The Legend of Zelda Once Had an Animated Series and Here’s Why Nintendo Stopped Making It!

Published 01/25/2023, 12:10 PM EST

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Back in 1989, Nintendo decided to spread the name of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda to every household it could. It made this happen by producing a bunch of Nintendo-themed TV attractions. This included a Super Mario Bros. show and an animated series based on The Legend of Zelda.

Of course, Super Mario Bros. was the main attraction of this show, but Zelda wasn’t very far behind either. Super Mario Bros. ran for around 52 episodes while Zelda ended in a mere 13.

And there was a very noticeable reason for that!

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The Legend of Zelda cartoon was not very faithful to its source!

It is said that the writers of these episodes based on this popular adventure series were happier working on Zelda than Mario. The reason was the fact that there was not much hand-holding in its production.

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Nintendo simply gave the writers a “franchise bible” and pointed at the two released games for reference. As writers were not gamers, they just did some research of their own. And decided to leave the gameplay aspects behind and focus more on the game’s story.

While the series looked pretty identical to the games, there were sound effects and items from the games that made their way into these cartoons. There was not much else here.

All Zelda and Link did in this series were to defend Hyrule castle and the Triforce of wisdom within it. And they were also tasked with taking back Triforce of power from Ganon.

The series mostly focused on Zelda and Link’s “friendship”. And as mentioned above, it was not very representative of the games themselves. Moreover, viewers could often see Link asking Zelda for a “Kiss”. This was very unlike the Link, who usually just shut up and did what he was asked in games.

And maybe this is what made Nintendo decide to just give up on this series. And we’re better for it!

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There might be another attempt incoming!

While Nintendo failed in its attempt once, they might be working on yet another adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. It has been rumored that Illumination and Nintendo are in early talks about making an animated movie on this series.

It is expected that this might happen after the release of the Super Mario Bros. Movie.

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There are many big actors who have shown their interest in playing important roles in this movie. Let us see if it happens anytime soon! Have you ever watched the animated series? What was your thought on it? Share them in the comments below.

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Written by:

Rohit Sejwal

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Originating from Delhi, Rohit Sejwal is an Esports writer at EssentiallySports who has done MSc in filmmaking. Academics aside, he is an Avid Gamer and has been writing about them every now and then. While RPG games are his forte, Soulsborne games are the ones that he cherishes the most.
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Edited by:

Jito Tenson