I highly doubt many people reading this article actually played the original Japanese version of this game. I'm not talking about the re-releases on GCN or GBA (or the Famicom for you Japanese readers). I mean the original disk - that yellow floppy disk with a Side A and Side B. If you own one of these things, consider yourself lucky - especially if it is intact with the plastic casing, manual and sleeve. If you still have the ability to play this gem on a Famicom Disk System or clone, then I envy you. For the rest of us, there are just memories and the re-releases.

Silver Arrow for the win.

The Legend of Zelda didn't come out to much fanfare in Japan. However, it quickly became the most inquired about title in the Land of the Rising Sun, with sales increasing steadily each week - something apparent of a good game getting good word-of-mouth hype. Around this time, Nintendo of America, Inc., had finished its move to Redmond, Wash., and was into the full scale launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States. Super Mario Bros. became an instant classic, moving systems off the shelf. However, Miyamoto's second masterpiece was almost never released outside of Japan.

Hiroshi Yamauchi did not believe The Legend of Zelda would sell well in the United States. He thought the game was "too complicated" for our culture, but Nintendo of America staff had gotten a copy of the Japanese game and they were addicted. Nintendo began to push two products in the United States in preparation for The Legend of Zelda - Nintendo Fun Club Magazine and the Nintendo Power Hotline. Additionally, the "Players Guide" was born when Nintendo also unveiled the Tips and Tactics Guide for the game to accompany the launch.

A massive marketing campaign was also launched stateside in preparation for the game's release. You may recall the infamous commercials featuring the two kids talking about Zelda in the newest issue of Nintendo Fun Club, or the one guy running around a dark room screaming Zelda's name. But the biggest, and perhaps most successful in history, marketing ploy was unleashed - a "gold" cartridge. The original prints of the game were on gold-painted (the same material your childhood trophies are covered in) cartridges, no doubt attracting droves of children, teens and adults alike with a sweet tooth for "pretty" things.

Yet, twenty years later, after Zelda is well established and everyone knows the classic game, it's a bit sad to realize how far its come. How old some of us are that grew up on the original game. In the wake of the original game and its sequel, we were blitzed with "Zelda" and "Nintendo" mania in general, with the Valiant "Nintendo System" Comic series, the DIC cartoons featured on The Super Mario Bros Super Show and Captain N: The Game Master, and the merchandise, the board game, the cereal, the trading cards, etc. Zelda and Nintendo were everywhere. There's even a famous Zelda "pick-up" line used by Fred Savage in The Wizard. Okay, so it isn't famous or a really great pickup line, but he did get a kiss out of it.

Zelda has influenced our lives in many ways. Some of us seek to share our passion through web sites, writing, artwork, music, programming, alternative media, videos, tattoos and yes…even automotive decals. Heck, I'm going to register my car tomorrow and I'm attempting to get "HYRULE" as my license plate tag. We've all found a passion in some respect for the series. We do not all see eye to eye. We don't agree on which games are good, and which are bad. We don't even agree on what order the games come in. Yet, we all respect the game. It all goes back to that little boy in the middle of a field who's blindly asked to save a kingdom, and does so without question or fear.

In the past 20 years, we've seen Link go from overhead to side-scrolling, from Hyrule to lands abroad, from 2D to 3D, from standard graphics to "cel-shaded" rendering, from a young boy into a grown man. Each generation has its own story, their own "legend" of how they became hooked on Zelda. The story has so many pages written in it already, and it will only continue to grow. Here's to another 20 years of Hylian Adventures with our hero Link, and many, many thanks to Shigeru Miyamoto, Koji Kondo, Eiji Aonuma and the rest of the past and present Zelda Team members and international staff who've helped bring Zelda to millions of fans around the world. Finally, many thanks to all the fans who've help build the community into what it is today.

"In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend...
A legend that speaks of...
A valiant youth named Link,
A beautiful princess named Zelda,
A ruthless tyrant named Ganon,
And three sacred triangles known as the Triforce...
Which bind them all together."

Happy 20th Anniversary, The Legend of Zelda! May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!