Zelda

Oh my gosh this is so terrible. The worst rendition of the Legend of Zelda I've ever seen. I love it so much and want to watch all the way through twice.

It's not exactly the "best" cartoon series but it's not the worst either. It's has some ups and downs but I am fine with that because I did like the idea of the "Zelda world" being in a series and the characters interacting with one another. It's like my childhood dreams come true! It's stories do get repetitive. Princess in trouble, save princess and so on. Some episodes I will admit were decent like the Singing Unicorn. Some good action scenes too! All in all, it wasn't too bad but it's just needed something more creative.

What do you think of when you think of a Zelda game? Do you think of the story of a courageous young boy out on a quest to save the world and Princess Zelda? The amazing and detailed game worlds? Beautifully written plots? The puzzling dungeons? The epic boss battles? The great music? Well, I can guarantee that you'll find absolutely none of that here! This cartoon is nothing like the games we all know, and most of us love. This was originally aired with The Super Mario Bros Super Show! It would be aired on a Friday, when SMBSS was first run, replacing one of the two Mario cartoons usually shown. As a fan of the Zelda series, I was somewhat aware of the show's existence and it's notoriety. 'Surely it can't be that bad?' I thought as I found all 13 episodes on the internet. I thought wrong. By the end of the first episode, I was speechless. It was bad. Then I watched the rest, stupidly thinking this might improve. It didn't. However I did manage to find some good points. The animation is noticeably better than the Mario cartoon. Less errors, continuity, etc. The voice acting was good. They put effort into it. Zelda is a more active character in this well before the games did. She actually fights. It would be a while until we see her pick up a weapon in the games. And have more of a part in the games. So, uh, yeah. Those were the only good things I could think of. I'm surprised I managed to think of any! Now the negatives. Oh, Link! Why did the writers make him so irritating? Here he is portrayed as a selfish, whining idiot who only saves Hyrule from evil so he can get a kiss from Zelda. What happened to the kind, selfless, courageous Link who saves the kingdom of Hyrule from evil because he actually cares?! Even in the first two games, (which this is based off as they were the only Zelda games released at the time this was made) it was established in the game manuals that Link would do anything to protect Hyrule and its people. Plus the writers of this cartoon decided to give Link the most annoying catchphrase ever; the infamous 'Well, excuuuse me Princess!" Next, the plot lines. The games have original, imaginative plotlines. This doesn't. The Zelda games have always had a more serious tone than the Mario games but nope. The writers just made this into a comedy show, like the Mario cartoon. The 'jokes' aren't even funny. I did not laugh once. At least the Mario cartoon made me chuckle a few times. The plots themselves aren't even that good. It's mainly the evil guy Ganon, showing up attempting to steal the Triforce but then our heroes Link and Zelda show up and defeat him. Then Link tries to get a kiss from Zelda, but it fails. Then repeat. Of course, they throw in some inane elements to try and keep it interesting, like one reviewer mentioned that there was an episode where Link had to defend a water park. Hmm. The character Sprite is irritating too. She was completely unnecessary. I'm not sure what her role was in this but she was very annoying and could probably give Navi from Ocarina of Time a run for her money as 'Most Annoying Fairy.' In summary, do not under any circumstances watch this show. Do not waste your time with it. You won't be missing out on anything. I wouldn't make even my worst enemy watch this. There was so much the writers could've done to make this to its full potential but couldn't be bothered to. Play the games instead. They are so much better than this. In fact some of them are regarded as the best video games of all time. And I just remembered that there's also a manga series based on a few of the games. I'm not sure if it's still in print but if you do find it, pick it up as it's pretty good and it's really what this should've been.

I see a few reviews here criticizing this series because it isn't "FaItHfUl tO tHe sToRy oF aLl tHe zEldA gAmEs," but these individuals aren't too bright. You need to keep in mind that when this was aired on TV, there were only two Zelda games in existence: The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda: Link's Adventure. Both of those games contained the most simplistic of plots and little to no story whatsoever. So for the creators of this series to take a couple of 8-bit games and create this animated series, it deserves some applause. Now granted, when you look in hindsight, the writing is pretty bad, the cheesy catchphrases are used way too often to the point that it becomes hilarious, and the trope of Link wanting to kiss Zelda only to have it interrupted each episode does get annoying; however, the sound effects pulled from the game give it an excellent nostalgic feeling. Plus this is a kids show and you can't say that you wouldn't have loved watching this when you were 4 or 5 years old. I mean damn, I remember watching Pokemon every morning before school and loving it, but when I look back at it now I can see all kinds of flaws.

Really repetitive and childish although Len Carlson as Ganon is awesome also some of the redesigns are pretty clever remember this was made when there were only one Zelda games in existence and the graphics were really limited.

How ever me personally I have never really cared for 80s kid shows that much and with some creative plots some which interestingly enough show up in later game series(kinda) there is an evil doppelganger of Zelda similar to the dark reflection of Link(shadow Link,Dark Link in later games) and Link loses his body(similar to how Zelda loses her body in spirit tracks) it's probably all a coincident given that Nintendo did not really favor this series but it is still kinda interesting.

If you decide to watch it wont hurt you but just don't expect a masterpiece.