Yesterday we shared a bit of gaming history when we gave you a glimpse at the original Legend of Zelda cartoon show from 1989. It wasn’t bad, just corny. We’re cautiously excited about the Netflix/Nintendo rumor (news?), considering we’ve been so let down by gaming endeavors on the sliver screen in the past.
But that did get us thinking; the Legend of Zelda has been an incredibly popular franchise, and a pop culture phenomenon at times. There are a ton of great fan projects on the web devoted to it, especially in video form. Why not dig some of them up and share?
And so that’s just what we did.
Live Action
As long as there have been video games, there have been people who wanted to see them come to life. From the Super Mario Bros and Halo, to Postal and Doom, live action gaming films aren’t anything new. But they also often aren’t very good. Thankfully, fans have jumped in, and when it comes to Zelda & company they’ve created some of the most interesting videos possible.
In 2008, IGN spoofed everyone by creating a trailer for a Legend of Zelda game as an April Fool’s joke.
Resourceful fans created a full film, titled “The Hero of Time”, that Nintendo tried to shut down. Thankfully, the North (and the Internet) remembers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn1BPYYQw30
Not to be outdone, yet another full-length feature film (that Nintendo tried to squash) squeaked out. Enjoy “The Sage of Darkness” by Skyscape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0OS050Q0g
Filmmakers Corridor Digital created this short film, with nice HD visuals and camera work. “Link’s Shadow” shows us three hunters coming upon Dark Link.
“Secret of the Ruins” by Microbin Films is another short film/trailer, and features some nice CGI skulltulas.
With the Majora’s Mask 3D remake arriving this week, we remember Machinima‘s neat “Skull Kid” short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlyUt0RIGlo
Somewhat Awesome Films created this short, dark, moody version that has Link and Epona approaching a temple.
CK Productions created the following short, “Millennium”, based on a young man, Sean, having visions of Hyrule.
Filmmaker Connor Rentz created this modern retelling of the legend.
Animated Work
The original cartoon painted Link in a sort of college frat boy light, different from what Nintendo probably intended with the game. Subsequent fan works have been far more true to the games, often fully animating whole sections of what was previously just a pixel.
Imagi Animation Studios developed this pitch for a CGI Legend of Zelda film with stylized characters and a very Twilight Princess inspired feel.
Aeipathy Industries has been working on a project that recreates A Link to the Past in animated form.
Artist Ferisae has been creating Legend of Zelda comics for some time now, and fans have taken to turning them into animations, like this one by philsterman10:
Fan projects were alive and well on Newsgrounds, like this comedic take on Link & Zelda by member Granfaloon. In fact, just take a long look through Newsgrounds’ Zelda archive. There are a lot of fan projects there that have some great animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO3oMKuzg9M
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