As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s, video games were a huge part of a my upbringing.
I was primarily a “Nintendo Kid” at the time, so naturally, the Legend of Zelda series
is something I associate fondly with my childhood.
I spent many afternoons staring at Zelda artwork in a Nintendo sticker book I had, as well
as at the images printed on my Nintendo blanket and bedsheets, and imagined all the amazing
things that could be possible in far away, fantastic lands housed within a plastic cartridge
shell.
I heard so much about Link and his exploits from children and adults alike, but I didn't
get to experience the world of Hyrule for myself until the Christmas of 1991 when I
received The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo.
The phenomenal gameplay, graphics, art direction, characters and music in A Link to the Past
just blew me away, and changed my perceptions of what video games are and had the potential
to be.
That feeling of awe and wonder never went away, and to this day it's my 2nd favorite
game of all time, with Suikoden II edging it just slightly for the top spot.
I could go on and on for hours talking about how great A Link to the Past is, but there's
no need, since it's no secret to anyone who is even vaguely familiar with gaming.
Shortly after completing it in the early part of 1992, I got to play the games that came
before it, and since that time I've also played nearly every title in the series.
While those Zelda games provided me with many great gaming experiences, none of them ever
gave me the same surreal feeling I got when playing the 16-bit classic...though Link's
Awakening and Ocarina of Time came close.
I'm a fan of the series, but not obsessive like so many others...however, when I saw
that a new Legend of Zelda artbook was recently put up for sale at a local electronics store,
and it advertised the classic artwork from the games that occupied my imagination through
so many of my formative years, I felt a rush of nostalgia and picked it up immediately.
The Legend of Zelda Hyrule Graphics bills itself as the first ever Zelda series art
book, published by Nintendo Dream in August of 2016 to celebrate the 30th anniversary
of the series.
While the Zelda Historia book released a few years before it housed a lot of great artwork
from many Zelda titles, it's focus was more on story and lore.
Hyrule Graphics is a 400 plus page collection of color images spanning the entirety of the
Zelda release library, from the original Famicom Disk title to the most recent Twilight Princess
Wii U HD remake, with the exception of the Hyrule Warriors games, which are completely
missing.
The book is hard bound and wrapped in a beautiful, glossy dust jacket that protects the high
quality cover, the texture of which reminds me of a library book.
The contents of Hyrule Graphics are divided into three chapters—Masterpiece Illustrations,
Character Illustrations, and Extra Contents.
Masterpiece Illustrations features images from all of the games that were used in promotional
posters or box art, or portray a scene, often ones used in the instruction manuals.
All of the artwork that sparked my adolescent daydreams as mentioned in the intro is found
in this section, and looking at some of these pictures again for the first time in years
got those old cogs turning once more.
The images in this section are quite gorgeous, large with striking, vibrant colors, and many
presented in two-page spreads.
A lot of the older games' art really give the feeling that they are from some classic
animated Zelda TV show...well, one that was better than what we actually ended up getting,
anyway.
Excuuuuuuuuse me, Jimmy!
The images are arranged chronologically by game title except for ones that were remade,
which are lumped in with the original, allowing for side-by-side comparisons between the updated
art and the classic versions.
I find that more often than not, the older pieces have much more of a unique look and
charm to them than the updated stuff, as is the case with many other forms of media.
It should be noted that some titles are barely represented in this section, such as the Game
Boy Color entries, but that's probably just because there wasn't a lot of promotional
art produced for the game compared to say, the Twilight Princess.
Outside of Hyrule Graphics, a lot of the artwork in this section is extremely hard or impossible
to find in such large dimensions and high print quality, so the Masterpiece Illustrations
section is obviously a huge draw for Zelda fans.
There are over 100 pages of classic and modern Zelda images in this chapter, truly a feast
for the eyes.
The Character Illustrations chapter is, well, just that—a chapter showcasing all of the
heroes, NPCs, and enemies of the Zelda games.
There are over 250 pages of illustrations in this chapter, mostly 2D, hand drawn artwork,
but there are also 3D models from certain games and a handful of rough sketches as well.
This section isn't just limited to character art, as pictures of items and other miscellaneous
art found in instruction booklets are also featured prominently.
Like the Masterpiece Illustrations portion of the book, the Character Illustrations chapter
organizes the art chronologically with the exception of the remakes, where you can also
view and compare original and updated art side-by-side.
Have a look at some more examples of the illustrations found in this section.
The third and final chapter of the book is labeled Extra Contents, and presents a lot
of interesting graphics from the Zelda series.
There's a section that collects all of the original Japanese logos for the games, spread
out over two pages...followed by the U.S. logo art on the next couple of pages, which
is a really nice touch.
This is also done with the game covers, and it's interesting to see in such a clear manner
the ways that the Zelda series was marketed in the two regions, especially in the early
years.
Aside from that, the Extra Contents chapter contains images used at events and online,
high resolution 3D models, and some sprite work from the first three games.
Following these images is a brief but detailed interview with the artists who worked on the
series over the years.
They talk about their personal memories with the series, before and after becoming artists
for Nintendo, as well as some of the challenges they had with the ever-changing landscape
of video games.
I was surprised to learn that none of the artists really know who drew those amazing
fantasy images used for the NES and Super NES games, as they were produced by third
party animation studios.
I guess that's precisely why they look like they're straight out of a cartoon.
At the very end of the book is a collection of several images for the upcoming Zelda title
Breath of the Wild, which are gorgeous enough, but viewing these after going through the
entire Hyrule Graphics book, I couldn't help but long for a Zelda game done in the simpler,
and arguably more iconic, style of the games that kickstarted the series and made it one
of the most beloved video games—nay, fantasy worlds—of the modern era.
Overall, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Graphics is an excellent art book, one of the best
I've ever owned, and I own a lot.
Aside from the interview portion, there isn't much text in Hyrule Graphics, other than little
blurbs on each page that usually just label which game the images are from.
The interview is interesting, but with the amount of amazing visual content provided,
it's not a necessary read to get the maximum amount of enjoyment from this book.
That means that this publication is extremely import friendly for just about anyone, however,
there are plans to publish Hyrule Graphics internationally as The Legend of Zelda: Art
and Artifacts later down the road.
But even more exciting than that is this is just the first part in a three book collection,
with a second volume planned soon for the winter of 2016, and another sometime the following
year.
With the over 2000 images presented in the first volume, it's hard to imagine what else
Nintendo could cram into two more giant books, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it would
be location art, concept art and sketches, 2D sprites and 3D polygonal models, and maybe
even something on the various Zelda merchandise that has been licensed over the decades.
Whatever it ends up being, I'm really interested in what they have to offer, and I know I'm
not alone.
Anyway, that about does it for this look at The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Graphics.
Hope you enjoyed it, and maybe I'll talk about some other artbooks in the future.
Thanks for watching, and take care.