STACK #137 Mar 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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The endearing Zelda series celebrates its 30th birthday this year. We’ve done our best to compile a list of the biggest releases in Zelda’s 30-year history, from ‘86’s The Legend of Zelda all the way through to HyruleWarriors . By Alesha Kolbe. A LINK BETWEEN CONSOLES

The Legend Of Zelda (1986) The very first Zelda title was originally released as The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda – which makes more sense considering the game revolves around Link anyway. Shigeru Miyamoto’s masterpiece goes on to define a generation, alongside a little red plumber. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1988) The Adventure of Link is the first game is a direct sequel to the previous instalment. The title introduces Dark Link, and came out less than a year after the original in Japan. A Link to the Past (1992) A Link to the Past is the inception of Link’s namesake as a “link” between the past, present and future. This release heralds the initial reveal of the Master Sword – which has the power to repel evil – often used by Link to take on Ganon (or Ganondorf), his arch-nemesis. Link’s Awakening (1993) Link’s Awakening began as a SNES port of A Link to the Past, developed

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Ocarina of Time (1998) Originally a Nintendo 64 title, Ocarina of Time introduced 3D graphics to the world of Zelda, and played a large part in the commercial popularity of Ocarinas. Tasked once again with defeating Ganon (Ganondorf in this iteration),

Link must learn songs on his Ocarina and travel through time to prevent his enemy from retrieving the Tri-Force. Majora’s Mask (2000) “You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” The Happy Mask Salesman is only one of the creepy elements in this time-bound tale. Link has only

three days to save the world, using a variety of different masks to transform – and

after hours by staff, before eventually becoming a full- fledged project. The game is one of the few in the franchise not to feature Princess Zelda or the Tri-Force relic, and doesn’t take place in the land of Hyrule.

ultimately stop – the moon crashing into the planet and destroying life as we know it. No pressure.

MARCH 2016

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