The Hylia was originally known as Zelda Headquarters 2, or ZHQ2 for short, and was founded in March of 2003 by Mike "TSA" Damiani. The original site was dedicated to The Legend of Zelda series and was merely a fan site. In October of 2005, TSA and Martin "mdta" Anderson partnered together and created The Hylia in order to break with the Zelda Headquarters name (which was originally associated with the famed Zelda Headquarters, or ZHQ, founded by Niels T. Hoof't in 1995) and to breath fresh life into the site.

Initially, The Hylia was dedicated to being a more hardcore Zelda fan site, focusing on a private community and dedicated to advanced gameplay tactics (ie Speedrunning). Within a few months, TSA quickly realized the format was too niche and altered the concept to be more focused on an open community and more news oriented. In 2005, The Hylia permanently changed direction and began to focus solely on news, media and editorials related to The Legend of Zelda series.

After E3 2005, TSA realized the increased demand for more news and media oriented sites, as well as the growing trend of fans becoming more dedicated to multiple series rather than just one (which was a staple of older fan sites). Many Zelda fans were into much more than just Zelda, and additionally, the rise in blogs gave rise to popular gaming sites like Kotaku, Joystiq and GoNintendo. Though it would be impossible to create a media giant like IGN or 1UP.com, TSA decided to shift his site's focus from solely Zelda related content to a broader context.

In late September of 2006, TSA, Fury Three, Jason "JC" Christensen and PikminLink joined together to recreate The Hylia into something more mainstream and Nintendo oriented. The site underwent drastic changes, ditching the static style of an HTML page and exchanging it for a more blog-style, dynamic news website. Over about two months, Fury Three and PikminLink designed and coded the new version of the site, while TSA and JC began to update the site with not just Zelda news, but Nintendo and other console news as it related to Nintendo.

In late October 2006, The Hylia re-launched with a new, Zelda themed design, but focusing on Nintendo news, with a speciality for Zelda content. Several new staff members were added to help the message boards, as well as a few new writers to keep the content updated frequently. The Hylia strives to not only deliver news and media to the fans in the fastest and best way possible, but to also respect the other sites out there in order to foster a competitive, yet honorable gaming news community that ultimately benefitted the fans.

Lastly, The Hylia strives to be a stepping stone for those who wish to break into the gaming industry, attempting to setup staff and fans with contacts in the industry so that they have a better chance of getting their foot in the door. It is our goal to one day be among the most respected gaming news sites around. Perhaps the site can also be a testament that even with a mere fan site, anyone with the ambition and drive can one day build their website into something much more, something that can affect the community and the industry.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your stay.

- The Hylia Staff