The Legend of Zelda is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom in order to rescue Princess Zelda from the antagonist, Ganon. During the course of the game, the player (seeing Link from a top-down perspective) navigates throughout the overworld and several dungeons, defeating enemies and uncovering secrets along the way.
The first game of The Legend of Zelda series, it was originally released in Japan as a launch title for the Family Computer Disk System peripheral in 1986. More than a year later, North America and Europe received releases on the Nintendo Entertainment System in cartridge format, being the first home console title to include an internal battery for saving data. This version was later released in Japan in 1994 under the title The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda 1. The game was ported to the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, and is available via the Virtual Console on the Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. It was also as one of 30 games included within the NES Classic system, and is featured debuting among NES Switch Online’s library of titles.
The Legend of Zelda was a bestseller for Nintendo, selling over 6.5 million copies. It is often featured in lists of games considered the greatest or most influential. A much different sequel for the same system, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, was first released in Japan less than a year after its predecessor. Eventually spawning many more successive titles and a number of spin-offs in over 30 years, the series has been established as among Nintendo's most popular and beloved.
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