Hyrule Historia

[JG]

Highly recommended.  You can get a copy on Amazon for about $20.

I disagree a bit with where some of the games fit in the grand timeline of events, but overall its still worth it.

[Moge]

$20? That's slightly cheaper than most of the art books by Udon. Not bad.

Don't want to spoil myself yet since i hear it's really Skyward Sword centric.

[JG]

Its heavier on Skyward Sword than any other, but its got enough of every other game to be worthwhile. Alot of it depends how much concept art and story exists for the game.

Games with huge character design changes like Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess (wolf-form and Midna) are well represented in the art section, while games that don't, like Majora's Mask, only get a few pages.  The more recent games have more art as well: only a few pages of concept art for Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link exist, but there's pages and pages for Skyword Sword, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks.  Its fascinating to read the developer notes on  alot of the art, or see what characters might have looked like had the design team gone a different way (imagine what path the series would have taken had Zelda worn a sci-fi space hunter outfit instead.)

Games that have greater impact on the three timelines also get more pages of the history/story devoted to them. Skyward Sword gets a good bit for being the beginning of the story, Ocarina of Time gets the most for being the branching point of the three timelines, Four Swords gets a lot for introducing Vaati, and the whole Wind Waker-Phantom Hourglass-Spirit Tracks arc gets alot since its the most flushed out of the three alternate history branches (probably becuase its the most recently developed.)  Games that are viewed as having less impact on the overall story (like Link's Awakening) get less history devoted to them.

The last 20 or 30 pages are the first chapter of some 10 chapter Skyword Sword manga, so this makes people think thats its a Skyword Sword book, even though its not.



Now what exactly do you mean by "Don't want to spoil myself yet"?  Have you not played through Skyword Sword yet!?  WTF are you waiting on??

[Rai]

My LCBS had this on the shelf with new release comics a couple months back and I knew I had to have it immediately. Thing is massive and beautiful, and that's before you even get past the cover. I have yet to read it through, but I did read the manga part and it might as well be the plot of another new Zelda game instead of just the Skyward Sword prelude it was supposedly intended to be.

But if you're concerned about spoilers, you probably shouldn't be. It's an art/digest book, so if you're just flipping through you're not going to get the story from a bunch of random images, some of which are concept art that isn't even used in the final product. Even the manga section wouldn't really spoil you since it takes place outside of the game's timeframe and may actually be non-canon as it contradicts the game's actual backstory.

[Moge]

I usually play a bunch of retro/shorter length games before tackling a game i know will take me a few months; shouldn't be too long before i start Skyward Sword

[JG]

Except its been out nearly a year and a half.  No excuses, procrastinator.

[JG]

Nintendo will start selling a new Wii U Deluxe Set starting September 20.  It'll come with the digital version of Hyrule Historia, and an eShop download card for the new Wind Waker HD (two weeks before it hits stores.)  And its got a Zelda themed gamepad, too.

[Moge]

The new Deluxe would be amazing if they actually did some designs on the system or even a new color scheme.

[JG]

But no one buys these funny colored, oddly-decorated consoles.  Nintendo's been playing that game since GameCube, and has only more recently realized to keep things simple with solid colors, and a selection of only two of three to choose from.  MS and Sony are finding out out the hard way lately that these specially colored consoles sell no better than the standard versions.

I would give them props for a entirely gold colored console and gamepad.  The gold colored Wiimote was highly collectible (I managed to get one) and the Club-only gold nunchuk sold out in days (I still want one)