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Nintendo: Zelda Timeline Exists, Skyward Sword Is Before Ocarina Of Time
Trying to make sense of the Legend of Zelda series' continuity is an exercise in futility, though some people still try. There are occasional references between the games, but Nintendo has shied away from making too many definitive bridges between titles. Would you believe that Nintendo itself claims to have a timeline in mind? And that the upcoming Skyward Sword takes place before the events of Ocarina of Time? Really?
Go Nintendo has posted an excerpt of an interview from Official Nintendo Magazine, in which series veteran Eiji Aonuma says that there's more of a method behind the apparent madness than we might believe.
“Yes, there is a master timeline but it's [a] confidential document! The only people to have access to that document are myself, Mr. Miyamoto, and the director of the title," he reportedly says. "We can't share it with anyone else! I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this, so I am comfortable in releasing this information – this title [Skyward Sword] takes place before Ocarina of Time. If I said that a certain title was ‘the first Zelda game,’ then that means that we can't ever make a title that takes place before that! So for us to add titles to the series, we have to have a way of putting the titles before or after each other.”
Is this level of secrecy even necessary? Surely, Nintendo could just outright say that such and such was the first game in the series, and players would be sophisticated to know that means "so far." Nintendo fans are a forgiving lot. Just spill it already!
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