Opinion
My Christmas tradition – The Legend of Zelda
by Cassie Mammone
40 years The Legend of Zelda – a declaration of imperfect love
13.2.2026
Translation: Eva Francis
Zelda’s been part of my life since I was a teenager. Now, the series is celebrating its 40th anniversary. As I look back on our time together, I wonder if its original magic has been lost in the new games.
It was a fairly ordinary day in the summer of 1994 when I unexpectedly met the love of my life. That afternoon, Patrick, my younger brother’s friend, stood at our front door holding a large box. It wasn’t Patrick who made a lasting impression on me, but what he’d brought with him: his Super Nintendo (SNES) and a pile of game cartridges. That opened up a whole new world for me.
Before that day, I’d been a PC gamer kid and had spent many afternoons playing Commander Keen and Civilisation. But that day, I discovered The Legend of Zelda. When we started playing A Link to the Past, the third game in the series, for the first time, I fell head over heels in love. And I’m still in love.
Taking on the role of the hero Link, rescuing princesses and battling centuries-old evil forces was something completely new to me. I was enchanted by this world full of legends, magic, fantastic creatures, enchanted places and hidden treasures.
My parents wisely limited our playing time to one hour a day, which left me feeling starved. I used to set my alarm clock and get up in the middle of the night to spend a little more time in the kingdom of Hyrule – quietly and alone in the dark living room. The result of my newfound love was a noticeable dip in my performance in school. But it was absolutely worth it.
When I returned the SNES and Zelda to Patrick after a few weeks, I saved up a whole month’s pocket money to buy the official strategy guide for the game so that I could at least browse through it on paper and discover new places on the map.
Source: Debora Pape
This was a long time ago. At that time, the Zelda game series had already been around for eight years. In February 2026, it’s celebrating its 40th birthday. In other words, we grew up together. Over the years, while I finished school, did an apprenticeship and studied at uni, Nintendo introduced new nations and lands in the Kingdom of Hyrule and experimented with new ideas. And The Legend of Zelda was always by my side. Some games in the series made a particular impression on me and deserve a special mention.
The Legend of Zelda’s my life companion
Following the top-down adventure A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time was released in 1998, which felt more mature. The game’s considered a milestone in 3D action-adventure games and an important step towards modern open-world designs. As Link, I loved exploring every corner of Hyrule on foot or on my horse Epona.
Source: Nintendo
Ocarina of Time integrated a range of environmental biomes with different nations on one map and combined all of this with puzzles, dungeons and an epic, linear story. I still find the immersion incredible today, and the ingenious combination of background story, exploration, puzzles and recurring elements such as collectable heart pieces is everything The Legend of Zelda’s about.
Even after that, Nintendo continued to reinvent the series with unusual game mechanics and other ideas, without straying from the original spirit. In The Wind Waker from 2003, a game with a comic-like and, at the time, much-discussed cel-shaded look, Hyrule is covered by a sea and I travel from island to island by boat. Even though I’d have preferred a classic adventure on horseback, I really liked Wind Waker despite – or because of? – its playful, colourful graphics. I thought it was like a three-dimensional implementation of the A Link to the Past look.
Source: Nintendo
In 2006, to my relief, Link, Zelda and Ganondorf returned to a classic adventure on land. Nintendo nailed it with the dark game Twilight Princess and its much more realistic graphics. The huge, beautiful world and emotional story kept me hooked for months. And thanks to the Wii’s revolutionary motion controls, I’d never shot arrows so elegantly before. The trailer alone gives me goosebumps. Unfortunately, Nintendo hasn’t yet released the game for the Switch.
I miss the old magic
I haven’t tried every single Zelda title, but I’ve played all the ones released for TV consoles. I buy a new Nintendo console whenever Link’s next adventure is released – it’s become something of a tradition. And I also did so in 2017 when Breath of the Wild was released on the Switch. Critics consider the game an open-world masterpiece and it offers almost complete freedom to explore and experiment. But although I spent many hours roaming around my beloved Hyrule back then, it didn’t feel quite right anymore.
Source: Debora Pape
A key feature of the older Zelda titles was its item progression: by acquiring weapons and items, I could access previously locked areas of the world. As an example, I needed to get a grappling hook to get across a gorge or a horse to jump over a fence. Despite the large and mostly open world, the gameplay was rather linear and tied to certain progressions. This allowed Nintendo to weave in the backstory very elegantly. As soon as I reached a milestone, the story continued.
In Breath of the Wild and even more so in its successor, Tears of the Kingdom from 2023, Nintendo broke with this tradition. Instead of a large arsenal of different artefacts, I can use a few individual tools to manipulate the environment. While this offers unlimited freedom, it takes away some of the world’s mystical aura.
Yes, the physics gimmicks that both games offer are really fun – you can see one of my attempts in Breath of the Wild in the video – but it’s just not «typical Zelda». I’m just too uncreative (and perhaps too romantic) to build a rolling tank with flamethrower cannons out of scrap metal and magic glue.
As a lover of ancient legends and historic places, I can’t really get excited about DIY aeroplanes and motorbikes in Hyrule. Where once the fate of the world hung on a dramatic story, today I find myself wondering how to outsmart gravity. The high fantasy epic Twilight Princess or the myth-laden A Link to the Past inspired a sense of awe in me that, unfortunately, often gets lost among cogwheels and batteries.
The past is the past
Given the huge success of the two most recent open-world titles, I don’t think Nintendo will return to the more linear formula for The Legend of Zelda. The game series has evolved and matured over time, also thanks to a feature that allows players to share videos of crazy constructions on social media.
My heart will beat faster again as soon as Nintendo continues The Legend of Zelda on the Switch 2. And I’ll buy and love it for sure. But I doubt it’ll evoke the same warm feelings in me as the spinning Triforce triangles and the start screen of A Link to the Past did.
Header image: Debora Pape
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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