Letters
December 9th, 1998
Evan writes: As the final week of waiting is now here, I have to think to myself that it has all been worth it...every second. All the hype, all the previews, all the screenshots, all the movies, rumors, sounds, and questions...it will all come to a close next week, and the video game world will go silent as we all play the game simultaneously. And now what is next? What happens after we beat "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time"? There's no doubt that we will then be playing the game over and over again until we then have the anticipation for the next Zelda. It almost seems as if the wait is just as fun as the game itself...talking and chatting and writing e-mails about it has been so much fun! And now the wait is over, and the game will be in each of our hands next week. As we all put the game into our Nintendo 64, and start to play the best game of all time, we will each ask ourselves the question: "Was the wait worth it?" The answer will be a resounding "YES."
JMK: First of all, I would like to begin by apologizing to all the viewers for not making a Letters section in a while. I realize that Letters are one of the more "fun" updates and that many of you enjoy this section. Things have been kinda' hectic around IZC lately.......... and that, along with the release of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, is the reason there hasn't been a Letters section for the last few weeks. But have no fear, Letters is back and better than ever!! Now that we have that all cleared up, as you have all probably guessed, this first letter was from before Zelda64 was released, but I still wanted to post it because it is a good Letter and deserves to go up. I agree with Evan 100%. All of this talk over the last few months and all of this anticipation has been GREAT!!! Really, it has been LOADS of fun!! Doesn't everyone agree?? I can't recall looking forward to anything as much as the release of Zelda64 in a long time. And, now that it is already out and in my Nintendo 64 deck, I can say that the game was DEFINITELY worth the wait!!! Zelda64 rocks!!!! I tried not to make my expectations for this game too high, so that I would not be disappointed- but I don't think I would be disappointed no matter WHAT I expected!! Look how far Zelda has come since the 8-bit NES days.... it's AMAZING!!! This game whoops some MAJOR butt!!! I am sure that this game is going to set the standard that almost all future Action/RPG games will be judged by, and rightfully so!!! Kudos to Mr. Miyamoto and the Zelda team, you guys have outdone yourselves.... AGAIN!!
Ice: Very true. And these past 3 or so years have not only been loads of fun, they've been LOADS of work! I hope Zelda DX (Game Boy Color) will be easier to cover! And yes, IZC has been inactive the past few weeks, due to Z64, the relaunch, and the death... but we're back!
Dan writes: Hyrule: The Land of Zelda is a great site. And even though it's not mine I think you should cheack it out. It has an interactive story, a fan art section (Dugh!), and a section called "Dark Art" wich is really cool. The URL is http://www.n64gamer.com/hyrule/ Pleae check it out. They update every day except sunday, and It's really COOL! Thanks for considering my second favorite Zelda site! IZC is my first.
JMK: Thanks for sending us the link, I can't wait to check it out! And I'm sure our readers can't wait either! And thanks for putting IZC at the top of your list, makes all the work everyone here at the staff has put in worth the effort!
Ice: Amen. As for Hyrule: The Land of Zelda, it's a pretty decent site. They have a lot of Fan stuff, but they seem to really lack info. I think the webmaster would the world a better service creating a Pokemon site, as he refers to them frequently. The Dark Art usually doesn't have much to do with Zelda, but it's a good site, all in all. Nice interface and a good look. A bunch of original stuff.
Dan writes: Hi Ice, This is Dan. What you have are the Zelda figurine three set. Today at Best Buy and Babbages I saw Link and Ganon action figures! These babies are enormouse compaired to the figuriens. Well, they also have Zelda T-shirts, hats,and bendable keychains. I have only seen the Link bendable Keychain, and I'm not sur if there is a Zelda action figure. Bye
JMK: Although I haven't seen the action figures in person, I have seen them advertised in a few newspapers and stuff like that.... they look pretty cool! I don't think I have seen the keychains though.... anyway, thanks for writing in, things like this are ALWAYS good to know.
Ice: There is only a Link bendable keychain, and no Zelda action figure. The selection for hats and shirts is quite large. I own 4 Zelda T-shirts myself, and even wear them in public! :-)
Illuvitar writes: You are among those who claim there to be three separate Links and Zeldas. Take this little peice of information: Zelda III in LoZ is basically a damsel in distress as in most if not all of the other games (About Z64, we will see tommorrow). Not so in the cartoon; she's just as ferocious as Link. Why the discrepency? I see two possibilities. 1. Your three of each character theory, although correct, is not wholly accurate. There are FOUR Links and Zeldas, not just three! 2. There are errors in the legend. Zelda III is probably fighting right behind Link all the way through Loz and AoL; you just can't see her because Nintendo did not want to fill up their cartriges with extra graphics and wanted to leave it for extra adventure. This is my favorite possibility. This argument could, of course, be used against any one of the peices of evidence to support your theory, but these errors could just as easily be used for your argument. Your call (If there are errors in the legend, even Miyamoto doesn't know what's going on!).
JMK: I don't think Zelda was fighting right behind Link in Zelda 1 and 2, and here is why: In Zelda 1, the whole point of the game (besides recovering the Triforce and saving Hyrule) was to rescue the princess!!! How could she be fighting along with you while you are on your way to SAVE her???! Doesn't make much sense.... And in Zelda 2, you fight to WAKE UP the sleeping princess..... not very easy to fight while you're sleeping... unless you sleepwalk and happen to kick some serious a$$ while you are doing it.... not very likely.... As far as you thinking you might know more about the legend than Mr. Miyamoto... don't kid yourself... he MADE the da*n legend!! If ANYONE knows exactly what takes place in the legend, it is him!!! Thanks for writing in with your opinion though, gives us all something to think about. =]
Ice: I'm not going to comment on the legend very much right now. I need to analyze Zelda 5 a lot more. There is strong evidence in there that totally makes fun of IZC's view of the legend... yes... Zelda 1 and 2 could have gone BEFORE Zelda 3 and 4! Ouch. Dan Owsen agrees to this statement... so.... I'm going to study up a bit and see what I come out with.
Darklake writes: Hi. I think I've written to you before (about emulators) but if not, I just want to say, great site! It's pretty cool! One prob though, In the lower-left corner of the Hyrule adventure, the link is defective. The code word is hard, but it takes you to an error page. Just though you'd like to know!
JMK: I don't think Hyrule has been fully constructed yet, and if it has, Tripod (the server Hyrule was on at the time this letter was written, before the relaunch) TOTALLY sucks!! If I had a rupee for each time Tripod temporarily lost a page and that stupid "404: File not found" screen came up, I'd be richer than Bill Gates!!!! When Hyrule is completed and fully transferred onto 5th.net, I don't think you will have these types of problems anymore. By the way, I do remember you writing in and asking about emulators a while back, and I have some more good news for you: Sometime very soon, a newer version of the ZSNES (the best SNES emulator) will be added to IZC. Keep your eyes peeled for it in an update in the near future!!
Afd gsfd writes: Hey, I love your site, it rocks. But I have noticed that none of the Zelda web sites I have visited, including yours, have the "forgotten" Zelda game. I read about this game in a magazine a long time ago, but I didn't think much of it. If you don't know what I'm talking about here is what I remeber about the article: The game was released on a system that had a short life, I don't remember which, but I'm thinking it was something like the Jaguar or CD-I. It was more adventure than action/RPG like the others have been, similar to The Curse of Monkey Island. It was totaly animated, nothing like the others. It was not really an official game I'm guessing because it was never made a big deal like the others, and the system it was on died rather quickly. If you do know what I'm talking about, please tell me what system it was on or anything more you know about it. Meanwhile I am searching the net for any clues about it, and also going through a stack of old magazines to see if the article was in one of them. Thanks for your time.
JMK: Actually, there were THREE "forgotten" Zelda games for the CD-i. They were called "Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon", "Link: Faces of Evil", and "Zelda's Adventure". They were not created by Mr. Miyamoto (the maker of the GOOD Zelda games) or anyone else at Nintendo. From what I hear, Nintendo sold the rights to Zelda to Philips sometime after Zelda 2, and then bought them back sometime before Zelda 3. These games were covered in more depth (possible emulation, why they didn't do so well, etc.) the November 15th Letters section on this site. There is also a link to a page that tells ALL ABOUT these three games in that section (November 15th). I would re-post the link right here for you and save you the trouble of going into our Letters section and finding it yourself, but last time I posted it, it caused a few little "problems" (see the November 17th Letters page if you want to know what kind of problems), so I would rather not post the link again.... But like I said, go to the November 15th Letters page and everything you are looking for should be right there.
Ice: That's not too confusing, now, is it?
Rocky writes: Okay, one little comment. I bought Zelda64, and yeah, it's a great game, but no one seems to know anything about it. I printed your little game guide with objectives, and it's a real help. Or rather it WOULD be a real help if SOMEONE out there could tell me where to find the things I need, like bomb bags, and how to be able to get more than 99 rupees. I'm totally exasperated with the game, and I feel like I've waisted $60. PLEASE HELP.
JMK: Zelda 64 rules man!! I would NEVER consider this game a waste of my money. One of the fun things about it is that you really have to use your head to figure out the secrets and stuff!! But, a lot of readers have been writing in asking questions about this game (how to get more rupees, how to beat so and so, how to pass temples, how to hold more bombs, how to travel back in time, etc., etc.), and for all of these readers I am going to post the following link.... it will take you to a site that has a few FAQ/Walkthroughs that will answer ALL of your questions..... But please, I urge you, try to figure out everything on your own first, because if you use the walkthrough, it is going to take all the fun of discovering the secrets right out of the game!! The choice is up to you though..... but I think you will regret using a walkthrough...... Well, without anymore delay, and to help all you readers who need help (and, of course, to save us here at IZC the time of answering all your individual questions) here is the link (gulp!): http://www.gamefaqs.c om/console/n64/game/22536.html I sure hope nobody complains about me posting this link. So that there are no complaints, this link goes to part of the Ign.com site, and we here at IZC take NO credit for these FAQ/walkthroughs. Again, I am urging you, think twice before using these walkthroughs!!! Try it own your own first!!
Ice: IZC is working on a VERY detailed walkthrough as we speak, and if I can stop creating Z64 music for awhile, it may be done sooner! As a matter of fact, there's every secret item in the entire game posted right now in the Zelda 64 section! That should tide you over for awhile.
