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THE LIBRARY

Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.

ZELDA

60 shelves
Twilight Princess American GameCube box art
The Zelda Games Gallery
Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask: both boxes for each, their histories, and the Twilight Princess guides.
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Twilight Princess Japanese Wii box art
The History of Twilight Princess
Built for the GameCube, mirrored for the Wii launch: how the realistic Zelda was made, scored, and sold 8.85 million.
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Ocarina of Time Japanese N64 box art
The History of Ocarina of Time
The first 3D Zelda: Z-targeting, a 32-megabyte cartridge, and a Metacritic 99 no game has passed.
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Majora's Mask Japanese N64 box art
The History of Majora's Mask
A new Zelda in fifteen months on a borrowed engine: three days, 24 masks, and the moon.
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Japanese Zelda Encyclopedia cover
The Japanese Zelda Books
The full library: 109 verified Japanese Zelda books, pictured and documented.
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Twilight Princess Enterbrain Perfect Guide cover
Did Japan get a GameCube guide for Twilight Princess?
No, and the reason is in the sales numbers. The four Japanese guides, explained.
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Japanese Zelda Historia cover
What inspired The Legend of Zelda?
A childhood spent exploring the countryside around Sonobe, in Miyamoto's own telling.
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Twilight Princess Japanese guide cover
Which Japanese Zelda guides were never released in English?
All 32 licensed guides, listed with publisher and year. Not one of them was released in English.
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The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Japanese Nintendo 64 box art
How was the Legend of Zelda's main theme written?
Overnight, as an emergency: Koji Kondo's planned Ravel Bolero arrangement was still under copyright, so he composed the replacement in a single night.
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What is a Wonder Life Special Zelda guide?
Wonder Life Special is Shogakukan's Nintendo Official Guidebook label: the licensed house line for Japanese Zelda guides from 1992 to the Switch era.
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How many Japanese guides did Ocarina of Time get?
Three licensed Japanese books chased Ocarina of Time at launch: the Wonder Life guide, a Dengeki mook, and an encyclopedia that changed publishers.
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Is the Japanese Ocarina of Time guide cover the same as the American?
Same painting, different crop: Japan prints the full Ocarina guide painting with Ganondorf in the storm, while the US Nintendo Power cover cuts it in.
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Why does the Japanese Majora's Mask guide cover look so different?
Japan's Majora's Mask guide cover is an extreme close crop of the mask itself, one huge eye on black, where both American covers show the whole mask.
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How many Japanese guides did Twilight Princess get?
Five Japanese guides cover Twilight Princess: four licensed rivals in early 2007, plus a Wonder Life book for the HD remaster nine years later.
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How many Japanese guides did The Wind Waker get?
Four licensed Japanese guides raced The Wind Waker in early 2003, from a 144 page Nintendo DREAM book to Enterbrain's 432 page Complete volume.
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Browse all 60 Zelda pagesOpen the Wing →

THE FIRST WORD

First word on new listings, plus a subscriber promo code for the eBay store.