Zelda anniversary (cool stuff inside)

[Angrist]

Zelda, Link and Gannon grow 25 this year!

Click for a higher resolution:
http://www.cubed3.com/media/2011/February/zeldaaniv1.jpg (http://steam-punk.net/zelda_25th_anniversary.jpg)

How many can you name?

So did you find any other cool stuff?

[BreakABone]

Curious if Nintendo will do more or less for this than they did with Mario, which was so odd since they had MArio Galaxy 2 out last year!

I mean we have Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword, maybe they will include the original with Skyward Sword! Or just re-package the Wind Waker bonus disc.

[Angrist]

My Hyrule Historia is on its way. :D Did anyone else order it?

[Vampyr]

My Hyrule Historia is on its way. :D Did anyone else order it?

I did, mine is on it's way as well. :)

[Angrist]

I received it a few hours ago. It's so big! :D Totally worth the €22.

[Seth]

unboxing video!

[Vampyr]

Received mine as well...it's an epic book. I'll probably take some pictures and post them this weekend.

[Ginkasa]

I have it. Its cool, but I was a little overwhelmed. I would have like some more art and info from the older games. I'm not a fan of the timeline.

[Angrist]

I don't like the "what if Ganon killed Link" reasoning, but there are theories that help it make more sense. Someone from the future travelling through time and intervening in the Ganon vs Link battle. Or maybe the 'downfall' timeline was the original and the Triforce's wish at the end of ALttP changed the outcome of the battle in OoT!

Eeeeeeeh I've been reading too much theorizing on the forums of ZeldaUniverse.net. :p

[Ginkasa]

It doesn't help that I'd accepted that it all really doesn't fit on a single (even branched) timeline. My thoughts and preferred "timelines" are thus:

1) The games separated into completely separate timelines (not branched; totally disconnected). So, LoZ and AoL are in one timeline (along with the Oracle games), the Four Swords games are in another, and then everything else in another, branched timeline.

2) There is no timeline. Each game can connect with multiple other games without having to be connected to them all at once, if that makes sense. I.E. ALttP, TWW, and TP can each take place after OoT, but you don't have to reconcile them.

I posted it in more detail on Zelda Universe once. My username is Ginkasa over there, too, if you want to look it up.

[Angrist]

Ok, I looked up your post. Interesting...

Until TWW I was a strong believer of a single Link and single Zelda story.
So that would have been like... OoT, MM, ALttP, LA, TLoZ, AoL. Where Link grew up in Kokiri forest in OoT, then later moved in with his uncle before ALttP, etc.
I didn't pay much attention to all the details concerning Ganon's deaths/imprisonments, the state of the Triforce, etc.

Then a bit before TWW Nintendo stated there were actually multiple Links and Zeldas. I hated it at first, but the idea grew on me.

So now that they came up with a connection between all games, I'm quite happy. :)

In other Zelda news: I beat TLoZ a week ago, now I'm close to beating AoL. Both games are pretty good if you know how to play them.
I wanted to play LttP next, but it's at my family's and I won't see them anytime soon. I'm thinking about playing TP first.

[BreakABone]

Ok, I looked up your post. Interesting...

Until TWW I was a strong believer of a single Link and single Zelda story.
So that would have been like... OoT, MM, ALttP, LA, TLoZ, AoL. Where Link grew up in Kokiri forest in OoT, then later moved in with his uncle before ALttP, etc.
I didn't pay much attention to all the details concerning Ganon's deaths/imprisonments, the state of the Triforce, etc.

Then a bit before TWW Nintendo stated there were actually multiple Links and Zeldas. I hated it at first, but the idea grew on me.

So now that they came up with a connection between all games, I'm quite happy. :)

In other Zelda news: I beat TLoZ a week ago, now I'm close to beating AoL. Both games are pretty good if you know how to play them.
I wanted to play LttP next, but it's at my family's and I won't see them anytime soon. I'm thinking about playing TP first.

But.. we knew there was always multiple Links

Even Link to the Past.. is different from the first two games

Nintendo ran with the idea with Ocarina of Time though

[Angrist]

Apparently nobody told me. :p

[Ginkasa]

It wasn't so clear back in the day. The back story behind Link from the original LoZ and AoL is pretty sparse, so it wouldn't have been too out of the question for him to have been retconned as a pre-existing hero when ALttP came out.

The whole single vs. multiple Link theories was the big argument of the day around the time OoT came out. Most people caught on by then, so the argument soon transitioned into single vs. split timelines.

I don't follow it so much now, but at the time I bowed out the whole timeline theorizing thing was swamped with people trying to out do each other with crazy theories and making connections based on the flimsiest of evidence. It kept the conversation going, I guess, but it was no longer about trying to suss out the "real" timeline which is what what got me interested in the first place.

[Jason1]

I still think Nintendo had no real timeline ever in their minds. I always figured that each Zelda title was just a standalone zelda with a new link, with the exception of a few like Majoras Mask. I think when they did the timeline for this book they just started making stuff up, as in "does this make sense? Multiple timelines? Yes yes thats good and if Link had failed in OOT we cant now stick this random game that doesnt belong over here...DONE"

I think thats pretty much how it went. No way that they had all this "this is the timeline if link fails" stuff in their heads from the begining.

[Ginkasa]

Yup

[Angrist]

Agreed. But now that they've found a way to connect 16 games, I'll be happy to roll with it and make the best of it.
Yes, the Downfall Timeline is illogical, weird and random... but it's the only way to connect all these games.

Edit: I just beat Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. :D Man that was hard...