The Minus World ( Japanese : マイナスワールド ) is a glitched level found in the 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. It can be encountered by maneuvering the protagonist, Mario , in a particular way to trick the game into sending him to the wrong area. Players who enter this area are greeted with an endless, looping water level in the original Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge version, while the version released for the Famicom Disk System sends them to a sequence of three different levels; this difference is due to the data being arranged in different ways between the two versions. It gained exposure in part thanks to the magazine Nintendo Power discussing how the glitch is encountered. Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto denied that the addition of the Minus World was intentional, though he later commented that the fact that it does not crash the game could make it count as a game feature.
88-565: The existence and revelation of this glitch led to rumors being spread about further secrets existing in Super Mario Bros. It is recognized as one of the greatest secrets and glitches in video game history, with the term "Minus World" coming to refer to areas in games that exist outside of normal parameters, such as in The Legend of Zelda . Frog Fractions designer Jim Stormdancer cited it as inspiration for making Frog Fractions
176-401: A coming of age motif to identify with, journeying as an ordinary boy strengthened by trials to triumph over great challenges and rise to meet evil. The name of the titular princess came from Zelda Fitzgerald . Miyamoto explained that "Zelda was the wife of famous novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald . She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts, and I liked the sound of her name. So I took
264-477: A flip-screen overhead perspective as he travels the overworld , a large outdoor map with various environments. Link begins the game equipped only with a small shield, but can enter a cave and receive a sword from an old man who advises, " It's dangerous to go alone! Take this. " Throughout the adventure, Link finds and acquires various items that increase his abilities further, including heart containers which increase his life meter; magic rings which decrease
352-557: A blank space. The reason the glitch occurs is because of a misread byte. The Japanese version of the game on the Famicom Disk System has a different result from performing the glitch; instead of looping after Mario reaches the end of the level, it goes through three different levels until players reach the goal and the game ending. The Japanese levels start with an underwater level as well, with floating Princess Peach and Bowser sprites at multiple points. The reason why
440-527: A boy around Kyoto , where he explored nearby fields, woods, and caves, always trying through Zelda games to impart players some sense of that limitless wonder he felt through unknown exploration. According to Miyamoto: "When I was a child, I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to stumble upon it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, stumbling on amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this". The memory of being lost amid
528-534: A feature the NES model did not include. It was used to defeat the large-eared rabbit-like monster Pols Voice by blowing or shouting. The U.S. instruction manual still hints that this enemy "hates loud noise", confusing many into thinking the recorder item could be used to attack (in actuality, it has no effect). The cartridge version made use of the Memory Management Controller chip (specifically
616-630: A few months. As a result of the Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit, the Gawker Network including Kotaku underwent a series of ownership changes after 2016, eventually falling under the G/O Media family in 2019. The new G/O management was more demanding of what content the sites carried, which resulted in a major incident at Deadspin , the network's sports-oriented site, in October 2019 leading to
704-399: A freelance journalist covering local news stories. He worked for Wired from 2010 to 2012, covering video games and related technology. Other freelance work included a weekly column at Joystiq on Japanese role-playing games , and works published at Kill Screen , Edge , Eurogamer , G4TV , GamesRadar , and Paste . Around 2011, Schreier was contacted by Stephen Totilo,
792-619: A game and sent in a warranty card became a member of the Fun Club, whose members got a four-, eight- and eventually 32-page newsletter. Seven hundred copies of the first issue were sent out free of charge, but the number grew as the data bank of names got larger. From the success of magazines in Japan, Nintendo knew that game tips were a valued asset. Players enjoyed the bimonthly newsletter's crossword puzzles and jokes, but game secrets were most valued. The Fun Club drew kids in by offering tips for
880-666: A magical recorder that lets Link teleport to the entrance of any dungeon he has previously cleared. Once Link has collected all eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom from these dungeons, he gains access to a ninth and final dungeon in order to defeat Ganon and rescue Zelda. The game may be completed by traversing any given dungeon on the overworld and is largely flexible to players, although gameplay steadily increases in difficulty, and some rooms can only be passed by using items gained in previous locations. There are dungeons with secret entrances which must be uncovered while freely wandering
968-467: A new arrangement of the overworld theme within one day, which has become an iconic motif echoing throughout continued entries of the series. In February 1986, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda as the launch game for the Family Computer 's new Disk System peripheral, joined by a re-release of Super Mario Bros. , Tennis , Baseball , Golf , Soccer , and Mahjong as part of
SECTION 10
#17327875523921056-518: A news reporter for Kotaku from 2011 to 2020 and was recognized for several investigative stories , particularly on the crunch culture within the industry. In April 2020, Schreier joined the technology focus team at Bloomberg News . Jason Schreier was born on May 10, 1987. He attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University (NYU), graduating with a degree in writing in 2009. Schreier initially worked as
1144-414: A player can begin a more difficult version referred to as the "Second Quest" ( 裏ゼルダ , Ura Zeruda , translated literally to "Other Zelda") , which alters many locations, secrets, and includes entirely distinct dungeons and stronger enemies. Although more difficult "replays" were not unique to Zelda , few games offered completely different levels upon the second playthrough. By starting a new file with
1232-528: A second version of the game, BS Zelda no Densetsu MAP 2 ( BS ゼルダの伝説ＭＡＰ２ ) , was broadcast to the Satellaview as the functional equivalent of the original The Legend of Zelda ' s Second Quest. MAP 2 was rebroadcast only once, in March 1996. Jason Schreier Jason Schreier (born May 10, 1987) is an American journalist and author who primarily covers the video game industry . He worked as
1320-474: A single commercial could reach US$ 5 million, easily four or five times more than most companies spend. One of the first commercials made under Bill White, director of advertising and public relations, was the market introduction for the Legend of Zelda , which received a great deal of attention in the ad industry. In it, a wiry-haired, nerdy guy ( John Kassir ) walks through the dark making goofy noises, yelling out
1408-584: A solitary sequel , many prequels and spin-offs and is one of Nintendo's most popular series. It established important characters and environments of the Zelda universe, including Link , Princess Zelda , Ganon , Impa , and the Triforce as the power that binds Hyrule together. The overworld theme and distinctive "secret found" jingle have appeared in nearly every subsequent Zelda game. The theme has also appeared in various other games featuring references to
1496-484: A special stage inspired by the original Legend of Zelda in the video game Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS. There have also been a few substantially altered versions of the game that have been released as pseudo-sequels, and ura - or gaiden -versions. As part of a promotional advertisement campaign for their charumera ( チャルメラ ) noodles, Myojo Foods Co., Ltd. ( 明星食品 , Myoujou Shokuhin ) released
1584-592: A total of 1.69 million for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. In North America, the game was highly anticipated and topped the video game charts upon release. It became the first NES game to sell over 1 million cartridges in the United States during 1987, increasing to more than 2 million cartridges sold by 1988. It went on to sell 3 million cartridges in the United States by 1990, and eventually 6.51 million copies worldwide. Critics lauded
1672-462: A version of the original The Legend of Zelda in 1986, Zelda no Densetsu: Teikyō Charumera ( ゼルダの伝説 提供 チャルメラ ) . It is one of the rarest video games available on the second-hand collector's market, and copies have sold for over US$ 1,000 . From August 6 to September 2, 1995, Nintendo, in collaboration with the St.GIGA satellite radio network, began broadcasts of a substantially different version of
1760-517: A voice actor narrator, broadcasting live from the St.GIGA studio, would give them plot and gameplay clues. In addition to the SoundLink elements, BS Zelda also featured updated 16-bit graphics, a smaller overworld, and different dungeons. Link was replaced by one of the two Satellaview avatars: a boy wearing a backward baseball cap or a girl with red hair. Between December 30, 1995, and January 6, 1996,
1848-601: A year later, North America and Europe received releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System in cartridge format, being the first home console game to include an internal battery in the US for saving data . This version was later released in Japan in 1994 under the title The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu 1 . The game was ported to the GameCube and Game Boy Advance , and was available via
SECTION 20
#17327875523921936-541: Is an infinite water level, with Screen Rant calling it "every gamer's worst nightmare." GamesRadar+ Justin Towell called it "one of the greatest" video game secrets. According to a game play counselor for Nintendo , the Minus World was one of the most often-requested tricks by callers. The term 'Minus World' has become a term to refer to an area outside of the parameters of the game, with The Escapist identifying
2024-605: Is described in the instruction booklet and during the short prologue which plays after the title screen: The small kingdom of Hyrule is engulfed by chaos when an army led by Ganon , the prince of darkness, invades and steals the Triforce of Power, one part of a magical artifact which alone bestows great strength. In an attempt to prevent him from acquiring the Triforce of Wisdom, Princess Zelda splits it into eight fragments and hides them in secret underground dungeons. Before eventually being kidnapped by Ganon, she commands her nursemaid Impa to find someone courageous enough to save
2112-404: Is going if he is considered inside a block, which can be averted by crouching while jumping into it and, at the exact right moment, pushing left, causing him to be ejected on the other side of the wall. The game then erroneously sets the far-left and far-right Warp Pipes to send him to World -1. When players successfully pull this off, they are presented with a screen reading World –1, and then Mario
2200-408: Is put in a water level that loops the end with the beginning, and as a result, cannot be beaten. It is a copy of the stage, World 7–2, aside from the looping. Despite the appearance and the popular name "Minus World", it is not in fact a negative level number. Rather, the level is identified in the internal memory as "World 36–1", but when it displayed a blank tile is shown, as 36 is the tile number for
2288-584: The Nintendo Switch Online - Nintendo Entertainment System service on September 18, 2018. A special "Living the life of luxury!" edition of the game, which grants players all equipment and extra items at the start of the game, was later added to the service on October 10. In November 2021, Nintendo released a Legend of Zelda edition of the Game & Watch console, similar to the rereleased Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch. This version includes
2376-479: The Super Mario Bros. instance as "one of the first and most classic" examples. Glitches in other games have been referred to as a Minus World, including the first The Legend of Zelda . Frog Fractions and Frog Fractions 2 designer Jim Stormdancer cited moments like the Minus World as his inspiration for creating these games, wanting to "recapture the sense of mystery" these moments evoked. Derek Yu , creator of Spelunky , discussed how he holds nostalgia for
2464-578: The Triforce of Wisdom in order to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon . The player controls Link from a top-down perspective and navigates throughout the overworld and dungeons , collecting weapons, defeating enemies and uncovering secrets along the way. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka , it was originally released in Japan as a launch title for the Family Computer Disk System in February 1986. More than
2552-733: The Virtual Console on the Wii , Nintendo 3DS and Wii U . It was also one of 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition system, and is available on the Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Switch Online service. The Legend of Zelda was a critical and commercial success for Nintendo. The game sold over 6.5 million copies, launched a major franchise, and has been regularly featured in lists of
2640-549: The Zelda series. An arcade system board, called the Triforce, was developed jointly by Namco, Sega, and Nintendo, with the first games appearing in 2002. The name "Triforce" is a reference to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series of games, and symbolized the three companies' involvement in the project. GameSpot featured The Legend of Zelda as one of the 15 most influential games of all time, for being an early example of open world , nonlinear gameplay , and for its introduction of battery backup saving worldwide, to laying
2728-411: The closing credits ). Miyamoto produced the game, and Tezuka wrote the story and script. Much of the programming was done by Toshihiko Nakago of Nintendo's partner SRD. Keiji Terui, a screenwriter who worked on anime shows such as Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball , wrote the backstory for the manual, drawing inspiration from conflicts in medieval Europe . Development began in the fall of 1984, and
Minus World - Misplaced Pages Continue
2816-410: The greatest video games of all time . A sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link , was first released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System less than a year after its predecessor, and numerous additional successors and spinoffs have been released in the decades since its debut. The Legend of Zelda incorporates elements of action , adventure , and role-playing genres. The player controls Link from
2904-837: The "Top 100 Games of All Time" and "The Top 200 Games of All Time" (in 2001 and 2009 respectively), thirteenth in Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s 100th issue listing the "100 Best Games of All Time", fifth in Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s 200th issue listing "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time", seventh in Nintendo Power ' s list of the 200 Best Nintendo Games Ever, 77th in Official Nintendo Magazine ' s 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time and 80th among IGN readers' "Top 99 Games". Zelda
2992-510: The "hefty" price tag of £39 or $ 69 (equivalent to $ 180 in 2023) in the United Kingdom. ACE magazine reviewed the game in 1989, calling it a "role-playing epic" that proves "consoles can be just as good at role-playing games as they are for arcade entertainment" while listing it as one of the top four best games available for the NES (along with Super Mario Bros. , Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Super Mario Bros. 2 ). Zelda
3080-629: The MMC1 model), which could use bank-switching to allow for larger games than had previously been possible, and could also use battery-powered RAM letting players save their data for the first time on the NES. When Nintendo published the game in North America, the packaging design featured a small portion of the box cut away to reveal the unique gold-colored cartridge. In 1988, The Legend of Zelda sold two million copies. Nintendo of America sought to keep its strong base of fans; anyone who purchased
3168-440: The Minus World, calling it an "incredible [piece] of lore for [ Super Mario Bros. ]" while lamenting how modern games lack that kind of mystique. The 2007 video game Super Paper Mario featured an area called The Underwhere, which acts as a purgatory and is called "World −1" by one of its residents, in reference to the glitch. The 2010 video game Super Meat Boy features levels called Minus Warp Zones, which make reference to
3256-559: The NES. Upon release in Europe, Tony Takoushi reviewed the game in British magazine Computer and Video Games and called it a massive arcade adventure packed full of dragons, imprisoned princesses, traps and pitfalls. They said it has "an enormous country to examine" with "dozens of things to collect" along with hidden power-ups and bonuses, while praising the "supreme" playability and the "excellent" graphics and sound, but they criticized
3344-548: The amount of damage Link takes from enemy attacks; and stronger swords which allow Link to inflict more damage to enemies. These items are mainly found in caves scattered throughout the land. Some are easily accessible, while others are hidden beneath obstacles such as rocks, trees, and waterfalls. Defeated enemies sometimes drop items including hearts, which refill the life meter, and Rupees, the in-game currency. Rupees can also be found in hidden treasure caves and are used to buy equipment, information, and ability upgrades. Hidden in
3432-438: The cancellation of Prey 2 that relayed internal communications he had been provided, is believed to have led Bethesda to "blacklist" Kotaku , denying the site any pre-release copies of their games or interviews at trade events since 2015. Schreier and Hello Games founder Sean Murray received death threats after Schreier reported on inside news that the highly anticipated No Man's Sky from Hello Games would be delayed by
3520-588: The case anymore." Shortly after leaving Kotaku , Schreier took a position as reporter at Bloomberg News in April 2020. There, he continued to cover the video game industry and game development. While at Bloomberg , Schreier wrote his second book, Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry , related to the volatility of the video game industry, which was released in May 2021. The book
3608-607: The completed Triforce of Wisdom, he is able to infiltrate Ganon's hideout in Death Mountain , confronting the prince of darkness and destroying him with the Silver Arrow. Obtaining the Triforce of Power from Ganon's ashes, Link returns it and the restored Triforce of Wisdom to the rescued Princess Zelda, and peace returns to Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda was directed and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka (credited as S. Miyahon and Ten Ten respectively in
Minus World - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-467: The development histories of troubled or canceled video games, typically through reporting from anonymized workers. His articles included the stumbling blocks that Bungie overcame for Destiny , for the planned Star Wars game Project Ragtag at Visceral Games that eventually led to the studio's closure, and the difficulties behind Electronic Arts 's and BioWare 's Anthem . Schreier's reporting on Bethesda Softworks , such his 2013 story on
3784-594: The editor-in-chief for the website Kotaku , offering him a position as a full-time news reporter. Kotaku had been founded in 2004 as the video game front under Gawker Media . Schreier accepted the position, which he started around the same time. He was promoted to news editor for the site prior to his departure. Besides standard reporting on video game news, Schreier gained an early reputation at Kotaku for getting stories from developers about their inside processes for various titles. Schreier found common stories of excessive use of " crunch time " by some developers and
3872-464: The extra sound channel provided by the system was utilized for certain sound effects; most notably Link's sword beam at full health, roars and growls of dungeon bosses, and those of defeated enemies. Sound effects had to be altered for the eventual cartridge release version of Zelda which used the Famicom's PCM channel. The game also took advantage of that system's controller having a built-in microphone,
3960-569: The firing of its editor in chief and subsequent quitting of most of the remaining editorial staff. This propagated across the other former Gawker sites, including Kotaku . Schreier left Kotaku in April 2020, specifically identifying issues with G/O Media management and the October 2019 Deadspin issue as his reasons for leaving. Schreier said of his reason for departure, "I’ve been through a lot of cataclysmic shifts because it always felt like, through it all, we were guided by people who always cared about journalism, and unfortunately, I'm not sure that’s
4048-418: The foundations for later action-adventure games like Metroid and role-playing video games like Final Fantasy , while influencing most modern games in general. In 2009, Game Informer called The Legend of Zelda "no less than the greatest game of all time" on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it was "ahead of its time by years if not decades". In 2011, Nintendo celebrated
4136-475: The game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game. Despite this, Miyamoto did not consider Zelda an RPG, but classified Zelda as "a real-time adventure game"; he said he was "not interested in systems where everything in the game is decided by stats and numbers" but what's "important to me is to preserve as much of that "live" feeling as possible" which he said " action games are better suited in conveying" to players. The Legend of Zelda spawned
4224-559: The game is by using an Action Replay . An official re-release was included in 2003's The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the GameCube , and the game was again re-released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 along with its sequel, The Adventure of Link , as part of the Famicom Mini/Classic NES Series . In 2006, it was released on the Wii 's Virtual Console , and a timed demo of the game
4312-402: The game was originally intended to be a launch game for the Famicom Disk System . The development team worked on The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. concurrently, and tried to separate their ideas: Super Mario Bros. was to be linear, where the action occurred in a strict sequence, whereas The Legend of Zelda would be the opposite. In Mario , Miyamoto downplayed the importance of
4400-541: The game's 25th anniversary in a similar vein to the Super Mario Bros. 25th anniversary celebration the previous year. This celebration included a free mailout Club Nintendo offer of the Ocarina of Time soundtrack to owners of the 3DS version of that particular game, the first digital for Nintendo eShop release of Link's Awakening DX , special posters that are mailed out as rewards through Club Nintendo, and
4488-466: The game's five music tracks. He had planned to use Maurice Ravel 's Boléro as the title theme as it perfectly matched its speed. In Japan, music is publicly released over 50 years after the composer's death. But Kondo was forced to change it in November 1985, late in the game's development cycle, after learning that it had only been 47 years and 11 months after Ravel's death. As a result, Kondo wrote
SECTION 50
#17327875523924576-537: The genre. GamesRadar ranked it the third best NES game ever made. The staff praised its "mix of complexity, open world design, and timeless graphics". The Legend of Zelda has continued to receive critical acclaim from modern critics and remains well regarded. It is often featured in lists of games considered the greatest or most influential. In 1995, Flux ranked the game 2nd on its "Top 100 Video Games". It placed first in Game Informer ' s list of
4664-414: The glitch. The Legend of Zelda (video game) The Legend of Zelda , originally released in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu , is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo . The first game of The Legend of Zelda series , it is set in the fantasy land of Hyrule and centers on an elf -like boy named Link , who aims to collect the eight fragments of
4752-504: The glitch. The Minus World was an "incredible phenomenon" and has become well-known over time according to Screen Rant , becoming a part of the video game design lexicon. Siliconera staff called it "legendary," while Game Informer writer Ian Boudreau called it "one of gaming's most famous glitches." Kotaku writer Jason Schreier wrote that it was "seared into video game history." Nintendo Life writer Gavin Lane called it "one of
4840-469: The gold cartridge, full color manual, and fold-out map. In 2016, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted The Legend of Zelda to its World Video Game Hall of Fame . The Legend of Zelda is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern action role-playing video game (RPG) genre. Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points , it had many features in common with RPGs and served as
4928-592: The graphics, storytelling and setting, and gameplay, hailing the latter as groundbreaking. In Japan, Famicom Tsūshin ( Famitsu ) magazine gave it a full score of 5 out of 5 stars, while the first Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards gave Zelda the award for best background music and listed it as the third best Game of the Year (just below Dragon Quest and Gradius ). Upon release in North America, Computer Entertainer called it an "excellent" adventure game that exceeded expectations and said it had "more to offer than
5016-420: The high score in favor of simply completing the game. This concept was carried over to The Legend of Zelda . Miyamoto was also in charge of deciding which concepts were " Zelda ideas" or " Mario ideas". Contrasting with Mario , Zelda was made non-linear and forced the players to think about what they should do next. According to Miyamoto, those in Japan were confused and had trouble finding their way through
5104-478: The kingdom. While wandering the land, the old woman is surrounded by Ganon's henchmen, when a young boy named Link appears and rescues her. Upon hearing Impa's plea, he resolves to save Zelda and sets out to reassemble the scattered fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, with which Ganon can then be defeated. During the course of the tale, Link locates and braves the eight underworld labyrinths, and beyond their defeated guardian monsters retrieves each fragment. With
5192-518: The liberty of using [it] for the very first title". Early Zelda concepts involved technological elements, with microchips for the Triforce made of electronic circuits and a time-traveling hero, another factor of their name relating to the idea of a computer hyper-"link". While the final game and subsequent games in the series follow a more traditional medieval -like sword and sorcery setting, later entries have incorporated some technology-based concepts. Koji Kondo (credited as Konchan) composed
5280-511: The maze of sliding doors in his family's home in Sonobe was recreated in Zelda ' s labyrinthian dungeons . Tezuka finalized the designs for each "level" of dungeons and handed them all to Nakago in December 1985 so he could closely replicate them in the actual game. Nakago ended up using only half of all the dungeon pieces while copying the whole map. Miyamoto said it was good enough, and
5368-492: The more complicated games, especially Zelda , with its hidden rooms, secret keys and passageways. The mailing list grew. By early 1988, there were over 1 million Fun Club members, which led then-Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa to start the Nintendo Power magazine. Since Nintendo did not have many products, it made only a few commercials a year, meaning the quality had to be phenomenal. The budget for
SECTION 60
#17327875523925456-407: The most famous" of Nintendo's glitches. Edge staff discussed how its impact was "purely symbolic and contextual," discussing it as the glitch with the most "lasting influence." They felt that it was so appealing because it was relatively easy to accomplish, suggesting that its early popularity influenced the trend of secret levels. Both Screen Rant and GamesRadar+ made note of the fact that it
5544-442: The multi-path dungeons, and in initial game designs, the player would start with the sword already in their inventory. Rather than merely simplifying matters for players, Miyamoto forced the player to listen to the old man who gives the player their sword, and encouraged interaction among people to share their ideas with each other to find the various hidden secrets, a new form of gaming communication. Relatedly, this concept turned into
5632-444: The name entered as "ZELDA", this mode can instead be accessed without needing to beat the game first. Within the official Zelda Chronology, The Legend of Zelda takes place in an Era called "The Era of Decline", which exists within an alternative reality. In this era, Hyrule has been reduced to a small kingdom where the residents now live in caves, setting the background for The Legend of Zelda . The story of The Legend of Zelda
5720-537: The names of some enemies from the game, and screaming for Zelda. The Legend of Zelda was first re-released in cartridge format for the Famicom in 1994. The cartridge version slightly modified the title screen of the Disk Card version of the game, such that it displayed the number 1 at the end of the title. In 2001, the original game was re-released in the GameCube game Animal Crossing . The only way to unlock
5808-505: The normal exit from the Warp Zone area. So long as players do not lock the screen in position, they can make Mario enter the first Warp Pipe before the "Welcome to Warp Zone!" text is revealed. However, if the glitch is performed carefully, players can make it to the other pipes. The second pipe will lead to world 5, while the third will also lead to the minus world. The console did not have a method to check for collisions between tiles, and
5896-564: The original Legend of Zelda , as well as Zelda II: Adventure of Link , and the Gameboy version of Link's Awakening . The Zelda Game & Watch also includes a modified version of the Game and Watch original, Vermin , with Link replacing Mr. Game and Watch. The Legend of Zelda received highly positive reviews from critics and was a best-seller for Nintendo. Upon release in Japan, it sold 1 million copies on its first day of release, and sold
5984-584: The original The Hyrule Fantasy: Legend of Zelda for a Super Famicom peripheral, the Satellaview —a satellite modem add-on. The game, BS Zelda no Densetsu ( BS ゼルダの伝説 ) , was released for download in four episodic, weekly installments which were rebroadcast at least four times between the game's 1995 premiere and January 1997. BS Zelda was the first Satellaview game to feature a " SoundLink " soundtrack—a streaming audio track through which, every few minutes, players were cautioned to listen carefully as
6072-402: The overworld after acquiring useful items. This freedom allows many ways of progressing through the game. It is possible to reach the final boss without receiving the normally vital sword at its outset. The game world contains 600 separate scenes, with the overworld consisting of over 97 scenes and the underworld consisting of nine multi-scene labyrinths. After initially completing the game,
6160-441: The overworld are entrances to eight large dungeons housing the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom. Each dungeon has a unique maze-like layout of rooms connected by doors and secret passages , often barred by monsters (which must be defeated) or by blocks (which must be moved to gain entrance). Dungeons also contain useful items Link can add to his inventory, such as a boomerang for stunning enemies and retrieving distant items, and
6248-476: The player's poll "Top 30" in Nintendo Power ' s first issue and continued to dominate the list into the early 1990s. The Legend of Zelda was also voted by Nintendo Power readers as the "Best Challenge" in the Nintendo Power Awards '88. The magazine also listed it as the best Nintendo Entertainment System video game ever created, stating that it was fun despite its age and innovated on
6336-406: The root of another series to be developed many years in the future: Miyamoto said that Zelda became the inspiration for Animal Crossing , a game based solely on communication. With The Legend of Zelda , Miyamoto wanted to flesh out the idea of a game "world" even further, giving players a "miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer". He drew his inspiration from his experiences as
6424-582: The system's introduction. It made full use of Disk Card media's advantages over traditional ROM cartridges, with an increased size of 128 kilobytes which would be expensive to produce on cartridge format. Due to the still-limited amount of disk space, all of the text used in the game was from only a single syllabary known as katakana , which under normal circumstances primarily relates more to foreign words which supplement those of traditional Japanese origin as with hiragana and kanji characters. Rather than passwords , rewritable disks saved players' game progress, and
6512-419: The task of checking all points around a tile for possible collision points was too difficult for the console's MOS Technology 6502 . To compensate for this, the designers put boundary boxes around objects and compare a limited number of collision boundaries. Mario's sprite has two points, one on each foot, each detecting his collision with the floor. The game would normally eject Mario in the opposite direction he
6600-562: The team decided to use half of the left-over memory to create the Second Quest. Tezuka also wrote the setting to be a fairytale adventure, taking inspiration from fantasy books such as J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings . The hero "Link" was so named in part to connect players inserted into this world with their interactive role, as something of a blank slate representing their individuality or methods. Designed by Miyamoto as
6688-440: The template for the action role-playing game genre. The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including Crystalis , Soul Blazer , Square 's Seiken Densetsu series, Alundra , and Brave Fencer Musashi . The popularity of
6776-613: The two versions' Minus Worlds differ is due to the North American version using a cartridge and the Japanese version using a disk. Cartridges and disks arrange data in different ways, resulting in the different versions sending the offset the Warp Pipe receives arriving at a different byte in the programming. When Super Mario Bros. creator Shigeru Miyamoto was asked about the Minus World, he denied authorship and said that it
6864-507: The typical hack-and-slash " epics, with "monsters to fight, secret doors to discover, and plenty of frustration" rewarded with new treasures, weapons, experience, places and discoveries. The review also praised the "very appealing" and "beautiful, fairy-tale" quality, the battery backup save feature, the "charming graphics, superb original music, excellent animation, and smooth transitions in scrolling between locations". They called it "an incredibly rich, deep gaming experience that goes far beyond
6952-489: The typical cartridge game" with appeal "to both male and female players" of all ages, making it a "must-have" for every Nintendo owner. Computer Gaming World in 1988 named the game as the best adventure of the year, stating that Zelda had been a "sensational success" in bringing elements of computer action-adventures to consoles. In 1990, the magazine implied that the game was a killer app , causing computer RPG players who had dismissed consoles as "mere arcade toys" to buy
7040-551: The use of excessive overtime over multiple weeks and months to make sure a video game was completed by a target date. While crunch time had been identified before in larger firms from other sources, such as at Rockstar Games , Schreier's reporting identified crunch also tended to persist at smaller studios. In 2017, Schreier wrote a book about the video game creation process titled Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made . In addition to working conditions, Schreier wrote stories on
7128-405: The way he did, while Spelunky creator Derek Yu talked about his nostalgia for Minus World, lamenting a lack of mystique found in modern games. References to the Minus World can be found in both Super Paper Mario and Super Meat Boy . The Minus World is accessed from World 1–2. In order to encounter it, players must exploit a glitch in order to maneuver Mario through the bricks separating
7216-533: Was a New York Times bestseller for non-fiction during the week of May 30. Play Nice , his third book, documenting the history of Blizzard Entertainment , was released in October 2024. Schreier is one of the co-hosts of the podcast Triple Click with former Kotaku co-workers Kirk Hamilton and Maddy Myers. It is hosted on the Maximum Fun network. Schreier lives in the New York City area. He
7304-455: Was inducted into GameSpy ' s Hall of Fame in August 2000 and voted by GameSpy ' s editors as the tenth best game of all time. Editors of the popular Japanese magazine Weekly Famitsu voted the game among the best on the Famicom. In 1997 Next Generation listed the North American release in their "Five Greatest Game Packages of All Time", citing the die-cut hole which revealed
7392-511: Was not intended. When asked later about the Minus World, Miyamoto commented that while it was a glitch, the fact that it does not crash the game makes it a feature as well. Since its discovery, the Minus World has resulted in people believing that Super Mario Bros. designers hid secret levels for skilled players to find. It was featured in the third issue of Nintendo Power , describing it as "an endless water world from which no one has ever escaped." This appearance provided photographic evidence of
7480-450: Was released for the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl , available in the Vault section. All re-releases of the game are virtually identical to the original, though the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Virtual Console versions have been altered slightly to correct several instances of incorrect spelling from the original, most notably in the intro story. A tech demo called Classic Games
7568-531: Was released to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in September 2011, as a part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program, and was later released to the Nintendo 3DS eShop on December 22 in Japan; in 2012, it was released in Europe on April 12 and on July 5 in North America. The version released to the Japanese 3DS Virtual Console was the cartridge version. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch as part of
7656-530: Was reviewed in 1992 by Total! where it received a 78% rating due in great part to mediocre sub-scores for music and graphics. A 1993 review of the game was printed in American magazine Dragon #198 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column, scoring the game 4 out of 5 stars. It was reissued in 1992 as part of Nintendo's "Classic Series" and featured a grey cartridge. The game placed first in
7744-460: Was shown for the Nintendo 3DS at E3 2010 , showcasing more than a dozen classic games using 3D effects, including The Legend of Zelda . Reggie Fils-Aimé , president of Nintendo of America , said that the games were slated for release on the 3DS, including The Legend of Zelda , Mega Man 2 , and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island , using some of the 3DS's features, such as 3D effects, analog control, or camera support. The Legend of Zelda
#391608