|
The Legend of Zelda was the first game of the
Legend of Zelda series of
video games, made by
Nintendo under the direction of game creator
Shigeru Miyamoto. It was released on the Japanese
Famicom system in
1985 and its western equivalent the
NES in
1986. The music was composed by
Koji Kondo.
The game is set in the earliest incarnation of the land of
Hyrule and revolves around a young
Hylian named
Link, who must rescue
Princess Zelda from the clasps of the
villain Ganon by collecting eight pieces of an item known as
the
Triforce. The game features a mixture of action, exploration and
puzzles and was very successful commercially. It was unusual in that its
cartridge featured a battery that allowed the player to save his progress
across multiple sessions with the game.
Controversy
The nine labyrinths that a player must traverse to complete the game
each have the shape of an easily recognizable object (eagle, lion's head,
snake, etc.) which make them easier for the astute gamer to navigate. The
third labyrinth has the shape of what appears to
North American audiences as a mirror-image of a
swastika. This shape is actually a "manji", which is a
Buddhist symbol of good fortune. In
Japan, where this game was initially released,
swastikas and similar shapes are relatively benign, which explains why
a symbol so offensive to many Western audiences could be included. In the
United States, there were surprisingly few complaints about the "manji",
but years later, when
Pokemon became popular in the
United States,
Nintendo was forced to alter one of the cards due to complaints
regarding a "manji".
|
