How The First Zelda Was Made and Considered Sci-Fi Instead of Fantasy

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  • čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
  • Go to buyraycon.com/thatguyglen for 15% off your order, plus get free domestic or flat fee international shipping. Brought to you by Raycon.
    This The Legend of Zelda documentary details the development of action-adventure RPG game The Legend of Zelda and goes behind the scenes of its creation. Discover how Nintendo built upon the success of the Famicom, known as the NES outside of Japan, and introduced an ad-on called the Famicom Disk System that used proprietary floppy disks. Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were the only designers on the team and produced all the sketches, concept art and pixel art. The main inspiration for the original The Legend of Zelda came from Miyamoto’s childhood. The documentary also explores all the design decisions that Nintendo made and shows how they considered a time-traveling Link in a futuristic setting where the Triforce was made out of electronic microchips.
    It also takes a close look at all the hurdles the team had to go through. After creating an initial prototype that featured a two-player mode where each player had to create a labyrinth and then explore it, Miyamoto and Tezuka realized the building aspect wasn’t as fun and decided to scratch it entirely. Additionally, the team also considered a first-person perspective to select a dungeon to explore until they decided to create an overworld where the player can move around freely and discover dungeons more naturally. Furthermore, just before the game was set to go into production, the developers discovered that a certain music track was still copyrighted, which meant composer Koji Kondo had exactly one day to create something new. Lastly, the documentary takes a look at the impact the original The Legend of Zelda had on the gaming industry and how the massive franchise continues to innovate and captivate gamers.
    0:00 Part 1
    3:41 Ad
    5:09 Part 2
    References:
    thatguyglen.fun/video/how-the...
    Script written by Anine Van de Ryck.
    Outro song: Thank You R.G.E. - Joe Bagale
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    #TheLegendOfZelda #Nintendo #GameDevelopment
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Komentáře • 538

  • @ThatGuyGlen
    @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +37

    Go to buyraycon.com/thatguyglen for 15% off your order, plus get free domestic or flat fee international shipping. Brought to you by Raycon.

    • @Jan12700
      @Jan12700 Před rokem

      Trash

    • @thegothaunt
      @thegothaunt Před rokem +1

      Congrats on the sponsor! Just wanted to chime into anyone reading: if you're on the fence, go for it! I sleep in my Raycons every night and I adore them.

    • @tk337h
      @tk337h Před rokem +2

      raycon deez nuts loam

    • @Cosmic_Cabbage
      @Cosmic_Cabbage Před rokem +2

      @@thegothaunt that’s pretty much their only use though 💀

    • @Storin_of_Kel
      @Storin_of_Kel Před 11 měsíci

      Well.. Raycon and quality are far and in between. And trying to have them replaced, noperoo. But grab the bag of cash and enjoy it.

  • @hamzafasih
    @hamzafasih Před rokem +1453

    It's nice to think about how the map was originally designed on grid paper and translated into the game, only for kids to play the game and translate the map back onto grid paper ☺

    • @Vulpas
      @Vulpas Před rokem +32

      That's pretty cool

    • @TankorSmash
      @TankorSmash Před rokem +62

      I'd imagine grid paper was literally the only choice back then

    • @MikeRavia-xp5ig
      @MikeRavia-xp5ig Před rokem +98

      No we had stone tablets and a chizle.

    • @JayCruz49er
      @JayCruz49er Před rokem +35

      @@MikeRavia-xp5ig fo shizle

    • @litjellyfish
      @litjellyfish Před rokem +23

      Well even some of the graphics was usually done on grid paper up to a bit into the 80s
      I mean grid paper and well paper in general is still used a lot when designing games. Sometimes Lego bricks is also a great and quick way to prototype layouts

  • @yessopie
    @yessopie Před rokem +779

    When Miyamoto made Zelda, he wanted to recreate the experience of exploring caves as a kid. When today's developers make games, they want to recreate the experience of playing Zelda as a kid.

    • @stormhought
      @stormhought Před rokem +72

      I wish I had real caves to play when I was kid. totk new caves finally satisfies that part of me.

    • @Radien
      @Radien Před rokem +58

      ​@@stormhoughtTotK satisfies your childhood need to explore under the earth and find a terrifying hellscape?...

    • @alexgarcia3610
      @alexgarcia3610 Před rokem

      nobody cares anymore. miyamoto is overated af

    • @TheRyujinLP
      @TheRyujinLP Před rokem +39

      @@Radien Yes o_o

    • @nahometesfay1112
      @nahometesfay1112 Před rokem +70

      ​@@RadienThe children yearn for the mines XD

  • @Luipaard005
    @Luipaard005 Před rokem +472

    Wow, time travel and then seeing the water physically drain from the lake? Miyamoto was the lead on Ocarina of Time, it looks like the N64 finally gave him the technology to use those concepts!

    • @AricTWS
      @AricTWS Před rokem +71

      Looks like BotW and TotK finally brought the technology based triforce idea back to the series, too

    • @scikoolaid
      @scikoolaid Před rokem +58

      Link to the Past had several scenes of transitions that you watched water drain down, rock changing, ground shaking/rising, weather changing. And "time travel" is pretty similar to light world and dark world being slightly effected by each other being a "mirror" of each other. Ocarina of time is more like a re-creation of Link to the Past.

    • @bigtone7824
      @bigtone7824 Před rokem +8

      Dude was really ahead of his time in game development

    • @mmmmmmmmmmm10
      @mmmmmmmmmmm10 Před rokem +7

      Link to the past had the concept of two worlds / time travel. He just sidelined that idea for lttp.

    • @blues03
      @blues03 Před rokem +8

      @@AricTWS Don't forget that ToTK is literally what Skyward Sword was meant to be (with the Sky Islands and truly falling into the surface/Depths). Even the glider is just a fully functiong sailcloth.

  • @ol25lp96
    @ol25lp96 Před rokem +438

    I find it insane, that Zelda AND Mario were produced at the same time

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +104

      Yup and that the same designers were working on both! Can't imagine what their schedule must have been like. Props to Miyamoto and Tezuka.

    • @Radien
      @Radien Před rokem +22

      I find it especially insane that so many of the ideas that were shelved for one game were used in the other.
      You can see some of the similarities here and there, especially later on in SMB3 and Link's Awakening, but for the most part they seem very different.

    • @co2_os
      @co2_os Před rokem +10

      ​@ThatGuyGlen gigachad miyazaki was working on dark souls 3 and bloodborne at the same time too.

    • @Mattywan1226
      @Mattywan1226 Před rokem +4

      @@co2_os that’s actually kind of insane to hear as well

    • @Echidneys
      @Echidneys Před 11 měsíci +2

      It's called multitasking. Not that insane. Do you get your mind blown when you turn on the faucet and water comes out?

  • @Tralfazz74
    @Tralfazz74 Před rokem +174

    Nice to see that basically every idea conceived during LoZ's development eventually made it's way into a sequel or fan-inspired game

    • @badladyami
      @badladyami Před 8 měsíci +5

      BotW basically felt like everything Nintendo originally wanted to do in 1986 was finally achievable with better hardware.

    • @safebox36
      @safebox36 Před 4 měsíci +1

      ​@@badladyamiI mean yeah, they explicitely said they developed BotW with the idea that it was a "remake" of the original game and then some

  • @purelaziness7095
    @purelaziness7095 Před rokem +103

    Something that wasn't mentioned here - Koij Kondo was in a cover band in highschool that played, among other things, a lot of Deep Purple [something he's admitted to being a big fan of]. If you listen to the track "April" there's a part strikingly reminiscent of the zelda theme. He's never directly said they were related but it's pretty obviously an inspiration!

    • @SMJSmoK
      @SMJSmoK Před rokem +6

      czcams.com/video/yV8e_RkpiNA/video.html
      You mean the part starting at 2:10? If you say it like this then yeah, there are similarities, but I probably wouldn't even notice if you didn't tell me, as the style is very different (this is pretty experimental, Zelda theme is grand and adventurous). But if he was a fan and played the song in a band, it would make sense. It can happen even subconsciously. I play covers of songs on guitar too and some of the songs really get under your skin after you play them enough of times, so their patterns become a part of your musical thinking. And when you're then asked to write a killer theme in a day, your mind goes for the readily available thing and this can happen even without realizing.

    • @RiC_David
      @RiC_David Před rokem +8

      @@SMJSmoK I'm not that user, but they would have been talking about the part at 2:00 which is unequivocally near note for note identical to the bridging section of the dungeon theme of the original Legend of Zelda. It's odd that you asked which part they meant, as this one hits you like a bus to the face - there's no doubting it.
      As someone with an uncommonly vivid musical memory (it's hard to put into words), I do always find it frustrating when musical similarities are pointed out and people respond by identifying differences, especially ones of flavour rather than musical theory (not that I have a classical understanding of music, it's more an inner visualisation and sort of emotional language). This particular section happens to be played on an organ, the same sound and style that the NES chipset was emulating, but people will frequently say it for matching pieces where the style or feel or instrumentation differs, and my point is always that it's irrelevant.
      Imagine two people who look strikingly similar. You could always say that one's eyebrows angle slightly sharper than the others, and one has a faint mole while the other doesn't, but the claim was never that they're indistinguishable, it's that they share a resemblance-or in the case of music, a motif/chord progression/melody/etc.
      To see what I mean, try Queen's 'Don't Lose Your Head' and the Underwater/Dam music from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 on the NES. People more famously note the similarity of the title track to 'Sheer Heart Attack', and rightly so (despite it not being note for note), but the Dam music is more interesting to me because it's the *feel* and the sort of essence of 'Don't Lose Your Head' that's been recreated. It's one of these things where if somebody else can't hear it, okay, but they're not getting what we're picking up - it's not that what we're picking up isn't there or that 'there are only so many notes'.
      Incidentally, other Queen/Nintendo comparisons include the four chord prelude at the end of 'Procession' or intro to 'Father to Son' (they flow into one another). Few people will be get this one, but if you sang/played the intro to Legend of Zelda's title screen over the top, it's the very same chord progression (different key). There's also a bit in 'The Seven Seas of Rye' after they sing "I challenge the mighty Titans and their troubadours" that's very similar to the famous main Zelda theme melody.
      This isn't to say that all of these are evidence of one artist being inspired by another, but more often than not I strongly suspect it's the case - likely subconsciously. Those last two examples could easily just be coincidence from playing around with scales and chords, but 'April' is undoubtedly the inspiration for LoZ's labyrinth theme as it's a nearly 1:1 recreation.

    • @nintendude794
      @nintendude794 Před rokem +4

      Interesting how similar the 2:00 part is. But the 2:10 part is more a matter of the widely used Andalusian cadence/progression than any direct/specific similarity.

    • @heinrichagrippa5681
      @heinrichagrippa5681 Před rokem +1

      @@SMJSmoK I've heard a lot of things in hard and prog rock from that era that remind me of '80s and '90s era video games motifs. I usually chalked it up to being a combination of my mind jumping to notice any incidental similarities due to those old NES themes being burned into my brain at a very young age, and the influence of the neo-classical laden styles of those '60s/'70s bands on the NES-era composers who would have grown up listening to them.
      I've heard that particular moment in April you're referring to dozens of times and admittedly always thought of the Zelda dungeon theme, though at the same time I assumed it was largely coincidental, as this kind of fully-diminished chord played in a series of inversions has been pretty common since Bach. In fact, Jon Lord in particular liked to lift things from Baroque compositions so often that might actually even _be_ from something by Bach originally. Though I have to admit that particular sequence and rhythm along with the tone of the organ matches the NES track so precisely that it's hard not to think Koij Kondo may have been channeling this subconsciously.
      It's funny how hard it is to not end up doing that though. Back when I used to compose more frequently, I'd very often find that underneath my "original" ideas, I had embedded clear copies of things I knew without realizing it. For instance, I once wrote a piece for flute, clarinet, oboe, French horn and cello structured around a "lament bass" progression, only to later realize I had written an elaborate instrumental rearrangement over-top the framework of Hotel California.

    • @GerardMenvussa
      @GerardMenvussa Před 11 měsíci +1

      I'm not sure listening to a 2014 remaster makes much sense.
      But, there are some similarities. Some notes in common and some similar rhythms, but the change both in style and in orchestration is massive. To the point where I too would have missed it if not told where to look.

  • @THEKHAYYYAM
    @THEKHAYYYAM Před rokem +176

    Crazy how koji kondo wrote the main theme in 1 day

    • @TheGalaxyWings
      @TheGalaxyWings Před rokem +7

      the title theme, not the overworld theme

    • @mmmmmmmmmmm10
      @mmmmmmmmmmm10 Před rokem

      ​@@TheGalaxyWingsat 12:10 he says overworld theme, is the video incorrect or did you misheard?

    • @TheGalaxyWings
      @TheGalaxyWings Před rokem +8

      @@mmmmmmmmmmm10 neither, the new title theme kondo made was an arrangement of the preexisting overworld theme

    • @Maroxad
      @Maroxad Před rokem +2

      Cool, but not unique to Zelda,
      Dragon Quest had a similar situation.

    • @johngrayson3846
      @johngrayson3846 Před rokem +6

      Believe it or not most hits are written in minutes.

  • @Radien
    @Radien Před rokem +45

    I've heard most of this before but this was an excellent compilation of some of the most interesting facts about the first Legend of Zelda game.
    Hearing it all together right after Tears of the Kingdom's release, it's a great reminder that many of the team's unused ideas for The Legend of Zelda ended up being saved and used *decades* later, especially time travel in Ocarina of Time and high technology in Breath of the Wild - even more so in Tears of the Kingdom.

  • @wariodude128
    @wariodude128 Před rokem +146

    It's pretty funny that the dungeons were accidentally only half programmed in, leading to the space left over being turned into the second quest. One has to wonder what the game dungeons would have looked like if the programmer hadn't made that mistake.

    • @michaelsmulkowski746
      @michaelsmulkowski746 Před rokem +4

      They would probably be twice as big!

    • @adamb89
      @adamb89 Před 11 měsíci +10

      It was actually pretty ingenious because the second quest enhanced the overworld too. The dungeons weren't where you remembered them, so not only do you have to re-explore the dungeons, you have to re-explore the entire overworld too. The second quest essentially increases the exploration 150%, instead of just 50%.

    • @jeremygibson4531
      @jeremygibson4531 Před 11 měsíci +2

      I would imagine it’d just be a game with 16 dungeons, or they’d be twice as big

    • @KairuHakubi
      @KairuHakubi Před 10 měsíci +5

      I feel like we must not be understanding that properly, if he "accidentally only programmed half of them in" then the simple fix would be "program in the others that the designer had on paper and you forgot to program in" and then we'd have 18 dungeons.
      I think what the actual quote is supposed to be is like, the designer thought he had X number of game tiles/screens to devote to 9 dungeons, so he divided them up accordingly, and after they were all done, discovered that was only half of the allotment, leading them to decide "make 9 more dungeons but put them on a separate file" which makes sense, Mario did something similar and it was common at the time that after a game you just start over with a new game. And since the new dungeons are all letter-shaped instead of object-shaped, it makes sense they were all created as a separate group
      it reminds me of the story of pokemon gold and silver, where the dude stayed up all night eking more space out of a gameboy cartridge and then found he'd _doubled it._ so he went ahead and ported in the entire original map from red and green.

    • @ultra_crap
      @ultra_crap Před 8 měsíci +3

      ​@@KairuHakubiThe dude you're mentioning that programmed for a long time straight (I think it was a whole weekend) to optimise space for pokemon Gold/Silver is none other than the late Satoru Iwata, the former president of Nintendo. IIRC, he wasn't even a part of the team developing it. Game Freak was desperate because they were quickly running out of space on the cartridge and time before the deadline. Iwata was so good at programming that the extra space allowed the entirety of the Kanto region to be included in the game.

  • @Neelo5000
    @Neelo5000 Před 11 měsíci +12

    They gave Pol's Voice a different weakness in the NES version. They die in one hit to arrows, and are the only enemy in the game that don't 'consume' the arrows upon being struck, meaning you can potentially kill several in a single shot.

  • @MikeRavia-xp5ig
    @MikeRavia-xp5ig Před rokem +7

    I feel like tears of the kingdom has matched or surpassed his original vision of being on an adventure.

  • @LinkEX
    @LinkEX Před rokem +48

    Interesting how this means both Oracle games have connections to the original Legend of Zelda:
    Oracle of Seasons draws on its original dungeon design and bosses for the exploration.
    Oracle of Ages delivers on the time travel idea as a game element for the puzzles.

    • @Mari_Izu
      @Mari_Izu Před 11 měsíci +6

      Miyamoto made the Oracles team remake the first Zelda as a way to make them understand Zelda.

    • @01What10
      @01What10 Před 10 měsíci

      Timeline wise, Oracle of Seasons and Ages take place before the original Legend of Zelda, and Adventure of Link. According to The Goddess Collection of official books.

  • @arandomperson12345
    @arandomperson12345 Před rokem +64

    Damn, imagine being handed TLOZ by Miyamoto and accidentally not implementing half of his creation. I wonder how that happened...

    • @SMJSmoK
      @SMJSmoK Před rokem +17

      Then going back to him with the tail between your legs and "Boss, look I'm afraid we really screwed up." and Miyamoto being like "Nah, it's fine, we'll make another quest instead." lol
      "I wonder how that happened"
      Lots of stress before deadlines I guess, focus slips and accidents happen. These teams were relatively small (basically a size of an indie team by modern standards) so it's possible that nobody checked his work until it was too late. And they were working on two games at once...

    • @LiquidSevens
      @LiquidSevens Před rokem +2

      nah, tezuka made the map
      but still LMAO i would be so embarrassed... making only half of the game......

    • @GerardMenvussa
      @GerardMenvussa Před 11 měsíci +4

      Copying stuff from paper quickly becomes a challenge when there is a lot of data.

  • @remka2000
    @remka2000 Před rokem +19

    Thanks for this throwback to simpler times 😊 ! After all these years, this is still my favorite Zelda, and one of my favorite game ever. I spent hours (days?) with my neighbor drawing maps on graph paper…

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +1

      My pleasure!

    • @thekxckup3854
      @thekxckup3854 Před 11 měsíci

      Really in my opinion it’s the worst one of them all

    • @remka2000
      @remka2000 Před 9 měsíci +1

      @@thekxckup3854 sure its your opinion.

  • @manleeman5212
    @manleeman5212 Před rokem +2

    Finally i understand why themanual said loud noises would hurt that one enemy. Thank you so freakin much

  • @NewMateo
    @NewMateo Před rokem +12

    Its wild to think that Nintendo wouldnt be where it is today if Miyamoto had a bad childhood lol.

  • @esotericmissionary
    @esotericmissionary Před rokem +42

    Wow, a cyberpunk Zelda game sounds like a fever dream.

    • @avereynakama9854
      @avereynakama9854 Před rokem +24

      I wonder if this is why "futuristic" elements always seem to sneak into the series? Steam boats, telephones, a motocycle, cell phones/tablets, trains- I personally love it. I'm glad that they keep ideas like this around.

    • @flamingbanana5831
      @flamingbanana5831 Před rokem +13

      @@avereynakama9854 teh zonai devices and constructs asw as guardians from botw

    • @mystrenula3911
      @mystrenula3911 Před 10 měsíci +2

      ​​@@flamingbanana5831even before then, Majora's Mask had speedboats, and schematics for a bomb powered rocket ship in the bomb shop, plus Spirit Tracks obviously had trains, and even in Skyward Sword there were robots

  • @rhodrage
    @rhodrage Před rokem +9

    I love how they had the Time Travel idea from the start

  • @fbomb7184
    @fbomb7184 Před rokem +6

    Imagine only using half the dungeon maps and your boss being like, “No problem, we can just make a second quest 😊.” That can’t be how that went down 🤔.

  • @herbderbler1585
    @herbderbler1585 Před rokem +39

    I am forever thankful designers like this moved away from chasing high scores and into story based games. Never in all my years playing video games have I cared about driving some pointless number up. Even in the Atari days I was looking for a plot. Such things were thin on the ground then, and those Atari games that did have them were just not good. NES was when the art of video game storytelling really kicked off in a big way and it's thanks to these pioneers.

    • @pantheman2842
      @pantheman2842 Před 11 měsíci +2

      Same, I only care about scores when they help me advance the plot (i.e. reveal a true final boss).

    • @catsaregovernmentspies
      @catsaregovernmentspies Před 10 měsíci +3

      Scores were stupid, as were timers.

    • @herbderbler1585
      @herbderbler1585 Před 10 měsíci +5

      @@catsaregovernmentspies Ugh, yes absolutely. I despise pointless time limits.

    • @wphanoo
      @wphanoo Před 8 měsíci +1

      true, but now we're too much on the story side, with games taking hundreds of hours to finish and makes me sleepy

    • @herbderbler1585
      @herbderbler1585 Před 8 měsíci +1

      @@wphanoo still plenty of quicker and more straightforward games out there, as well as skill games with near zero plot. The market caters to virtually everyone now.

  • @VerityFraser
    @VerityFraser Před 11 měsíci +5

    Dude had one day to compose original music, and he ended up creating something that's so iconic it's one of the most famous pieces in the medium, good show.

    • @TheRyujinLP
      @TheRyujinLP Před 10 měsíci +3

      {Koij Kondo}: I'm gonna pull what the kids call a "pro-composer" move....
      Like, what dark magic did the heads of Nintendo use in the 80's to summon so much talent into one company? Like Nintendo in the 80's, excuse us while we just casually invent the platforming and the adventure RPG genre and do it so good they're still some of the best games ever made. Nintendo in the late 90's, excuse us while we casually create modern 3D gaming from scratch and releases Mario 64 and OoT. Nintendo today, excuse us while we casually perfect the open world game, on portable hardware that's 6 years old at this point. Nintendo, chill.

  • @SaintNicholasOfficial
    @SaintNicholasOfficial Před rokem +14

    These videos always make my day

  • @zekromfan1
    @zekromfan1 Před rokem +5

    You can turn off the help icons at the bottom of the screen in NSO’s NES Emulator, all you have to do is go to the settings in the main menu and un-check the “Show controls in game” option at the bottom of the screen.
    Just mentioning it since the Zelda 1 footage had it at the bottom of it. And a lot of people don’t know that you can turn it off, you can do the same thing in all of the NSO emulators.

  • @fredrik241
    @fredrik241 Před rokem +3

    Interestingly if you watch the gaming documentary 'Get lamp' about the earlist computer text advuntures they were also inspired by creators' cave spelunking.
    The first of which came out 1975, Colossal Cave Adventure.

  • @adeedaas8966
    @adeedaas8966 Před rokem +2

    NES was not the first Nintendo home console. The sound quality increase was mostly due to the additional sound hardware in the disk system

  • @miketacos9034
    @miketacos9034 Před rokem +5

    “Uh oh, the music is copyrighted! Quick! Write a masterpiece in one day!”

  • @Sly88Frye
    @Sly88Frye Před 11 měsíci +2

    15:06 What a trip to memory lane. I didn't even know until after his death that Robin Williams was a massive Zelda fan. I mean I'm used to seeing him in whatever movies I see him in from before his death although my wife still gets very affected whenever seeing him because his passing was just so sad. This time around though I don't know why but it really just brought back that sad feeling seeing him again

    • @TheFos88
      @TheFos88 Před 11 měsíci +1

      Same! I somewhat recently found out his daughter is even named Zelda. Miss that man.

  • @dingus_maximus
    @dingus_maximus Před rokem +7

    Wasn’t expecting to learn as much as I did from this video. Good stuff!

  • @TrickyTracki
    @TrickyTracki Před rokem +2

    12:03 it's actually been 48 years between Ravel's death and the release of the first Zelda in Japan.

  • @ChuckSploder
    @ChuckSploder Před rokem +2

    Always love these documentaries :)

  • @Loren_Law
    @Loren_Law Před rokem +8

    Im not much a fan of the zelda franchize but I really love The frist one. to me it is the most elegant design of the entire series. the other games are too complicated and drawn out for me to stick with the whole way through. The decision to explain as little as possible to the player is something I truly cherish in an adventure game.

    • @andreaschatzopoulos
      @andreaschatzopoulos Před 8 měsíci +2

      The main difference for me is that Zelda games became increasingly "handholdy" as time went by. I really like that concept of the first game, that you don't have a clue about anything.

  • @AlessandroAndriulli
    @AlessandroAndriulli Před měsícem

    This is amazing! Awesome work!

  • @bruth6138
    @bruth6138 Před 8 měsíci

    This was a really well done video. I bought this when it was brand new and was a huge part of my childhood. Its nice to fill in the gaps with information that explains much of what they did in developing Zelda.

  • @Nathanatos22
    @Nathanatos22 Před 11 měsíci

    14:10 This unlocked a very old memory. Yes, I definitely remember trying to use the flute and failing, haha.

  • @t-machine3427
    @t-machine3427 Před rokem +4

    Amazing video, as always! Quick, really easy to follow (for multiple reasons, including soothing voice), and the research done for the video is great.

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +1

      Thank you very much for the kind words!

  • @Asterra2
    @Asterra2 Před 11 měsíci +2

    The anecdote about Miyamoto's adventures is of course famously repeated. But we're talking about a game with a top down exploration, moving screen to screen, swords, dragons, bats, clever secrets, keys that open doors, dungeons whose facade frequently covers the top of the screen and are entered from the center, and even _a bridge you can carry around to get past obstacles._ It's so uncanny that you could practically interchange the game with Adventure on the 2600, ca. 1981.

    • @andreaschatzopoulos
      @andreaschatzopoulos Před 8 měsíci +1

      Zelda does it 1000 times better, though.

    • @Asterra2
      @Asterra2 Před 8 měsíci

      @@andreaschatzopoulosOne would hope so, sheesh. In those days, the days of console _infancy,_ consoles advanced so quickly that it only took two years for the latest arrival to outperform the older unit the way it today takes an entire generation. (Think the VCS, 1977, vs. Intellivision, 1979). The six year difference between the VCS-the console that _made_ home gaming a bona fide thing-and the NES was far more than a single generation of improvement, not leastwise because the NES itself was years ahead of its contemporaries.

  • @puckthefolise2842
    @puckthefolise2842 Před rokem +9

    Cool video, as always, amazed by small facts and all what the developers were inspired by.
    Good job !

  • @lavenderpants8695
    @lavenderpants8695 Před 11 měsíci +4

    All of this info about the original game is so relevant today with TOTK. They truly never forgot their roots when designing these new games. Link being the "link" between the future and past and the usage of "future tech" is still what the game is doing. And people thought that was a new idea.

    • @TheFos88
      @TheFos88 Před 11 měsíci +2

      I've even seen some criticizing the fact that tech is even more abundant in Tears than it was in BotW, saying they don't like it and doesn't feel like Zelda.
      I mean, opinions are fine, but I just find it to be a petty gripe especially considering the franchise history.

    • @Luxembourgish
      @Luxembourgish Před 11 měsíci +3

      It is a new implementation. Cut ideas that were never implemented are not what Zelda defined itself as, in the final medieval product. Cars and planes are out of place in the world these devs described as "medieval" 9:40 and "Lord of the Rings" inspired 2:42.

    • @TheFos88
      @TheFos88 Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@Luxembourgish Nah.

    • @Luxembourgish
      @Luxembourgish Před 11 měsíci +2

      @@TheFos88 Why did we never see cars and planes in this medieval fantasy series before? Why was the Zelda series created as "medieval" 9:40 and "Lord of the Rings" inspired 2:42 according to developers?

    • @TheFos88
      @TheFos88 Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@Luxembourgish who really fucking cares? Tech fits fine and the imaginative creativity found is fun. Mountains out of molehills.

  • @joshualedbetter879
    @joshualedbetter879 Před rokem +6

    Despite the massive success of the first Zelda game, Nintendo didn't actually plan on making a sequel. Instead, they wanted to make more games similar to Zelda's style, but with enough difference so it wasn't just a retextured Zelda. At the last minute, however, the game was changed to be the direct sequel to Legend of Zelda. This is why Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link is such an outlier when compared to the rest of the series.

  • @thegothaunt
    @thegothaunt Před rokem +6

    Another excellent story! Thank you, Glen!

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +2

      My pleasure gothaunt, glad you liked it!

  • @maniac086
    @maniac086 Před 11 měsíci +6

    Great retrospective with a very engaging presentation! This is the kind of video even a non-gamer could watch and I think really garner an appreciation for the ideas and work put into creating the original Zelda. Nicely done!

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před 11 měsíci +1

      Thank you very much for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it!

  • @DJClicheDarkness
    @DJClicheDarkness Před 10 měsíci

    This was a great watch. Thank you.

  • @_JEANIUS
    @_JEANIUS Před rokem +1

    The highlight of my day! Thanks Glen!😊💛

  • @dsgamedev9434
    @dsgamedev9434 Před rokem +3

    Fantastic video as usual, very insightful!

  • @relmdrifter
    @relmdrifter Před 11 měsíci +4

    Wow the first Zelda was almost "Link Maker", right on. And the original premise to travel through time (why he's named Link) and still gets to in future games
    cool vid, thanks

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před 11 měsíci +1

      My pleasure, glad you liked it!

  • @user-if4tb9wu4q
    @user-if4tb9wu4q Před rokem +3

    disk system was a quick disk, not a floppy disk.
    The shape is similar, but the method is completely different.
    It is the same as the difference between a DVD and a Blu-ray disc.

  • @JiAiJ0
    @JiAiJ0 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Jesus. Nobuo Uematsu composed Prelude in 10 minutes and Koji Kondo produced the Overworld theme over the course of a single day?
    Crazy how their ingenuity created two of the most iconic themes in gaming.

  • @katherineberger6329
    @katherineberger6329 Před rokem +2

    Quick technical correction, the DiskCards were not a Nintendo invention, they were a licensed version of Mitsumi's 75mm (2.8 inch) disk format, QuickDisk.

  • @anonony9081
    @anonony9081 Před rokem +5

    I'd love to see what the game felt like if it had kept the bolero music in. Also amazing that kondo managed to write that song in one day

    • @TheBadElf
      @TheBadElf Před rokem +2

      He just ripped off Deep Purple's - April

    • @Mari_Izu
      @Mari_Izu Před 11 měsíci

      He didn't wrote in one day, he rearranged the overworld theme to fit the title theme.
      And the Dumb Elf don't know what "ripping off" means.

  • @MaxBrix
    @MaxBrix Před 9 měsíci

    I was on the playground. A bunch of kids were gathered in a tight mob. It was odd because everyone was quiet. As I pushed my way to the front I heard someone say, as though it was a magical device, "It saves your game". Then I got a glimpse of the shining gold cartridge. We all knew that at that exact moment we were entering a new era and it was totally awesome.

  • @michaelsalmon3450
    @michaelsalmon3450 Před rokem

    thank u ray j for sponsoring this video. LEGEND

  • @sempersolus5511
    @sempersolus5511 Před 11 měsíci +1

    It's nice to see the Miyamoto of back then--a visionary who was limited mainly by the technologies of the 1980's--rather than the Miyamoto of today: a stubborn old man who is limited mainly by the values of the 1980's.

  • @WhispyWoods.
    @WhispyWoods. Před 11 měsíci

    Great video. Informative and easy to follow 👍

  • @adamb89
    @adamb89 Před 11 měsíci +1

    The funny thing is there were originally only two Triforces. Zelda broke her Triforce of Wisdom into 8 fragments to prevent Ganon from acquiring them, which strangely enough are then guarded in dungeons by Ganon's own monsters. Because that makes sense. There being a third Triforce of Courage didn't come about until the The Adventure of Link. It wasn't until after there were three Triforces that the iconic "Mitsu Uroko" started getting used, possibly starting with the end of the game when link uses the three Triforces together to awaken Zelda. They float up from Link in an almost Mitsu Uroko pattern. But in Link to the Past the title screen had the three Triforces floating in before locking together in what has now become the series' trademark icon.
    And it's interesting that Bolero was originally the title crawl, because even when I was a little kid I liked listening to that over and over. (I was too young to realize it, but I'm a huge fan of both classic instrumentals and power metal guitar virtuosos.) When I first played Zelda in 86 the title crawl hooked me. I literally watched it several times in a row just listening to the music and now, decades later, it all makes sense. It reminded me of Bolero.

  • @PaletaJoe2
    @PaletaJoe2 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Inwas expecting a short explanation for some aesthetic choices in the game, and instead got the best brief history of the origins of the franchise I’ve seen so far. Very concise, and informative. Good job.

  • @Sly88Frye
    @Sly88Frye Před 11 měsíci +2

    I have to say this was actually very fascinating to know about. I'm very glad this video showed up in my recommendations. Honestly I already knew about that issue with the music in the first game and how the composer had to come up with what would end up becoming the iconic Zelda theme and just one day, but I didn't realize that they literally had only one month left on that guy's copyright. I also didn't know that originally there was going to be some time travel including technology from the future or present day or something. Perhaps that time travel concept that they scrapped partly inspired them for Ocarina of Time more than a decade later.

  • @richardkirkland6805
    @richardkirkland6805 Před 11 měsíci +2

    It's strange to think that the Legend of Zelda was changed from a sci-fi fantasy genre to a pure fantasy genre because of system limitations, but it still only took up half the disk to the point where Miamoto decided to add a Second Quest.

    • @Mari_Izu
      @Mari_Izu Před 11 měsíci

      You're misunderstanding. It wasn't half of the disk, was half of the dungeon maps, a lot of other stuff were also consuming memory and disk space.
      That's why the second Quest reuses the overworld maps while having different dungeons (but still using the same assets from the second quest).
      To make the futuristic setting like they wanted, they would have to fit another overworld and making completely new and distinct assets for it (and maybe even the dungeons).

  • @kennycarter5682
    @kennycarter5682 Před rokem

    interesting video. i subbed. hopefully the rest of your vids are just as informative and interesting documentaries

  • @WhosThatFlying
    @WhosThatFlying Před rokem +2

    That was very very interesting, especially about music and a Dragon Ball writer! Great video as always!

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +1

      Thank you very much, glad to hear you enjoyed it!

  • @SpringoStar
    @SpringoStar Před 8 měsíci

    "Tim and Eric Meme inserted here" -> Mind blown! THANK YOU! As someone who grew up (Born 1980) playing this game for years and still plays well into my 40's, you made my inner child smile in such joy. :)

  • @Alkaris
    @Alkaris Před 8 měsíci

    30 years later and they're come a long way and made many great memories along the way.

  • @mdnghtppl0000
    @mdnghtppl0000 Před rokem +1

    really luv these videos, keep it up!

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +1

      Glad to hear you enjoy them and will do!

  • @jackson5116
    @jackson5116 Před rokem +1

    0:37 not really, their capacity allowed them to store more data, so the Disk System with its extra sound channel could be used. There was nothing preventing the same sound from coming from a cartridge, it was that chip inside the Disk System that made the better sound.

  • @wyldelf2685
    @wyldelf2685 Před 8 měsíci

    hey That Guy Glen , i am a major fan of the early ZELDA games , thank you for this video 🙏 its very well laid out and extremely informative , kudos also for rare video clips in your video Link dancing and welding fully silver MasterSword , plus a little bit of awesome Robin Williams and his daughter ZELDA , , apparently doing commercial for a Zelda game on 3DS i think , , thank you and keep rocking ,😸👍👍

  • @robotwo
    @robotwo Před 9 měsíci +1

    0:37 I'm a bit confused as to how a floppy disk would offer better sound quality than a cartridge when cartridges can contain any additional audio hardware you want.
    I'm guessing you're actually referring to the additional sound hardware Nintendo put into the Famicom Disk System itself?
    Amazing video altogether, great retelling of the story and absolutely loving the editing.

  • @rufusgrayward3994
    @rufusgrayward3994 Před 8 měsíci

    i still remember holding the gold cart for the first time, the way the nes packaging smelled, was a gamer for life after that.

  • @3DSage
    @3DSage Před rokem

    Subscribed! I'm a big Zelda fan and I really enjoyed your video!

  • @thelaughingstormbornagain1297

    Did Miyamoto grow up wealthy? The line about him modeling the dungeons after his childhood home that he frequently got lost in made me wonder if he did. My childhood was the opposite. Nowhere to go, nothing to do and stuck in an incredibly small home. No getting lost.

    • @franwex
      @franwex Před rokem +7

      I think it was middle class, but his city was more rural during his childhood. Or lived outside the city.

    • @ADreamingTraveler
      @ADreamingTraveler Před rokem +11

      He based Zelda on the forests he would explore around his home. It wasn't actually inside his home

    • @VOAN
      @VOAN Před rokem +5

      Where I live back then there's actually a ton of buildings, forest, caves, and rivers to explore. There's no such thing as nowhere to go, my guess is that your folks are too secured with you to let you go explored anything yet. As a kid, I often get lost in the nearby woods and rivers where I fished and camp.

    • @thelaughingstormbornagain1297
      @thelaughingstormbornagain1297 Před rokem +2

      @Voan Siam Yeah, so I lived in a trailer park next to a busy highway next to a toxic river you can't swin or fish in with a railroad track that was often used by trains back then. So no, it wasn't my parents it was the environment.

    • @Endercurse
      @Endercurse Před rokem +3

      You should look up traditional Japanese homes, it makes a lot more sense in that context

  • @sauhamm3821
    @sauhamm3821 Před 11 měsíci

    mario (and duck hunt) and zelda helped make me a gamer. talk about fond memories. 46 year old me remembers getting the NES for my 10th birthday (1987)

  • @futuramayeah
    @futuramayeah Před rokem +3

    that footage at 15 min in looks good, i would want to play that game, why don't they make another zelda game that looks like the first one

  • @jpwilliams6926
    @jpwilliams6926 Před 7 měsíci

    Nice job man

  • @noodletribunal9793
    @noodletribunal9793 Před 11 měsíci

    10:41 they were so spot on. as a kid, i would always try to burn the big trees too. even after i knew i couldnt, i would still throw the fire over them and pretend. cool that we can finally do this now in the 2 newest games lol

  • @Isey_T
    @Isey_T Před rokem +3

    This was a very cool video! I loved it! :)

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem

      Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed it!

    • @Isey_T
      @Isey_T Před rokem +1

      @@ThatGuyGlen all good! 😊

  • @RhiannaAtriedes
    @RhiannaAtriedes Před rokem +1

    This is an awesome video, very informative. Where did the Cyberpunk part come in? I feel as though it wasn't mentioned outside of the title

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem

      Thank you! That section starts about 2:20 minutes into the video.

    • @RhiannaAtriedes
      @RhiannaAtriedes Před rokem

      @@ThatGuyGlen ohhhh how did I miss that! Thank you so much. I'd say that's why we got a link to the past, but it's not called that in Japan is it

    • @Luxembourgish
      @Luxembourgish Před rokem

      @@ThatGuyGlen Your title for the video keeps changing every few days! I think the original title was best with "medieval" in it

  • @MarxistClownism
    @MarxistClownism Před 11 měsíci +1

    “ Miyamoto wanted to make the story simplistic and easy to understand” well that pretty much went out the window with the convoluted LOZ timelines.

  • @younggrasshopper3531
    @younggrasshopper3531 Před 11 měsíci

    Very cool vid to start the day with, thank you!!

  • @litjellyfish
    @litjellyfish Před rokem +2

    Just a fun comments. In 84 most systems used floppy discs not those hard shell cases ones :)

    • @mahna_mahna
      @mahna_mahna Před 11 měsíci

      You're thinking of the US, where we are generally behind on technology (especially back then). The 3.5 inch floppy came out in 1983 in Japan. In Japan, new technology gets adopted pretty quickly.
      Side note: the original Macintosh came with only a 3.5 inch floppy drive, in 1984.

  • @LoneWolf-km7rg
    @LoneWolf-km7rg Před rokem +6

    I think you'll find Link is named after the character Charles Bronson played alongside Toshiro Mifune in the 1971 film Red Sun. Bronson was massive in Japan and the film ran for over 8 months in Tokyo.

    • @thekxckup3854
      @thekxckup3854 Před 11 měsíci

      No he isn’t

    • @LoneWolf-km7rg
      @LoneWolf-km7rg Před 11 měsíci

      Watch the movie and you should realize he is. No way Nintendo would admit he's named after a bandit who sleeps with whores.

  • @Eligames2009
    @Eligames2009 Před rokem

    very nice video!

  • @TheJellyFishHub
    @TheJellyFishHub Před rokem +10

    Always a good day when Glen uploads 💚

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem +4

      Always a good day when I can share a new video :D

  • @TheBanishedWind
    @TheBanishedWind Před rokem

    15:06
    RIP Robin

  • @Luxembourgish
    @Luxembourgish Před 9 měsíci

    Thanks for bringing back the medieval title

  • @futuramayeah
    @futuramayeah Před rokem +1

    at 1116, when you said that they had extra room and he created a second quest, maybe instead they could have just expanded the map, that would be cool, but today we would just know it as the map, but it might still have been cool to see more of the world beyond what we see on the current map

    • @Mari_Izu
      @Mari_Izu Před 11 měsíci +1

      That would be the worst decision, the map getting bigger with the same number of dungeons would not offer much.

    • @William-the-Guy
      @William-the-Guy Před 11 měsíci

      having a secret quest unlock after you beat the game felt very cool as a kid.

  • @Astronic
    @Astronic Před rokem

    Cool video bro, you earned a sub

    • @ThatGuyGlen
      @ThatGuyGlen  Před rokem

      Much appreciated and thank you for subscribing!

  • @elio7610
    @elio7610 Před rokem +3

    I never knew that The Legend of Zelda was created back in 2017 by Nintendo co-founders Ray J and Ray Lee.

  • @blistlelo1700
    @blistlelo1700 Před rokem +2

    I had always though Link was supposed to be a short man or just look short due to bird's eye perspective seen from above or cramped into his small pixel sprite on the screen due to graphical limitations rather than him being a young boy.

  • @fbomb7184
    @fbomb7184 Před rokem

    I remember that stupid hint about Pol’s Voice. We tried the recorder and bombs; nope. We did eventually stumble on their weakness - arrows to the ear hole = instant death.

  • @shadyshinichi2JZ
    @shadyshinichi2JZ Před 11 měsíci +1

    I have been playing Zelda since I was 4 years old in 1989 on the NES. Just finished Tears of the Kingdom, love this franchise. Just wise we heard the original theme song more.

  • @pablolopezgomez9658
    @pablolopezgomez9658 Před rokem +2

    Incredible content, as usual!!!

  • @Learnjapanesefromsomeguy
    @Learnjapanesefromsomeguy Před 8 měsíci

    Great video. I was able to learn a few new things about one of my favorite series. So, thank you for sharing.
    I am not an artist, so it is difficult for me to understand this part (8:30). How exactly does making Link left handed aid in the creation of the pixel art?

  • @gong256
    @gong256 Před rokem +1

    6:16 ayo that dungeon looks wild 💀

  • @raytttc9636
    @raytttc9636 Před 11 měsíci +1

    That was a very interesting video about the history of the Game. I like to think that the legend of Zelda will have a proper movie/TV series adaptation, since the Super Mario Brothers movie was successful. One can only hope. Plus, I liked the nod to the Late Robin Williams and his Daughter, Zelda. He was a huge fan of the series (you can tell by his daughter's name). 15:05

  • @Mike14264
    @Mike14264 Před 10 měsíci

    This is all really fascinating... though some of the things here do show that game development back then, and the relationship between the game creator and the player, definitely were still in their early days.

  • @Asfgxff
    @Asfgxff Před 8 měsíci

    What a fascinating order of games to have in that intro. That would make quite the timeline. 🤔 (change playback speed)

  • @stinky-2319
    @stinky-2319 Před 11 měsíci

    Wow this channel has grown fast. Keep up the good videos

  • @StarlasAiko
    @StarlasAiko Před rokem +1

    Zelda is the best argument in favour of Copyright Laws extending beyond the death of the artist. The epic tune we now know and love is a much better fit than Bolero.

  • @Sly88Frye
    @Sly88Frye Před 11 měsíci

    12:01 Well I'm sure glad they didn't delay another month just to use that song because honestly it's way more iconic and original that we got the Zelda theme that we've had since the composer made it in a day and they released it.

  • @dyztroyax4628
    @dyztroyax4628 Před 11 měsíci +1

    PLEASE do Crosscode next, that game deserves coverage!

  • @DarioDAversa
    @DarioDAversa Před 11 měsíci

    Kids today won't understand this, but back in the 80s when playing something like Super Mario Bros. was groundbreaking in its own, almost everyone who tried The Legend of Zelda for the first time was lost navigating the game. You didn't know where to go, or what to do, and sure it made for some fun schoolyard talk, but unlike today, very few kids had the game. It was very difficult to go forward, and it took forever to finish this adventure. Sure it's easy to finish in a day today, but back then, this game was as long as Tears of The Kingdom is today. Great times. I'll never forget how blown away I was by this game.