s gaming franchises go, you’d be hard-pressed to name one as familiar or beloved as the long-running Zelda series. Like the Mario games, Zelda began as a singular vision from gaming superstar Shigeru Miyamoto, and has grown to feel the influence of dozens of creative minds over the years. From the earliest days of Nintendo’s first console, gamers have grown up with the stalwart hero Link. We’ve tramped with him over mountains, sailed the high seas, and galloped on horseback across wide grasslands. His journeys have rarely failed to enthrall even the most jaded of players. With a new full-fledged Zelda adventure on the way, we thought it might be time to take a look back at the roots and history of these beloved games – there might be more to them than you remember.

When Zelda’s first adventure showed up on the NES, it revolutionized what could and should be done in a console video game. Not the least of these innovations was the inclusion of a battery-backed save system, allowing for a continuous story with no need for convoluted passwords. The quintessential players were in place – Link, Zelda, and Gannon (later spelled Ganon). It’s also in this initial entry that we first learned of the legendary Triforce. Upon completion, a new quest including an entirely new set of dungeons was unlocked (or you could cheat and just enter “Zelda” at the naming screen). Interesting fact: Miyamoto’s title for the game came from a fondness he had for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife’s name, Zelda. Who knew?

Link’s sophomore outing is a matter of some contention among those who played it. A drastic departure in gameplay style found Link moving around in largely 2D side-scrolling encounters, as well as passing levels in the style of the more traditional RPGs. Story-wise, this was a direct sequel to the first, and detailed Link’s search for the third part of the mystical artifact, the Triforce of Courage, which would awaken Zelda from a magic-induced sleep. While Ganon was nowhere to be found in-game, the inevitable “Game Overs” you encountered would splash an evil looking red screen of death declaring the return of your former foe. To this day, arguments over this dark horse in the franchise tend to be heated. You either loved it or hated it.

Returning the series to its roots and ushering it into the 16-bit era resulted in an unprecedented masterpiece for the well over four million gamers who tried it on the fledgling SNES. Beyond the expressive graphics, the growth of storytelling kept pace. While the initial enemy seemed to be the wizard Agahnim, a twist in the story revealed not only the real villain as Ganon, but also an eerily mirrored Dark World through which Link would adventure. This formula of parallel dual-worlds was a great triumph of execution – complex puzzles interwove between the two lands in an unforgettable twist of gameplay genius. The journey was so well loved it would be released again years later on the GBA with the addition of Link’s first multiplayer experience – Four Swords. Four Swords introduced the magic-wielding villain Vaati and gave Link the ability to split himself into four versions.

While it was still the Legend of Zelda, the Princess herself was nowhere to be found in Link’s next adventure. Instead, our hero found himself shipwrecked on Koholint Island, where with the help of a sage-like giant owl, he adopted a quest to awaken the mysterious Wind Fish. Despite the absence of many familiar characters, Link’s first foray into the handheld world was just as engrossing as earlier console titles. Gamers also enjoyed the slightly more whimsical approach to storytelling – humor and Nintendo in-jokes were injected throughout the adventure. There were even two characters that looked remarkably like Miyamoto’s other superstars, Mario and Princess Peach (Marin and Tarin). Link’s Awakening would see a re-release five years later on the Game Boy Color, which included a brand new dungeon whose puzzles revolved around color usage.