Nintendo has the most amazing holiday gift for 'Zelda' fans
This might make up for the scant availability of NES Classic Edition. Might.
Nintendo of Europe delivered a holiday surprise for Zelda fans on Wednesday, in the form of design documents. From the original NES game, The Legend of Zelda.
One video, two GIFs and four images offer a behind-the-scenes look at one of Nintendo's most beloved games and enduring franchises. These come from before there even was a game, just a bunch of ideas scrawled down on paper.
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The video (above) is a grid-based drawing of the game's world map, complete with scrawled in notes and images to highlight points of interest, notable enemies, secrets and everything else. Spoiler alert?
The two GIFs offer a more detailed look at individual game screens, demonstrating how they look on paper against how they look in the finished product. Both were drawn by Takashi Tezuka, who co-directed and co-designed The Legend of Zelda with Shigeru Miyamoto.
The four still images also highlight level design, showing off different locations from the game at various stages of completion. All four are the work of Miyamoto.
Nintendo's Zelda series celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2016. This look back at the original game at its earliest planning stages is a real treat as the year comes to a close.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
