ZeldaBlog is a collaborative effort between many prominent Zelda websites, including this one, The Grand Adventures (the founding site), and many others. The blog itself is the brainchild of The Missing Link, TGA's webmaster. As a contributing member, I'll often write articles for the Blog. As part of my interesting in triplicating everything I've begun archiving all my ZeldaBlog articles here at TDC. Use the links below to jump among all the artciles I've ever written for ZB, and enjoy!

[Jump Around] "Christmasing" in the Zelda Community | Yes Virginia, there is a Timeline... Sorta | How Would Zelda Use the New Controller? | The Future of Zelda (Today!)

"Christmasing in the Zelda Community
December 22nd, 2005 at 2:27 pm

(Please note that I am not trying to be “exclusive” here—you know, whatever the opposite of “inclusive” is—by using the name of Christmas in this post. Rather, that is the particular name of the practice which I am referencing. No disrespect intended, etc. But, I digress…)

In my neck of the woods (though there may be so elsewhere), there is a tradition among some people to pile into the car and drive around the neighborhood and in encircling neighborhoods admiring the Christmas lights and displays adorning houses. I thought it best to take this practice to the neighborhood of the Zelda Community, and took a stroll down the Blog’s site listing and to other sites to find any displays with a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” (or even a winter) theme.

At North Castle, there is a neat banner wishing happy holidays to all its visitors with snow and holiday red and greens abounding.

The Grand Adventures, as usual with its splash page, has an image up by staff artist Hyrule Girl themed towards the current holiday. In the current one, Link, Darunia, and several of the OoT ladies, hang out in their pajamas under a Christmas Tree in Hyrule Castle.

Zelda Legends features a skin to their website by Lord-of-Shadow adorned with mistletoe galore and Zelda and a Santa suit-clad Link hugging in front of a snowy scene.

Fables of Hyrule is decked out in icicles, falling snowflakes, and even a snowman.

Midnight Castle’s Legends of Zelda has been featuring an Advent Calendar over the last few days that is eagerly counting down the month of December up to Christmas day with a tidbit of Twilight Princess information each day.

The Hylia’s top banner is currently overflowing with snow, a background of what looks like the mountains from Majora’s Mask, and the site’s name is gilded and done up like an ornament.

Lastly, the Desert Colossus features the otherwise symbol of the warmest clime in Hyrule, the Colossus itself, a-capped with a Santa hat. Lame, by comparison, I know. ;)

If I missed any sites, let me know and I’ll make with the addenda.

Yes Virginia, there is a Timeline... Sorta
November 23, 2005 at 12:30am

Way back when, in an interview with Superplay magazine, Shigeru Miyamoto indicated that there is a master timeline. And, to keep track of this giant meta-story, there is a “master document.”

For every Zelda game we tell a new story, but we actually have an enormous document that explains how the game relates to the others, and bind them together.

Frankly (and no offense to Miyamoto-san), I think this is a load of Keese guano. If I had two Rupees to bet on the matter, my money would be on the idea that up until (say) Ocarina of Time, precisely when Eiji Aonuma began working with the series, the game designers had been making it up as they went along with reckless abandon as to any concept of continuity.

Miyamoto furthermore explained that he really doesn’t care about the storyline, truth be told.

But to be honest, [storylines] are not that important to us. We care more about developing the game system... give the player new challenges for every chapter that is born.

And, concerning the question of whether the story comes second during a game’s development, Miyamoto revealed,

The most important thing for me, is that the player get sucked into the game. I want the games to be easy to understand, and that the people appreciate the games content, its core. I will never deny the importance of a great story, but the plot should never get that important that it becomes unclear.

It is precisely this “reckless abandon” that the theories department of any Zelda site is such a bull market—everything is up in the air! Can you (without a doubt) guarantee the placement of Link’s Awakening In the Zelda timeline? What about the entire Vaati story arc?

Clearly since 1998, however, there is a sense of continuity budding within the confines of the series. Gone are the days when we simply theorized whence a game’s storyline may occur in the vast panorama of Hyrulian history. Now, we are bombarded with on indirect sequel after another, so much so that we can reasonably assume that there is indeed a micro-continuity between Ocarina of Time, through Majora’s Mask, and up to the Wind Waker.

And now, another game is about to be plopped down into that continuum—namely, Twilight Princess. At the 2004 E3, Eiji Aonuma announced that the game would occur between Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker (the implications of that have already been explored by TML here at the ‘Blog).

So, ultimately, where does this all leave us? Is there a “master timeline” or not? Well, if I had those aforementioned two Rupees, I suppose my next bet would be placed on the following proposition: there is, and there is not. On one hand, there is this “new continuity” between Ocarina of Time and the Wind Waker (encompassing those two and more) and on the other there is the aimless chaos of all that proceeded the fifth game in the series.

How Would Zelda Use the New Controller?
October 5, 2005 at 10:45 pm

I’ve spent the last few days with extreme writer’s block, attempting to piece together some insightful and meaningful article for ZeldaBlog, but after a two days of self-inflicted, desk-related concussions I gave up and started looking at those nifty pictures of the new Revolution controller. And then, I gots ta thinkin’—how would this new controller be applied in Zelda games? What are its possible uses? How could it have been used in previous Zelda games?

Firstly, let’s presuppose how this revolutionary controller could have been used in previous games. Several instances where it would have been ideal stand out, such as the many instances in Ocarina of Time where the view switched to first person (like when firing the bow, or the hookshot). Remember how clumsy it was to strike an enemy using the joystick to guide your reticule? Imagine how easy it would be to stick a Poe in the eye with this new controller!

Moreover, in Ocarina of Time, imagine how much cooler fishing would have been if rather than using the N64 controller to fish, the new controller had been available. Say you’d pull back the controller to imitate the motions of casting a line, holding the B-trigger as you do so. Then, you let loose the swing, letting go of B, “casting the line” and having the game register your achievement with a satisfying “plunk.” Loaches beware, eh?

The controller also would have added a great new depth to the utilization of the Wind Waker instrument in the Zelda game of the same name. Rather than using the joystick for the flourishes of the Wind Waker, imagine using the controller, swinging it as elegantly as one can a peripheral from side to side and up and down and hitting the A and B buttons as appropriate to play the proper tune. Surely this would add a degree of complication to the game, but how much more interesting would the instrument system have been.

Now, let’s move away from the past and consider the games ahead of us. From what we know, clearly Twilight Princess will be a GameCube title, and thusly not be the first Zelda title to use this new controller. Nevertheless, the next main console Zelda game (the “revolutionary” one that Shiggy is promising us) will most likely use this controller and be on the Revolution system. As such, we can freely speculate how this new game will use the controller for its “everyday” functions.

Many have already written on the controller’s ability to change how swordplay is done in Zelda, but let’s go a little more in depth. I envision the system as follows, say you want to slash horizontally or vertically, you would hold down the B-trigger and then swing the controller in your desired arc, slaying all sorts of evil in your wake. Say you preferred a simple stabbing, then just point at what you want to die (to quote Homer Simpson) and hit the B-button. Imagine how epic sword battles could be now that rather than just hitting the sword button over and over again, letting Link do the hard work of deciding how to attack, you had to physically engage an enemy in sword duel!

This may be a drawback for some (perhaps making the game too hard, or complicated for what seems to be Zelda’s current target audience), though it would also add an artful new depth to Zelda, one worth exploring by Nintendo’s advance teams for the applications of this new peripheral. (And we know they’re reading ZB, right?)

Anyways, other functions that come to mind (excluding the aforementioned fishing and bow firing) include taking the reins and using them to motivate Epona whilst riding her (rather than offering a carrot) or using the pointing ability of the controller to search rooms and push/pull blocks.

I’m very excited to see where Nintendo can take this new controller, and the depth it can add to the Zelda series that we have not been able to experience beforehand due to the clunkiness of the standard controller.

The Future of Zelda (Today!)
October 2, 2005 at 1:55 am

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jack O’Reily, and as some of you may know, I am the webmaster of The Desert Colossus (TDC for short). Anyways, I’m sure we’ve all heard by now of Miyamoto’s terrifying comments concerning the future of the Zelda series. Namely,

“Please allow me to interrupt you by saying that you will have to be patient, really. This will be, without a doubt, the last Zelda game as you know it in its present form.”

Well, thankfully, I’m a celebrated savant in the field of dumpster diving, and I just happened to be poking around Nintendo Corporate Headquarters in Redmond, Washington (a slight detour from my usual stomping grounds in Boston, I assure you). My efforts were not for naught of course, as I discovered a few confidential memos that had been tossed out with the prerequisite pizza boxes and empty Jolt bottles. What those memos revealed may shock or amuse you.

Seemingly, Miyamoto was telling the truth. It appears Nintendo is really planning to pull a 210 in the Zelda series(ie. turning around and slightly to the left), moving away from the traditional (read: celebrated, enjoyed, preferred) Action-Adventure format and towards a menagerie of different genres to exploit every nook and cranny Zelda has to offer. As such, in the memos, there were a succession of new game concepts that I will now share with you. I hope you are reclining in a comfortable position.

Zelda Pinball – Utilize Goron Link’s rolling ability to traverse a vast new world of bumpers, tilts, and flippers all while you try to put a stop to Ganon’s latest evil scheme by getting a higher score than your friends.

Hyrule Snap! – Hop on Epona the horse as Link and don your trusty pictograph as you trot and gallop through the Overworld and Underworld of Hyrule, photographing the many creatures, monsters, and animals of the land and bringing together a vast portfolio of collected photos for Lenzo.

Dr. Link – Ganon is at it again, this time managing to poison the three Oracles with a deadly Biri parasite infestation. Shrink down within each oracle and quash the invasion with innovative retro-block dropping technology!

Zelda Hunters – The latest multiplayer title from the Zelda series pits the four Links against one another in brutal first-person combat. Connect with four other friends for hours upon hours of repetitive sword slashing combat and “arrrghhh!!” sounds.

Link is Missing! – Help Zelda travel across the world, restoring landmarks to their respective cities to defeat Ganon, all the while boring children of all nationalities and creeds.

Legend of Zelda DELUXE – No they didn’t add any new content, just a handy stationary printing feature that makes this somehow pass off as a “remixed” title. Ah, blind brand loyalty!