I love the Zelda series, maybe more than any other in existance. I love the gameplay, the characters, the sense of adventure, the writing... Pretty much everything is number one in my books. Two things that annoy me, though, are the terrible, terrible names given to two of the series' installments.
It didn't take long for the franchise to hit it's first naming failure, with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link being, quite possibly, the worst title of all. What can someone unfamiliar with the franchise gleam from this title? Well, they'd see that it's the second game in the Zelda series, and that it's about the adventures of one named Link. That's not a problem. However, if this is The Adventure of Link, then what the heck was the first game, and for that matter, all following iterations in the franchise? The Legend of Zelda: Link's Non-Adventure? The title of Zelda II makes it sound like the first game was not an adventure at all! Nope, The Legend of Zelda was just one huge illusion of adventure.
And now the series lands on the Game Boy for the first time, and does so with a name that's practically a spoiler. Link's Awakening just about gives away the twist ending before the player even opens the box! As we all know by now, Link's Awakening ends with, well, Link's awakening. The whole game was a dream. And what does Nintendo do to keep the ending an absolute mystery until the player reaches it? Slaps it on the front cover of the box. Bravo.
Oh, I love you, The Legend of Zelda, but when your installments falter in the important department of their very name, well, I can't help but notice. Just make sure you don't title the next game "Link Kills Some Monsters" or "Zelda Dies at the End", and maybe I'll forgive you.
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2 comments:
I would totally play "Zelda Dies at the End."
Just saying.
Link's Awakening wasn't a spoiler title for me, it was more like remarking the beginning of something or the awakening of something that wasn't much of importance.
After all the owl at the very first chapters tells you soemthing among the lines of "in order to leave this island you have to wake the Wind Fish", nothing out of ordinary on the Zelda universe all surrounded by semi-gods.
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