A Link to the Past

Look: Restored Zelda art shows Hyrule in its epic '80s glory

Nintendo just released some glorious restored art.

by Robin Bea
Nintendo

Nintendo

Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch system is launching in early November. While it’s no Breath of the Wild 2, it’s a nice nostalgia trip for long-time fans.

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Ahead of its release, Nintendo is getting players ready with an unexpected drop of incredible retro Zelda art on a new promotional site.

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The new (Japanese language only) site walks players through the history of the two NES Zelda games and Link’s Awakening, which are playable on the Game & Watch system.

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Along with descriptions of the games’ items, enemies, and stories, the site brings Zelda history to life with in-game graphics and brand-new scans of art from the games’ instruction manuals.

Original drawings of The Legend of Zelda’s enemies — like this Octorok — are one of the site’s highlights.

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Before they chilled out in recent games, Zoras were an absolute pain in the original with a creepy design to match.

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And who could forget Link’s classic nemesis: blue vole with a boomerang?

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While you’re admiring the art, you can even click around the site to play with the background graphics.

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The Legend of Zelda 2 doesn’t get much love, but its manual was packed with killer illustrations, like this map of Hyrule.

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Its story is explained with illustrated panels from a much better, imaginary version of the Zelda cartoon.

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Nintendo

The enemies in The Adventure of Link are brought to life in illustrations at least as creepy as evocative as those from the first game.

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Here’s an Octorok looking way more menacing than before.

Even the boomerang voles got a glow up for the sequel.

Link, unfortunately, comes off like a major dork.

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Sorry, bud.

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Nintendo

Instead of enemy illustrations, the Link’s Awakening site features action shots of Link showing off some essential adventuring skills.

Archery!
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Tackling!
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Ruining shopkeepers’ lives!
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If you have any interest in The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo’s new site is worth checking out.

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Whether you’re revisiting The Legend of Zelda or exploring it for the first time, seeing this retro art made new again is a treat for fans.