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Nintendo Confirms Tri Force Heroes’ Place In The Zelda Timeline
Once a source of great mystery and fan speculation, the Zelda timeline has now become official franchise canon following the release of Hyrule Historia, and Nintendo is more than happy to discuss where the assorted games appear – depending on when you ask them.
I spoke with a Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes director Hiromasa Shikata at E3 earlier this year and the first question I asked was where the, at the time, recently announced Tri Force Heroes, sat on the timeline. This was Shikata's response then:
Where does Tri Force Heroes take place in the Zelda timeline?
That’s a tough question. The Zelda timeline is quite complicated if you look at the history of Zelda I think you can see there are three branches. I can’t really designate which one of those branches we’re looking at, but as far as the design itself, it really is Link Between Worlds. But it’s not – as far as a timeframe – before or after. We haven’t really settled on or said that.
Does it take place in the same universe or world as A Link Between Worlds?
Again, with the history of Zelda we have these three parallel worlds. I can’t say which one it’s in at this point.
With the official release of Tri Force Heroes and having had a chance to play through the game (you can find our review here), I asked Shikata, again, where the game takes place in the timeline.
Now that I have completed the game – where does Tri Force Heroes take place in the Zelda timeline?
To be honest, I don’t exactly recall how I answered this question at E3, so my answer may be a bit different, but it does fall in the timeline a few years after A Link Between Worlds. At the beginning of Tri Force Heroes, the character who reads the billboard that says, you know, heroes wanted basically, which you’ve seen if you played the game, make no mistake – that is the hero from Link Between Worlds.
So they are the same hero?
That is correct.
We'll have more from our full interview with Tri Force Heroes director Hiromasa Shikata and Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma in an upcoming issue of the magazine.
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