The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia

Originally released in Japan as a tie in for 'Skyward Sword' and the 25th anniversary of the first Zelda game, 'The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia', is a gorgeous 276-page art book and covers the complete history of Hyrule. The book is already a best-seller even before its release due to pre-orders that sent it to the #1 spot on Amazon's sales chart, unseating '50 Shades of Grey'. As this was originally a tie in with 'Skyward Sword', there is of course, quite a lot of coverage from that. And I do mean, quite a lot! Lots of concept art and character designs from the game, even on some of the supplemental characters! The section of most interest to Zelda fans has to be 'The History Of Hyrule: A Chronology'; a complete history of the official The Legend Of Zelda timeline! Right from the beginning when the goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore created the world and left behind the Triforce, to the first game (but last game to be released) in the timeline 'Skyward Sword', all the way through until 'Ocarina Of Time'. After 'Ocarina' it does get a bit complicated though as the timeline then fractures into three! But it is well worth following as it is all very detailed. The next section documents 25 years of artwork, with never-before-seen original sketches and illustrations from all the games and gives an interesting insight into the character designs from the series. A special treat is the 32 page bonus 'Skyward Sword' manga by Akira Himekawa, actually based on the game, so probably only read it if you've played the game itself! So, is this tome worth getting? A very big YES if you're a fan of the series as it's all very in depth and very well put together! A welcome addition to any Zelda geek's bookshelf!

This book of The Legend of Zelda “ Art and character development is beautiful to behold. Too much eye candy to cover. It’s hardback and wonderful to just journey through.

Zelda is one of the greatest video game series of all time with countless entries over several systems yet one thing has remained a big mystery, the timeline! Easily the biggest thing about this book is the timeline that finally places all the mainstream games in order and finally put to bed the theories made up by fans. While it may have raised a few eyebrows at the time and some still refuse to accept it even today it has answered a question that needed an answer for a long time. While I personally don’t like the three split part as it raises more questions it is now official, so that’s that! So with that aside, the rest of the book contains a good in-depth history of each games story and lore with facts about each one. This is especially interesting to read for the earlier entries in the series as most of their stories are quite vague at best and this book helps to expand on them. It should also be noted that it works them into the timeline so somethings are changed a little to help them fit better. Even if you think you know all there is to know about the lore from the games you will find something of interest in this book. At the back of this book it also has a Skyward Sword comic that acts as a prequel to the game. While it is my least favourite game in the series it is still an interesting read. This book is simply put one of the greatest gaming books ever made and a Zelda fans dream come true. Worth every penny.

Opening this book is like opening a treasure chest in one of the Zelda games: dunununununununununununununununu...da da da...DAH!!! If you're a fan of The Legend of Zelda, you simply must have it. There is no doubt that you'll love it. If not for the hundreds of brilliant works of art that it contains, you should get it because it explains, in detail, the entire, previously confusing chronology of the series that fans have been puzzling over for the last two decades or so. It's set out in three sections: first is a huge amount of concept art from the development of the latest game, Skyward Sword, complete with cut characters, loads of different designs for the characters who did make it into the game (like Fi and Ghirahim), and interesting developers' notes to go with each picture. The second section is the history of the fictional world of Hyrule, which details all the events that have taken place in the series so far, sorting them into different eras and providing connections between games with a few little revelations (such as confirming the identity of the Hero's Shade from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess). The history was my favourite part to read, and there's so much of it that I've still not read through it all. The third section gives us some very interesting concept designs from all of the previous games in the series, once again, complete with redesigns and notes. Finally, in an extra section at the very back of the book is a new Zelda manga, which acts as a prequel to the story of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It's an enjoyable read, and the artwork is fantastic. A warning, though: you should make sure you've finished the story of Skyward Sword before reading the chronology and the manga, because they might contain some spoilers.

The Legend of Zelda is probably my favourite video game series ever. The games provided me with some of my most seminal video gaming moments, whether it was waking the Windfish in Links Awakening (my first Zelda game) or the sheer majesty of Ocarina of Time these games have always connected with me. When I saw this book on Amazon it was a no brainer I had to have it not just as a fan of the series but as a fan of the thought processes and art and design that goes into a video game. The book is quite large and very attractive with its green and gold cover and when you open it up and look at the pages you will see its money very well spent. Inside it covers all the games in the series so far with diagrams and sketches made during production complete with notes on ideas or changes as well as comments by the developers. These sketches include the various designs of main characters like Link and Zelda through the years as well as enemies, NPC's, environments and items. A large number of pages are dedicated to Skyward Sword and the more recent Zelda's but I half expected this when ordering, there are still bits and pieces from the earlier titles. Another great feature of this book is that it gives the complete chronological time line of the games, with branching paths depending on key moments. This is then followed by a detailed linking of all the games key events and stories. Finally to put the cherry on a very sweet cake there is a Skyward Sword prequel Manga comic at the back, which is a very nice lead up to the game. In closing if you are a fan of the Zelda series this is definitely worth considering. Just going through it has inspired me to play through Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and the other titles and also reminded me that sometimes the best stories are the simple ones of a princess in peril and a young hero.

I pre-ordered this before christmas (why it wasn't released in time for xmas I still don't know but thats by the by) and it arrived this weekend and I can say the worth was absolutely worth it! Firstly its a really well put together book. It feels very weighty and the hardback cover makes you feel like you're holding onto something special. Upon opening up the book the wonder of 25 years of The Legend of Zelda is presented with glorious art work, incredibly interesting anecdotes and, for all the fans who have speculated all these years, at last Nintendo give us the official timeline (controversial as it may be!) Split into three parts you have a detailed making of Skyward Sword, the accepted first game in the timeline. Then the official timeline before a third part looking at the art work, concepts and stories that went into making the rest of the legendary game series from the '87 original through to Skyward Sword. If I was going to be picky about something I would say it would of been great to know more detail about some of the other games rather than so much dedicated to Skyward Sword but its a small niggle. This is lovingly put together, full of amazing illustrations and a treat for any Zelda fan this is a must for your collection.

Absolutely lovely, the book is amazingly well made and has some beautiful artwork and insight into the creation of the games. I must admit, I'm not a long term Zelda fan, having only gotten into the franchise with the recent Ocarina of Time for the 3DS, but I quickly developed a deep love for the series. I can say, as a new fan, that this book is perfect for novice or hardcore fans alike! A heartfelt introduction from Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the franchise, tells of the development of the concept of the games, which is then followed by a list of the games in terms of what console they were released for and what year they were released in. The next section, spanning around 53 pages, is the artwork for Skyward Sword, with brilliant images including concept art alongside the official art. This really gives an impression into the amount of detail these designers go into when coming up with concepts of the character, and it's interesting to see how the various elements of multiple suggested designs have gone into the completed design. While some of the images could be made a bit larger, this section of art is brilliant to look at and makes the reader appreciate smaller aspects within the game a lot more! The second section is the chronological timeline of the series as a whole, putting each game into order regarding the events which transpire in the Zelda universe. This official explanation has been widely anticipated, and in this book it is pulled off excellently. Spanning 67 pages, this section summarizes the plotline of every Zelda game up to Skyward Sword. It also includes interesting side notes about the series, including the Hylian alphabets, which are pretty fun to read. Next is the collection of art over the 25 years of the franchise. Detailing the design process of the evolving generations of the series, this section, again, is filled with really interesting pieces which make you appreciate game design even more. It then goes on to show, with images, each Zelda game which had ever been released, alongside its respective console with text regarding it's release. I'd imagine some older fans would especially appreciate this and reflect with warm nostalgia. The fourth, and final area, after an outroduction (Probably not a real word but I'm going to use it anyway) Eiji Aonuma, the series producer, is a manga which answers why Link is the hero of every Zelda game despite years passing between each game. While primarily being in black and white, there are a few colour pages which are marvelous to behold! From a glance, you can tell the book is high quality with a lot of attention and care to detail. The gold finish on the cover and the designs of the edging on it, the beautifully printed artwork and, this may sound saft, the glossy heaviness of the paper on which the whole thing's printed on. It's surprising this book did not cost more! The notes on the designs in this book have been translated from the original Japanese to English, which must have taken a huge amount of time and effort which really blows me away. So why give it four stars over five? From an aesthetic point of view, this book is stunning. The Dark Horse logo on the spine, admittedly, takes something away from the elegant look of the cover, but it's a very small detail, and, as mentioned previously, some of the concept art could do with enlarging. But, the main flaw is that it is seemingly trying to shove Skyward Sword down your throat. It seems to, at multiple opportunities, advertise Skyward Sword and tries to convince you that you simply must have this game to understand the storyline, which simply isn't necessary as a fan would've already unflinchingly invested in it. I know I sure did. Also, please be warned that if you wanted a book detailing the history of the Zelda universe, while it's in here, it is only one area, where the rest of the book focuses on art and game design. It seems to be more of an art book than a chronicle. That said, I can say with confidence that this book is prefect for any Legend of Zelda fan, be you a relatively new player like me or a diehard fan from the 80's.

Was not disappointed