Hyrule Historia (Book)

ZELDA1Recently, I ordered a book online and just got it in the mail. It’s a great big hardcover book all about the Legend of Zelda game series. It’s a must-have book for any fan of the Zelda games. So here’s a short pictorial review of the book.

The book itself is a great big hardcover number, and definitely what you’d call a ‘coffee table’ book. At over 250 pages, it has plenty of full color artwork and easy to read text. Here’s a bigger shot of the front of the book.

 

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The book has four main parts. The first part of the book has extensive concept art and features for the newest Zelda game: Skyward Sword. I kind of wish they wouldn’t have given so much attention to just one game in the series in the book. But Skyward Sword was brand spanking new at the time in Japan when this book was released, so I guess everyone was excited for it and it was fresh on everyone’s mind. This section takes up about a fourth of the book. Here’s a sample page from that section. And for the record, I really didn’t mind Fi from Skyward Sword all that much. I know most hated her ‘captain obvious’ remarks, but I found them funny. We called her ‘Autotune’ because of her voice. But my favorite character in Skyward Sword was Scrapper the Robot. I don’t think they even mentioned him at all in the book!

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Many Zelda fans have speculated on the sequential order of events in the series. So the next section in the book is an official timeline that includes all the main Zelda games in the series. The timeline is riddled with alternate branches, like when it splits into two if the Hero of Time Link is victorious or loses, and then splits off again if he returns to his own time or stays an adult. Me personally, I don’t worry too much about the sequential order of events in the Zelda timeline. I figure it’s called Legend of Zelda for a reason. They’re all legends, so they could be all different versions and retellings of the same story. But who knows and cares? As long as Link gets to tromp around and solve dungeon puzzles, beat up bad guys, and rescue Zelda, I’m happy. Here’s the page in the book that begins the timeline. It’s about another fourth of the book.

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The next page is just various artworks from other Zelda games in the series. Here’s a page with the different Princess Zeldas throughout the years. The Princess is actually one of my favorite Zelda characters. She’s especially neat in Twilight Princess and Spirit Tracks. I wouldn’t mind a new game where you get to play as Zelda instead of Link (and no, the CDi games don’t count).

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The last part of the book, which is a little less than a fourth, is a Japanese manga comic book based on the Skyward Sword story. Since manga books are read backwards, you have to go to the end of the book to starting reading this part. Luckily the book warns you with a refresher on how to read manga. I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to.

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And that’s everything in Hyrule Historia! I ordered it online through Amazon and it only cost a little more than 20 bucks. Which isn’t too bad for such a big hardcover book! One minor quibble: I don’t think they mention the CDi Zelda games at all, which is understandable. But they only graze over the SatelliteView Zelda game in Japan and Link’s Crossbow Training. And I don’t think they mentioned Tingle’s side games at all, like the Balloon Fight one in Japan, or the Tingle game that was like a cross between Wario Land and Zelda. I wish I could play those. Oh well. If you enjoy Zelda games, you should get this book anyway. Personally, I like Zelda games better than Mario games. Of course, I also like Metroid and Kirby more than Mario, too. What are your favorite Zelda games? My favorite is Link’s Awakening. Later! –Cary

One Response to “Hyrule Historia (Book)”

  1. I got this as a Valentine’s Day present. As someone who’s been with the Zelda series from its infancy, I loved it. It was nostalgic looking at the artwork of the short Link from the original game and the art of Link walking away from the palace from Zelda II.

    My favorite Zeldas are Twilight Princess, A Link to the Past, and Wind Waker. The Gamecube was the best Zelda console.

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