The times may change, but the legend remains: A dark wizard, a princess in peril, and an emerald-clad boy as the kingdom's only hope. Like all great fables of times long past, the story of Link has changed much over the years, retold in a new way for each coming generation, but timeless nonetheless. It's a legacy few other franchises can equal, and as the series continues into its second quarter-century, it's important to know and celebrate why Link was elevated to the upper echelon of video game royalty.

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The Legend Begins – The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987)

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Changing Directions – Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES, 1988)

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That kind of legacy means walking a delicate line; constantly evolving with the times, yet carefully clinging to the foundations on which the series is built; keeping the series active and current, without tiring fans out. It takes a light touch, but that's precisely how Shigeru Miyamoto has maintained his good name. From the NES to the Wii, and every step in between, The Legend of Zelda When Nintendo launched its 8-bit home console in 1983, it had the best hardware on the market, but the games were still largely the same sorts of single-screen, arcade-style diversions you might find on the ColecoVision or SG-1000. No one was really using new technology to produce the sort of experience only a console could – at least not until Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto was put on the task.In 1985, Miyamoto began work on the two games that would come to define the system more than any others. The first was Super Mario Bros., a game that needs no introduction. The second was designed to be a killer app for the new Famicom Disk System, fully exploiting its unique advantages. This meant a full megabit of inexpensive storage space and the ability to save progress, allowing for a larger, more involved game.The Legend of Zelda bucked much of the conventional wisdom about game design in Japan, creating something that resembled Warren Robinett's Adventure and Howard Scott Warshaw's Indiana Jones for the Atari 2600, yet drew on many original ideas and helped to establish a new sub-genre of action-adventure that remains popular to this day in its various evolved forms. In Japan, where computer games and American consoles were never as popular, it is still regarded as the mother of action-adventure.So what made Zelda so different? Well, it wasn't any one particular element, but rather aggressive poaching of elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid. It pulled in exploration elements, transport puzzles, adventure-style inventory puzzles, an action component, and even a monetary system and simplified level building (sans experience points) like the RPG genre that was just starting to bud in Japan.The premise was simple and immediate enough that anyone could play it. You controlled Link, a small boy on an epic quest, placed on a large map with only a mission to assemble the Triforce. It was the perfect exploitation of players' nearly universal urge to explore. And yet, for as immediate as it was, it was willfully obscure in other ways. There were no arrows to point you in the right direction, nor any explicit direction on what to do next. Nintendo noticed during playtesting that players seemed a bit lost and confused, and his supervisors tried to convince Miyamoto to change his tune.Despite the pressure, Miyamoto was confident his approach was the right one, because he realized the power of community. Gamers don't just keep to themselves. They talk to each other, compare notes, and with their minds combined, Zelda's quest became something far less intimidating. All of the discussion also meant word of mouth marketing, and more and more kids joined in to tackle the challenge.It was enough to sell quite a few Disk Systems in Japan, but bringing the game to America presented some challenges. Nintendo's engineers had broken the cartridge size barrier by the time they decided to bring Zelda abroad, but the save system presented a greater challenge. Though it meant a significant added cost, they decided to include an internal RAM chip, kept alive by a battery. It was the first solution of its kind, but it would soon become standard in RPGs and action-adventures too complex for passwords.The unique gold-painted cartridge managed to become the system's first million-seller (excluding the pack-in Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge, of course) and continued to be a top seller for the company for years to come, eventually topping out at over 6.5 million carts sold. It was the start of something new for a company that built its name on the arcades of the early '80s, and Nintendo has never looked back since.The success of the first Zelda silenced a lot of cynics at Nintendo, so when it came time for a sequel, few were in a position to question the bold change of direction. The ability to save added something very new to console gaming, and many designers were eager to see how this could be applied to other kinds of games. All of a sudden, it made sense to blend an epic story with the arcade action that was still so popular. That desire to fuse genres was precisely what led to the first Zelda, and while its sequel was different, that experimental philosophy remained the same.Zelda II: The Adventure of Link arrived in the wake of Dragon Quest and the Japanese release of Wizardry, which helped to propel the RPG to a new level of popularity in Japan, and a tidal wave of platform games pouring in on the heels of Super Mario Bros. Miyamoto and his team set out to try to combine these two genres into something new. It would have an overhead map to explore, magic, a leveling system, and proper towns, but the action would take the form of a side-scrolling platformer.The gameplay wasn't the only thing that changed. The art style took on a slightly darker, more adult feel, with a character that appeared to be an adolescent and not a small child. Even the music changed a bit with the departure of Koji Kondo.While the gameplay was a major departure for the series, the storyline was a direct sequel, following Link's struggles against the followers of Ganon seeking his resurrection by spilling Link's blood. This helped to legitimize what may have seemed like a strange spin-off of sorts. In America and Europe, the Zelda II name carried quite a bit of clout, and fans of the first game flocked to Link's new adventure. While it never managed to match the success of the first game, it sold over four million copies – hardly worth complaining over.However, history can sometimes be unexpectedly harsh, and Zelda II's legacy has been tarnished by comparisons to not only the game before it, but the many that would follow. The Adventure of Link is, without a doubt, the black sheep of the series, not only different, but difficult, slow to start, and lacking some of the charm of its siblings. Despite its success, Nintendo never again tried to reproduce the experiment, and the original vision remained the definitive one for as long as the series has continued.