The Legend of Zelda (universe)

The Legend of Zelda (universe)
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Developer(s)	Nintendo; Capcom; Vanpool; Grezzo; Monolith Soft; Omega Force; Team Ninja; Tantalus Media; Brace Yourself Games
Publisher(s)	Nintendo; Koei Tecmo; Spike Chunsoft
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto; Takashi Tezuka; Eiji Aonuma
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom Disk System)
First installment	The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Latest installment	The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (2024)
Article on Zelda Wiki	The Legend of Zelda (universe)

The Legend of Zelda universe (ゼルダの伝説, The Legend of Zelda) refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's long-running and famous The Legend of Zelda game series. It is a series of fantasy action-adventure titles produced by Nintendo throughout the company's history. It is widely considered one of the most influential video game franchises ever created, and has earned a spot as one of the company's flagship franchises alongside such notable series as Mario and Pokémon, with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time being the best-reviewed game of all time by certain sources. It has had over fifteen official titles which together have sold over 60 million units, making it the 7th best-selling video game series ever. As a result, it is heavily featured in the Super Smash Bros. series, with five separate characters playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4, and 6 separate characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The main hero Link, his younger counterpart Young Link (Melee & Ultimate) and Toon Link (Brawl onward) incarnations, the titular Princess Zelda, her alternate ninja-like guise Sheik, and series villain Ganondorf.

Franchise description

In 1986, the development team of game designer Shigeru Miyamoto worked concurrently on two equally ambitious projects for the recently released Famicom/NES: Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. The team made a conscious effort to conceptually separate the two titles; while Mario was a linear platformer, Miyamoto wanted Zelda to feel like an open adventure that forced the player to think about what they should do next, and also to convey the idea of a game "world" that could be explored at one's leisure. Miyamoto drew his inspiration from his experiences around Kyoto in his early life, where he explored nearby fields, woods, and caves and realized the feeling that could be instilled by going on such an "adventure". Meanwhile, Miyamoto designed the player character, Link, as a coming of age motif for players to identify with; Link begins the game as an ordinary boy, but is strengthened by his quest until he triumphs over a great, evil force. Further revolutionary features of the title were a replay mode that, very unusually for the time, contained an entirely new set of more difficult levels - the "Second Quest" - and the first-ever instance of password-free progress-saving in any cartridge-based system or game, made possible by battery-powered RAM.

The Legend of Zelda, released in the Americas in August of 1987, was an all-time bestseller for Nintendo, and much like Super Mario Bros. before it, it often appears on the highest spots in game publications' listings of the greatest games on the NES. It is often considered a spiritual forerunner of the RPG genre, more specifically the action RPG genre, despite lacking key RPG mechanics such as experience points, and is largely responsible for a surge of RPGs that focus on real-time action combat as well as puzzles. It was the spawning point for one of Nintendo's longest-running and most popular video game franchises, which as of 2013 has released over fifteen "primary" installments and several spin-offs. The now well-known "Zelda-style" Action RPG formula is central to almost all of the main series, which in some ways is ironic because the first Zelda sequel ever released, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, was the only game to feature a considerably different style of gameplay: a side-scrolling platformer with JPRG elements.

Link, Princess Zelda, and Sheik in their Ocarina of Time designs, as depicted in the opening movie of Melee.

At least three other releases in the main series were arguably revolutionary in their own right. The third game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo in early April 1992, advanced many of the conventions introduced by the original game's formula to resemble what a modern-day top-down Zelda-style game traditionally features, with refined combat, item-usage, puzzle-filled dungeon aspects, and more detail to the archetypal story. It is widely considered today to be one of the greatest video games ever released, and the many Zelda games that make use of this top-down style are typically relegated to Nintendo handhelds. However, even more momentous was the late-1998 release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64, which seamlessly converted the Zelda formula into a fully realized and detailed three-dimensional world presented in the third person, and introduced what has since become common elements in 3D action-adventure games: a target-lock system to orient the player-character towards specific enemies and circle strafe around them in combat situations in areas with a freely rotatable camera, and context-sensitive buttons. On its initial release, it received perfect review scores from the majority of video game publications that reviewed it, and it sold over seven million copies worldwide. Like A Link to the Past for the top-down 2D perspective, Ocarina of Time introduced to the series the 3D-style of gameplay regularly used by console-based Zelda releases, which typically are the "biggest" releases in the series. Finally, after years of elaborating on the formulas set by A Link to the Past and Ocarina, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in 2017 for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. Breath of the Wild expanded Zelda to a highly engrossing open-world style, giving the player freedom to explore the game's world at their own leisure and adding a high degree of realism to the gameplay mechanics, and received near-unanimous praise as one of the series' best entries and the first truly revolutionary Zelda game since Ocarina of Time.

It is customary for at least one main Zelda title to be released over the lifespan of a given Nintendo console or handheld. Many of these adhere by default to a realistic, comparatively "adult" aesthetic, starting with Ocarina of Time and including titles as recent as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; however, in early 2003, a radically different "younger" alternative look and style was introduced into the series with the release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube. This introduces a heavily cartoon-stylized, cel-shaded design and graphical style both to Link and the rest of his world, and this exact "Toon Link" design and aesthetic is reused in several subsequent releases on Nintendo handhelds, all of which are separate from the games featuring the "adult" aesthetic. Given the nearly-Mario-scale importance and relevance the Zelda franchise has had both to Nintendo and to the industry as a whole, it is unfailingly one of the first franchises confirmed for a starring role in each game of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games. Later games in the Smash Bros. series have featured content from both the realistic and the cartoon Zelda styles.

Recurring elements of the Zelda franchise include Link and Hyrule Castle, shown here in the first trailer for SSB4.

Each of the Zelda games, for the most part, are set in a fantasy land named Hyrule, which had been created by a trio of goddesses that subsequently left behind embodiments of their power in a three-triangle artifact called the Triforce, a great evil - most often a demonic being named Ganon, or alternatively a powerful humanoid sorcerer named Ganondorf, depending on the game - threatens the land, and the only hope is for a young boy or man garbed in green, Link, in cooperation with a princess named Zelda, to go on an adventurous quest across Hyrule to smite the evil, most often with a blessed blade in an altar named the Master Sword. There is almost always some sort of variation to a given installment's narrative that ties both into the story and the gameplay; in some games there is a parallel world that Link must explore, while the world may be mostly covered in ocean in other games. Link himself may undertake his quest under a different set of circumstances each game, such as in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess when he can transform into a wolf and receive assistance from an imp-like creature named Midna, or The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, where a talking hat he acquires allows him to shrink and grow back in size at will. Even Zelda's backstory, role, and relevance can vary between games, such as whether she is a classic damsel-in-distress or a capable ally of Link, but very rarely is any sort of romance between her and Link even implied.

Besides instances where some games are direct sequels and continuations to each other, there is usually no relevance in continuity between any of the seemingly independent portrayals of Hyrule. This, however, did not stop fans from speculating wildly on how all of the titles could be ordered in a chronological timeline that assumes Hyrule in all of these games is, in fact, the same world in different stages of its history, and that the reappearances of Link and related characters represent different individuals that are unwitting reincarnations of eras and Links from the past—due to contradictions between games that arise when trying to place them all in a linear timeline, estimates were made that the Zelda chronology branched off into separate directions. In 2011, during the 25th anniversary of the franchise, Nintendo posted an official timeline for the series that affirmed that there were, in fact, three separate branches with their own corresponding games. The current official ordering of The Legend of Zelda series is explained below:

"The Legend of the Goddesses & the Hero": The beginning timeline before its triple-branch. After the creation of the heavens and Hyrule, the earliest chronological game is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011), taking place on floating islands in the sky named Skyloft, which the goddess Hylia had lifted to safeguard the Hylian people from the monster hordes of the demon king Demise infesting the lands below. The original incarnations of Link and Zelda, living on Skyloft along with the other Hylians during this time, are involved in a quest that explains and lays the groundwork for the patterns shown in the rest of the series. Following this, the Sacred Realm wherein the Triforce resides is sealed, and Hyrule Kingdom is established. Then, in both The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2005) and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (originally released as part of a Game Boy Advance port of A Link to the Past in December 2002), separate Links fight the wind mage Vaati. Finally, in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), a child Link takes part in a pivotal moment of the timeline when an evil human sorcerer, the original Ganondorf, covets the Triforce beyond the Sacred Realm, and Link must regularly travel back and forth between periods separated seven years apart - with Link himself assuming the form of a teenager during his time in the later period - and receive help from the enigmatic Sheik in order to defeat Ganondorf and the monstrous form Ganondorf eventually assumes, Ganon.

"The Decline of Hyrule & the Last Hero": This first timeline branch assumes Link is defeated in his battle against Ganon in Ocarina of Time. This leads to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992), where a Link has to contend with the revival of the demonic Ganon at the hands of the wizard Agahnim. The same Link would return in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993), where during a voyage outside Hyrule to hone his skills, Link is shipwrecked and washes ashore on the dreamlike Koholint Island and must wake the island guardian, a whale called the Wind Fish, to return home. Link then contends with two separate villains named Onox and Veran in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (2001) respectively, which may lead to another revival for Ganon that Link must destroy. A new incarnation takes center stage starting in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013), a spiritual successor to A Link to the Past where the new hero finds Hyrule's fate intertwined with that of its "mirror world" counterpart of Lorule. This same Link would return in its direct sequel The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (2015), which sees Link team up with two other Links to save the fashion-obsessed kingdom of Hytopia from the jealousy and influence of the Drablands Witch. The last incarnation of Link in this timeline debuted in the original The Legend of Zelda (1986), wherein he defeats a revived Ganon and saves a princess named Zelda, and the follow-up Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1988), where the same Link goes on a quest to awaken a different Zelda while avoiding getting killed by followers of Ganon seeking to revive the demon king once more.

"The Twilight Realm & the Legacy of the Hero": The second timeline branch assumes Ganondorf was never able to enter the Sacred Realm in Ocarina of Time, and therefore much of that game's quest never transpired and Link never left being a child; instead, Ganondorf faced execution. Beginning this "child era timeline" is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000), where the Hero of Time ends up in a surreal alternate world called Termina, where a Skull Kid under the evil influence of the eponymous mask has set the moon on a collision course into the land. Link must use a time-resetting method to repeatedly relive the three-day time period before doomsday so that he has the time to set up the means to avert Termina's fate. A century later, in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006), a new Link is thrust from a life as a ranch-hand into a world-spanning quest against the forces of the king of an alternate twilight realm, Zant, and he is forced into the form of a wolf whenever he enters a twilight-covered area of Hyrule and must accept help from the Twilight native Midna to compensate. Finally, in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2004), another Link goes to battle against Vaati's last chronological appearance.

"The Hero of the Winds & A New World": The third timeline branch is the one that results from Link's victory and sealing of Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, as seen in the ending of Ocarina of Time; it is referred to as the "adult" timeline. At a later date, Ganondorf is revived, and the gods flooded Hyrule to seal him back; this sets the stage for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003), where a childish Link sets sail on what is initially a quest to rescue his sister from a monstrous bird, but later on becomes a fight against a once-again-revived Ganondorf. A direct sequel to this game is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007), where a ghost ship steals away Link's ally Tetra, and he must enlist the help of a reluctant steamboat captain, Linebeck, to rediscover her. Finally, a century later, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009) takes place on a newly discovered continent that has since been civilized with an extensive railroad network, and an incarnation of Link that is an aspiring railroad engineer is accompanied by Zelda's disembodied spirit on a quest to discover why the tracks are disappearing.

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild released in March 2017, Link awakens after a 100-year slumber and is tasked with exploring and saving Hyrule from the return of Ganon, now an amorphous abomination known as Calamity Ganon. Link is able to gather materials, conquer Shrines (serving as small-scale dungeons), and explore the vast open world of Hyrule with virtually no limits. This is primarily facilitated by Link’s ability to climb virtually any surface and paraglide through the skies. The game and its primary goals were originally announced in early 2013, with brief gameplay sequences shown periodically through its development cycle before being officially rerevealed at E3 2016. These primary goals of this installment, according to Eiji Aonuma, were to break from the conventions that the series had held onto since Ocarina of Time and provide a Zelda experience unlike any game in the series before. Serving as the swan song for the Wii U as well as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, the game has been universally lauded for returning to the open-ended, non-linear structure of the original The Legend of Zelda, leaving gameplay aspects up to the player's sense of curiosity, discovery, and experimentation, and introducing elements of realism and interaction with the environment. Breath of the Wild's timeline placement is currently unknown, but has been officially stated to take place sometime after Ocarina of Time. The game went on to become the single best selling entry in the entire franchise, and one of the top ten best selling games on the Nintendo Switch. An Expansion Pass was released throughout 2017 in two DLC packs: The Master Trials in June and The Champions' Ballad in December. A direct sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released for the Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023. Between the two games, a Warriors-style prequel detailing the events of the Great Calamity 100 years prior, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, was released for the Nintendo Switch on November 20th, 2020.

In Super Smash Bros.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the most recent Zelda game at the time of the release of Super Smash Bros., and certainly the most popular and notable at the time, so the Zelda content in the game stemmed from the first 3D entry in the series. The Zelda universe contains one fighter, stage, and item.

Fighter

Link (Starter): A teenage sword-and-shield fighter with elven ears, a green tunic, and a long floppy green cap. The Link from Ocarina of Time was formerly a young boy from a forest but was divinely chosen to oppress the future rule of Ganondorf by being transported seven years into the future, where he became a brave, capable warrior in his older form and wielded the Master Sword along with the Triforce Piece of Courage. Link is never heard speaking throughout the games; he is only heard grunting and yelling in his many battles. He fights in Smash 64 with his various tools from Ocarina of Time. His neutral special, the Boomerang, is a good projectile that comes back to Link after it is thrown. His up special is the Spin Attack from A Link to the Past, a slow but powerful spinning maneuver. His down special is him spawning a Bomb from the Zelda series, which he can throw like an item. It explodes on contact with an opponent or after several seconds.

Stage

Hyrule Castle (Starter): A somewhat wide stage taking place on the top of the castle seen in Ocarina of Time. The castle is where the royal family governs the land of Hyrule. Whirlwinds pop up here from time to time, though it seems to be more in reference to the transportation whirlwind seen in the first The Legend of Zelda than anything in Ocarina of Time. In the top middle are three semi-solid platforms, and in the right is a dark green tent-like structure. Characters may stand on top of it and inside it, but cannot jump through it.

Item

Main article: Item

Heart Container: In the original The Legend of Zelda and any other Zelda game, when Link defeats a boss, he wins a Heart Container, which increases his total life meter by one heart. In Smash 64, the Heart Container will always spawn in the air, and slowly float to the ground. Any character who picks it up will have their percentage reduced all the way to 0%, making this a powerful item.

Music

7: Hyrule Castle Stage: A remix of the classic Zelda theme heard since the original The Legend of Zelda. It is heard on the stage Hyrule Castle.
17: Link Wins: The victory theme of Link is an orchestration borrowing elements from the traditional "adventuring music" heard in Zelda games.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Despite the fact that Majora's Mask was released before Melee, most of the Zelda content in this game is once again based on Ocarina of Time. The Legend of Zelda franchise gained a massive amount of new content, including four brand new characters. This makes the Zelda franchise tied with the Mario franchise for having the most amount of playable characters, being five.

Fighters

Link (Starter): Link returns as a starter character, once again being based on his Ocarina of Time incarnation. While his moveset stays relatively the same, his grab, the Hookshot, can now grab onto ledges to help his previously poor recovery. He also gained a new forward smash and dash attack, and his previous neutral special, the Boomerang, is now his side special. His new neutral special is the Hero's Bow, where Link takes out his bow and shoots an arrow in front of him. With a better recovery, Link was slightly buffed from Smash 64.
Zelda/Sheik (Starter): Zelda/Sheik refers to both Zelda and Sheik as one character slot, and it also refers to players who alternate between the two characters. Zelda is unique in that she is the only character in Melee who can transform into another character in the midst of battle, the nimble Sheik. This is done via the down special Transform, which is shared between Zelda and Sheik. They can both transform into one another at any point in the match. While they are technically the same person, they both have completely unique movesets.

Sheik: Sheik is the alter-ego of Zelda in Ocarina of Time. In Melee, Sheik is a new starter character, whose appearance is based on her look from Ocarina of Time. Her neutral special Needle Storm causes Sheik to store up a bunch of needles. When pressing the B button again, she releases all her needles in front of her. Her side special is Chain, where Sheik pulls out a long metal chain and whips it around. Her up special is Vanish, where Sheik vanishes into the air, then reappears further in one direction, which can be controlled with the control stick. While not appearing in the character select screen, she can be accessed by holding the A button at the beginning of a match when playing as Zelda.
Zelda: Zelda is the princess of Hyrule, and the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom who first appeared in the first Legend of Zelda. In Melee, Zelda is a new starter character, whose appearance is based on her look from Ocarina of Time. She mainly uses magic and fire attacks. Zelda's neutral special is Nayru's Love, a move where Zelda encloses herself into a blue crystal that reflects projectiles. Her side special is Din's Fire, where Zelda launches a controllable fireball that charges as it travels until it explodes. Her up special is Farore's Wind, where a yellow ribbon of magic spins around Zelda, causing her to disappear. After that, she will reappear in any direction held on the control stick. These specials are all magic attacks that Link could learn from the Great Fairies in Ocarina of Time.

Young Link (Unlockable): Young Link is simply Link as a child. While the Link in the first Legend of Zelda was a child, the first clear appearance of a prepubescent Link was in the beginning portion of Ocarina of Time in which the "Hero of Time" begins his quest as a young boy. The same young Link would star in the game Majora's Mask. In Melee, Young Link appears as a new unlockable character. Young Link is a slightly weaker and faster clone of Link, sharing the same base moveset. His neutral special is the Fire Bow, which is like Link's Bow, except it is faster, has shorter range, and has the fire property. His side special is also the Boomerang, but with a shorter range, and higher damage output. His up special is the Spin Attack, which attacks multiple times on the ground. His down special is also a Bomb, but it deals multiple hits upon exploding. Unlike Link, Young Link also has the ability to wall jump.
Ganondorf (Unlockable): Ganondorf is the main antagonist of the Legend of Zelda franchise. First appearing in the original Legend of Zelda in his pig form, Ganondorf would make his debut in his human incarnation in Ocarina of Time. In Melee, Ganondorf is a new unlockable character. He is a clone of Captain Falcon, sharing many animations and all special attacks, but Ganondorf has a significantly heavier, slower, and stronger nature. His neutral special is the Warlock Punch, a much slower and stronger version of the Falcon Punch. His side special is the Gerudo Dragon, a move like the Raptor Boost, except it does not meteor smash in the air. His down special is the Wizard's Foot, a clone move of the Falcon Kick. All three of these moves use "dark" effects instead of fire effects. His up special is the Dark Dive. The move itself is essentially a clone move of Falcon Dive, except that there are electric effects.

Stages

Termina: Great Bay (Starter): This stage is based on Majora's Mask, a game where Young Link travels to another country away from Hyrule called Termina. The stage takes place in the west coast of Termina where the third of the four dungeons in the game lies. The stage consists of three main solid platforms over water. On the right side of the stage is a turtle, acting as a fourth platform that sinks after 30 seconds, only to reappear after some time. Tingle can be seen floating in the air via a red balloon that can be stood on until it pops.
Hyrule: Temple (Starter): This iconic stage does not necessarily represent a specific location from any Zelda game, but is rather an amalgamation of many designs from throughout the Zelda series up to this point, though it does bear a resemblance to the palaces in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The stage consists of three main sections; the left section that has a large platform above, the larger right section with three small platforms in the sky, and the underground section next to a tiny platform. This is by far the largest stage in Melee.

Items

Main article: Item

Bold italics denotes an item new to the Smash Bros. series.

Heart Container: Returns from Smash 64 somewhat powered down. While it still heals players, it now restores only up to 100% damage in normal play rather than all % points to the character that picks it up. In All-Star Mode, however, it heals fully provided the character remains within the Rest Area until their damage reaches 0%.
Bunny Hood: An item that first appeared in Ocarina of Time as a sellable item, but then appeared in Majora's Mask as an equippable item that allows Young Link to run very fast. In Melee, when it is equipped by the character, it drastically increases that character's walking speed, running speed, jumping height, and falling speed for about 20 seconds.