February twenty-first marked the fortieth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, an all-time great video game franchise and one of the titans of Nintendo’s intellectual property lineup. Many had hoped Nintendo would do something to mark the occasion, with more optimistic fans predicting game announcements, while other fans simply hoped Nintendo would celebrate the day with social media posts. Sadly, Nintendo did neither, only giving the franchise a passing nod on the Nintendo Today! application.
As many have pointed out, Nintendo has typically waited until the Summer to announce promotions related to Zelda anniversaries, often devoting the early portion of the year to Nintendo’s first big franchise, Super Mario Bros. However, the fortieth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda isn’t just some long-running product that has notched a milestone. Zelda is the franchise that modern gamers have grown up with, those that were born during the re-emergence of the home video games market, when Nintendo basically saved the video game industry with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sure, Super Mario Bros. came with the NES, but The Legend of Zelda was the game that captured hearts and minds, the installment that first delivered on the promise of what video games could be as an art form. That deserves acknowledgement.
The game changed the industry and virtually defined action RPGs. The Legend of Zelda (1986) proved that video games could be something more than mindless entertainment, a way to pass time, or a children’s toy. Visual storytelling, music, and interactive mechanics converged to establish video games as a medium capable of great art, a space for storytelling that would grow beyond anyone’s wildest dreams in the decades to come.
The Legend of Zelda helped Nintendo save the gaming industry and in the process inspired many to pursue a career in creative content and gaming. Don’t believe me? Check out the thousands of social media posts and hashtags from industry insiders and fans during the anniversary that Nintendo ignored. You’ll quickly find that Zelda is more than a gaming franchise—it’s a core memory, an essential part of childhood that empowered countless people to live courageously and to delight in imagination.
As a child of the 1980s, some of my earliest memories are squinting at hand-drawn maps in the dim light of the CRT television, long after my parents had gone to bed, guiding Link through the fantastical land of Hyrule. I’m in my forties now, and getting to watch my own children grow up loving the Zelda franchise moves me deeply. It’s a connection I cherish, one that goes beyond a simple video game. As a child, Link taught me to be brave; and recently my daughter told me the same thing. Great art does that.
Nintendo treated the anniversary as most expected, and perhaps the company will still celebrate the fortieth anniversary later this summer. Indeed, perhaps you’re reading this in the future and Nintendo has already delivered beyond expectations for the important anniversary. But the fact that Nintendo did not do so much as post on social media about the significant milestone for one of its pillar franchises suggests the gaming giant hasn’t fully recognized the impact of the franchise, nor the reality of video games as the art form the medium has become. The Nintendo museum certainly led many to believe the company was headed that direction. But missing the fortieth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda shows the company and the medium still have a ways to go before proper perspective. Painfully, Nintendo felt it important to hold a Nintendo Treehouse Live for Pokémon Poketopia a few days after the Zelda anniversary, but couldn’t offer even a celebratory Zelda image on the Nintendo of America account on X, and that’s a shame.
Whatever else may happen going forward, one thing is certain: Zelda has forever changed the lives of generations of gamers—and no one can ever take that away.
Tell us what you think! Did Nintendo fail to recognize the significance of the fortieth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda? Should they have done something to mark the day? Share your reactions in the comments below or join the conversation on Boss Rush Network’s Discord, Facebook, and Twitter.
Featured Image: Nintendo
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