The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia

Hyrule Historia is an absolute must-have for any Legend of Zelda fan. This beautifully designed hardcover book offers an in-depth look at the history of the beloved Zelda series, with rich artwork, detailed lore, and fascinating insights into the creation of the games. It’s a treasure trove of information, covering everything from the original Zelda to the more recent titles in the series. The concept art and behind-the-scenes details are incredible, giving readers a deeper appreciation for the stunning visuals and thoughtful design that have shaped the world of Hyrule. The book also includes a timeline, which is a great addition for those trying to make sense of the series’ often complex chronology. The timeline itself is a fantastic resource, and its inclusion adds a layer of depth to the Zelda universe that fans will love to explore. Additionally, the book contains interviews with the creators and never-before-seen sketches, which are fascinating for anyone interested in the development process of the games. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to the series, Hyrule Historia is the ultimate companion to the Zelda games and offers a deep dive into the rich legacy of the franchise. Overall, Hyrule Historia is an essential addition to any fan’s collection. It’s informative, visually stunning, and a wonderful celebration of the Legend of Zelda series. Highly recommended for anyone who loves this iconic franchise!

This book truly does justice to The Legend of Zelda franchise. Honestly it is much wider and thicker then I expect it to be. It is, a little wider than the Japanese version, so Dark Horse can translate the art footnotes in an easier to read format, but I'll touch on that later. Beginning the book is an introduction from famed creator of many Nintendo franchise, including The Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto! From there, the book is separated into three sections, "The Legend Begins" which contains plenty of concept art and character designs from Skyward Sword, "The History of Hyrule" which includes the official series timeline, and an in depth and detailed of important plotlines and sections of each game and how they fit into the timeline, and finally, the "Creative Footprints" section, which includes concept art and character designs for the rest of the Zelda games, from the first Zelda to Spirit Tracks (Skyward Sword is already thoroughly covered in "The Legend Begins" section, there is no more artwork for the game in this section). There is some nice little extra sections, one titled "Changes in Character Design" and one tilted "Game Catalog". They are nice, short little sections that I won't spoil for you. Ending the book is a 32 page manga from Akira Himekawa, the creator of the other The Legend of Zelda mangas, along with a nice closing message from Eiji Aounuma, a very important director and producer of the Legend of Zelda series from Ocarina of Time and up. This book is certainly packed to the brim with concept art, storylines, and interesting tidbits of the series. For $20 on Amazon, or even for it's $34.99 MSRP, you are getting more then your moneys worth. All of this plethora of content is wrapped in a very organized and pretty package. The presentation, especially for the money, is top notch. The cover itself is outstanding, with the gold foil lettering and Gate of Time symbol brillantly standing out on an equally brilliant green background. The pages are of a pretty good quality, making the art very clear and colorful, and are just an absolute pleasure to look at. Back onto the topic of the art footnotes, Dark Horse has done an excellent job translating them. Not only that, the fonts used are very crisp, clear and easy to read, making the bigger size of the book worth it. They may not be the unchanged handwritten footnotes of the Japanese version of the book, but it's a small sacrifice to actually be able to understand and read them easily. Also, there has been some concerns that increasing the size of the book would stretch some of the art. I, for one, haven't noticed any stretched images, although I don't have the Japanese book to accurately compare. Anyways, the background of each page looks browned, making it feel like you are reading through an ancient tome pulled right out of a Hylian library. It's little touches like these that makes the book such a special and pleasurable read. The quality of this book, once again, exceeds the price you pay for it. Let's dig a little more into the sections, the meat of the book. The first and third section, "The Legend Begins" and "Creative Footprints" contain beautiful artwork from each main game in the series. There is plenty of sketches, colored drawings, and paintings of various concept art found in each game, as well as for character designs, including some different character designs that haven't even made it into the game! An example, Fi has some pretty cool designs, including, but not limited too, a purple ninja design, a more bell shaped design, and even a heavily armored "Iron Man" design! It's nice to see these early, discarded ideas for some of the characters in the series, as it shows you just what really went into making these characters, their personalities, and functions so unique. There is this same level of treatment given into the concept art for areas within each game. Early sketches and drawings and the designer notes show the progression of the development process, and what the developers wanted out of each game. It's truly great seeing how these games came to be, and makes you appreciate the games even more! Onto the Second Section of the book "The History of Hyrule". This section contains the official timeline of the series, with later pages elaborating on how each game fits into the timeline. They truly did a great job summarizing key plot points of each game. There is also some extra lore that is placed in between some games. It helps ties the games together in the timeline, without taking anything away from the lore already established. All of this contained into a neatly organized sections, with each page labeled with the "era" and game that pages lore falls into. It is an interesting read that I would recommend anyone to look through, no matter what timeline theory you adhere to. Each section is brilliantly crafted, and filled with plenty of interesting art and information. The extras compliment what is an already excellent book. The presentation is wonderfully done. There aren't really any complaints I have with this book. It is an excellent tribute to The Legend of Zelda, and is worth a look from any ardent Zelda fan, and even worth a look from artists. Whether you are a Zelda fan, an artist, or someone looking for a great gift, you needn't look no futher then the Hyrule Historia.

Dark Horse has put out some pretty amazing graphic collections lately and this is no exception. This is a wonderful item that is well appreciated by an old Zelda fan like myself. The original Legend of Zelda is the game that got me hooked on video games (thanks a lot!) I remember as a kid, thumbing through the comic/story section of the Zelda manual so much that I wore it out! Now, 25 years later, we have one of the most iconic and enduring video game franchises rivaled only by Mario and Final Fantasy for longevity, popularity, and recognition. First of all, this sucker is heavy, nearly 4 pounds. It has nearly 300 pages, and is a pleasantly large 12.3 x 9.5. What this means is that it is a very good size for viewing the art and photography. The pictures are clear and the included drawings and notes are very nicely done. Obviously the artists at Dark Horse have digitally covered and written many notes in English, since it would be tough to have to read Japanese. But it seems they kept the style of even the penmanship close to the Japanese (and I mean the color of ink/pencil, line thickness, cursive notes for when kana was used, etc...). I like the attention to detail, though they could have also included captions under the drawings notating what the characters translate to in English. Still, I'm happy. At least they didn't leave it all in Japanese with no translation! My one complaint (a small one) is that a great deal of content is put aside for Skyward Sword. At times this does read like a commercial for the upcoming game. Granted, the folks at Nintendo want people to know about it (and since this is a translation of the Japanese version - we have to understand that they put it together). I just wanted folks to know. Though I would rather it be included then have it cut thereby reducing the number of pages. I just would have liked a bit more content for the first 3 games. Gladly though, the book designers didn't acknowledge those CD-i Zelda games! For the $21 price tag this is a no brainer. It will probably sell out at some point and go up in price from third party sellers, so get it now! Also a note: My copy came with a plastic wrapping, but there were still several marks and indents from handling and shipping. So if you are going to collect this and read it with plastic gloves and such, then you might want to buy a copy in person somewhere where you can visually inspect the book. It's still in good condition, but not 'Mint' condition. But I don't care since I plan on reading the hell out of this.

Un livre à recommander aux fans de la saga Zelda mais surtout au dessinateurs, étudiants en art en quête d'inspiration pour leurs œuvres. De très belles images parsèment le livre. Les divers concept arts sont variés et bien présentés. La qualité du papier, la grande taille du bouquin permettent de profiter pleinement de l'univers Zelda haut en couleurs. J'ai acheté ce livre en version anglaise car la version française comporte des maladresses de traduction et possèderait moins de pages apparemment (d'après Amazon : 276 pages pour la version anglaise, 200 p. pour la française). Je suis passée par un revendeur. Le livre est arrivé dans les temps mais l'emballage a été négligé. L'ouvrage est donc arrivé avec quelques cicatrices sur la tranche et le dos mais rien de grave. L'intérieur est intacte.

What a treat this infographic type book

Like the Triforce, this Hyrule Historia must be taken together with the other two pieces--the Encyclopedia and Arts & Artifacts books which are part of this series. This is like a Zelda bible--the most essential, comprehensive, beautiful, and interesting thing you can own in your library as a video game fan, a fan of lore, a fan of art, and most importantly, a fan of the Zelda franchise! I loved every bit of it, the quality of the printed art is exquisite, the hardcover feel and triforce-gold print is high quality, the design and layout is excitingly inviting, and the entire package is created beautifully, aesthetically, and thoughtfully--all creating something I absolutely loved! Don't hesitate, and if you are a Zelda fan, buy it now and enjoy reading and looking at the greatest Zelda experience in a book!

En tjock och väl inbunden bok! Jag blev väldigt nöjd! Hade förväntat mej ett billigare och mindre häfte, men detta är en riktigt fin bok!

Ricevuto come regalo di natale, e ne sono rimasto non felice di più, sono un fan della sega e questo volume è un MUST HAVE per come me, che anche avendo solo vent'anni sono appassionato dal fantastico universo creato da Shigeru Miyamoto. Come scritto nel titolo il pacco è arrivato un po' rovinato ma per fortuna il libro non era danneggiato (a mio avviso Amazon deve ancora trovare il modo migliore per spedire libri). la copertina è rigida e testo e logo sono foil (dorate e riflettono la luce), all'interno le pagine sono davvero ben fatte, sono molto spesse cosa che al tatto è molto gradevole, L'albo è completamente in INGLESE ma non serve un madrelingua per capire ciò che c'è scritto. In questo libro comprende tutti i lavori di Akira fino al 2013 ovvero: -the legend of zelda (1986) -zelda II the adventure of link (1987) -the legend of zelda a link to the past (1991) -the legend of zelda link's awakening (1993) -the legend of zelda ocarina of time (1998) -the legend of zelda majora's mask (2000) -the legend of zelda oracle of ages/oracle of season (2001) -the legend of zelda the wind waker (2003) -the legend of zelda the minish cap (2003) -the legend of zelda four sword adventure (2004) -the legend of zelda twilight princess (2006) -the legend of zelda phantom hourglass (2007) -the legend of zelda spirit traks (2009) -the legend of zelda ocarina of time 3D (2011) -the legend of zelda skyward sword (2011) -the legend of zelda the wind waker HD (2013) -the legend of zelda a link beetwen worlds (2013) Tutto questo più un fumetto finale lo abbiamo in circa 240 pagine completamente a colori ed ad una qualità senza pari. Nell'albo è possibile scoprire molti segreti su personaggi, ambientazioni e creatori del gioco, in più ci sono i collegamenti cronologici dei videogiochi e le varie prove e bozze di molti dei principali personaggi tra quali: link, zelda, ganondorf, impa..... poi ci sono i concept art, i prodotti venduti per pubblicizzare il gioco, bozze di paesaggi, prove di colorazione, i vari npc, boss e nemici che è possibile incontrare e molto altro.... In conclusione ci vorrebbe troppo per dirvi cosa è compreso in questo mastodontico omaggio ad una delle saghe videoludiche più famose e amate della storia, e poi voglio lasciare a voi la stessa felicità che ho avuto io mentre sfoglialo le pagine e scoprivo sempre cose nuove. ✔️PRO: -prezzo (su Amazon) -copertina rigida -pagine molto spesse -qualità dei disegni eccellente -contiene davvero molto materiale utile ed interessante ✖️CONTRO: -peccato non esista una versione in italiano