The Legend of Zelda

A n action-adventure video game produced and sold by Nintendo, "The Legend of Zelda" premiered in Japan in 1986, where it also featured the subtitle "The Hyrule Fantasy" from the name of the fantasy land it is set in. The main character in the game is Link, who starts out on his quest armed with just a small shield. Throughout the game he will have the chance of upgrading his equipment through fights and bartering or selling old equipment and clues he finds along the way. The point of the game is to find the entrance to eight underground caves and dungeons where monsters and traps are guarding the fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, a sceptre-like tool that contains the essence of the Goddess of Wisdom Nayru. It is only after putting this together that Link (the player) can access the ninth dungeon and attempt to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon, the Prince of Darkness. The game is however not finished, as saving the princess actually allows the player to access the "Second Quest", with new dungeons to explore and stronger monsters to defeat. As mentioned above, the video game was released in Japan in 1986, and it reached North America and Europe a year later. Selling over 6.5 million copies, "The Legend of Zelda" is one of Nintendo's greatest bestsellers, and it is considered a forerunner in role-playing video games. After its great success, the creators decided to release a first sequel to it in 1987 titled "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" which was also a great success. This stemmed a great succession of both prequels and spin-offs, the latest of which is coming out this year. Released on March 4th, "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD" for Wii U doesn’t add new features to the video game but it improves and builds on the existing ones, making the game experience a better one in terms of graphics and soundtrack. While it is still early to talk about its success in terms of sales, we can safely say that it does not disappoint lovers of the original game as the lucky users that have tried it have rewarded it with a 10/10 rating. So if you don’t know this series, walk into a shop and buy "The Legend of Zelda" today. [Photo: Red Bull]