February 21, 1986: The Legend of Zelda

by Jeffrey Powers @geekazine · Published February 21, 2017 · Updated February 1, 2017

The Legend of Zelda

1986 – The 3rd person action adventure game The Legend of Zelda was released by Nintendo for the Famicon in Japan. There, it was known as “The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda”. Hyrule was the fantasy land the game took place in. In the game, Link was given tasks in ultimate goal to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon.

The game took up the full 128 KB ROM. Passwords had to be written to Famicon’s disk drive. Something that the NES did not have.

The game wasn’t released to the US until August 22, 1987. Nintendo had doubts this game would be well received in the US, therefore they made a gold cartridge casing and had a corner of the box cut away so people could see it. But it was the game that won people’s hearts as by 1988 the Legend of Zelda sold 2 million copies.

Wikazine – Full show notes for February 21

Subcribe to Day In Tech History:

RSS Feed - iTunes - Google Play
Twitter - Facebook

- RSS Bandwidth by Cachefly Get a 14 Day Trial

Be a Part of the Sconnie Geek Nation!

In Wisconsin, friends are called "Sconnies". Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you can be part of the Sconnie Geek Nation through my coverage! By pledging, you join the Geek Sconnie Nation! Plus, you help me cover costs so I can continue the coverage of Gadget tech, music tech, and geek culture through the shows.