharted
If you haven't heard about the "minus worlds" before, it's basically a glitch found in multiple classic games such as Super Mario Bros. on the NES. Now, decades after the release of The Legend of Zelda on the same platform, the minus worlds in this title have been discovered. YouTube channel Skelux has accessed the minus...
Tuesday30th Oct 2018
Rumour Netflix's Castlevania Executive Producer Is Apparently "Working" On A Legend Of Zelda Series
Well excuse me, princess!
Back in 2015, there were reports from the Wall Street Journal suggesting a live-action Netflix series based on The Legend of Zelda was in the works. This project was still in the early stages of development at the time and was aiming to be Game of Thrones for a family audience. While nothing seemingly came of this in the...
Thursday11th Oct 2018
Video Here's A Look At The Latest NES Releases Now Playable On Switch
A blast from the past
If you're not sure what games have been added to the Switch Online NES library recently, Nintendo's YouTube channel has released a clip showing off each one in action. For the month of October, the releases include Solomon’s Key, Super Dodge Ball and NES O
Wednesday10th Oct 2018
News Surprise! A Special Version Of The Legend Of Zelda Has Appeared In The Switch's NES Library
Well, they kept that quiet
If you're a subscriber of the recently launched Nintendo Switch Online service, and especially if you're a fan of the instant-access NES catalogue now available to you, you may well be aware that today sees the release of three new games. Well, it turns out there's actually a fourth - and it's a spin on a Zelda classic...
Friday10th Aug 2018
Random A 1990 TV Interview With Shigeru Miyamoto Talks About Nintendo's Work Culture
A resurfaced treasure
We've seen Shigeru Miyamoto's ever-beaming self quite a lot over recent years, often during big events such as E3 where he's essentially presented as the face of Nintendo and an all-round gaming icon, but we don't often get the chance to see him in his younger days. Thanks to this rediscovered interview with the BBC,...
Friday3rd Aug 2018
Random Nintendo Finally Confirms The Correct Pronunciation For 'NES'
Take your bets
One debate that has been present for decades now across social media, on Nintendo Life's very own comment sections, and even in - you know - real life communication, is the correct pronunciation of 'NES'. Yes, the NES, or Nintendo Entertainment System, is home to the beginnings of so many classic Nintendo franchises like Super Mario...
Tuesday8th May 2018
News The Man Behind The Wonder Boy: Dragon's Trap Remake Would Love To Tackle Zelda II
"It's a game that could have been better"
Lizardcube's remake of Sega's sublime Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was one of the very early eShop highlights on Switch. The work of programmer Omar Cornut and artist Ben Fiquet, this reimagining of an 8-bit classic took the Master System version and gave it gorgeous HD visuals while tinkering behind the...
Tuesday22nd Aug 2017
Video Take a Detailed Look at the Original "Legend of Zelda" Manga
Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the English release
If there is anything that you could say is good about having delayed releases for games from Japan, it’s that for many classics we can celebrate anniversaries for both the East and West. The Legend of Zelda is one such game, and though its Japanese landmark was last year, the US release...
Thursday22nd Dec 2016
News Nintendo Shares Original Design Documents from The Legend of Zelda
It all started with some graph paper
The original Legend of Zelda blazed many trails for gaming, arguably setting the standard for what would eventually become the open-world genre. Seeing as how this is the 30th anniversary for the series as a whole, Nintendo has opted for a blast from the past and dug up some of the original design documents from...
Thursday15th Dec 2016
Music Behold the Majesty of The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD
Japan gets all the best stuff!
Remember CDs? They were those shiny discs you can still play in most car stereos. We jest, the Japan-exclusive The Legend of Zelda 30th Anniversary Concert CD looks seriously cool. Out on 15th February 2017, this lovely 2-disc release will set you back ¥3,000 (around £20 / $25) plus tax; Amazon Japan is listing it...
Wednesday30th Nov 2016
News Composer Koji Kondo Talks Super Mario And Zelda In Freshly Translated 2001 Interview
"The jumping sound was even used on a TV quiz show"
Some of Nintendo's most iconic tunes were created by Koji Kondo, making the Japanese composer one of the most listened-to artists in the world - even if people don't necessarily know his name. A 2001 interview with Kondo - taken from Game Maestro Vol. 3 - has been freshly translated into English...
Thursday13th Oct 2016
News Take A Look Inside Nintendo's Vintage Hardware Storage Room
Minty fresh
As part of Nintendo's celebration of the original release of The Legend of Zelda 30 years ago in 1986, the company is posting a series of features on its Japanese site, the latest of which gives a tantalising glimpse into one of the most interesting rooms in its Kyoto HQ. Packed with mint and boxed Famicom consoles,
Wednesday21st Sep 2016
Video This Studio Ghibli-Inspired Zelda Trailer Is Just Too Perfect
It's dangerous to dream alone
While every Zelda fan on the planet probably has different aspirations for a Zelda movie, it's fair to say that were Nintendo to make one it would generate an awful lot of interest - even more so if famed anime company Studio Ghibli was involved. Studio Ghibli is Japan's Disney, with a whopping eight of company's films...
News Warp in The Legend of Zelda Opens Up Ability to Beat the Game in Under 3 Minutes
Link's in a hurry
Speedrunning takes various forms, especially in the retro scene. Some seek to make 'pure' runs as quickly as possible, while others exploit loopholes in game code to find shortcuts and warps that drastically cut a run's time. A recent discovered for The Legend of Zelda on the Famicom Disk System is in the latter category, and in...
Friday6th May 2016
News The Legend of Zelda and Sonic the Hedgehog Are Inducted Into the World Video Game Hall of Fame
Pokémon Red & Green miss out this time
In 2015 Super Mario Bros. and Tetris were among the first games to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. A "committee of journalists, scholars and video game industry members" takes on the annual task of choosing games "recognized for their iconic status, longevity, geographical reach and...
Friday8th Apr 2016
News Nintendo Shuts Down Browser-Based '3D' Legend of Zelda Demo
"We're sad about that, but we get it"
Whenever a particularly neat Nintendo-based fan project arrives the dilemma is obvious - creators naturally want plenty of people to check them out, but attention increases the odds of a Nintendo takedown. Unfortunately that's happened to a rather clever voxel-based Legend of Zelda demo. Over at...
Tuesday5th Apr 2016
News A 24-karat gold-plated NES-playing system can be yours for $4,999
If you need something to play Wall Street Kid on
Watches. Roses. Silver medals. Things just rise to a new level of opulent superiority when they're plated in gold. And if you prefer your NES and Famicom games to be played among the top 1 percent of ways, there's a limited edition gold-plated system for you. Analogue, the company that previously...
