Thursday, December 1, 2016

Hyrule Blog Historia II


This is the 1000th post on Hyrule Blog.

(Disclaimer: This number might not be accurate in the future due to retroactive changes to this blog, e.g. adding some translated reviews or deleting silly posts. But as of now, this is exactly the 1000th post.)

This year in June I was already celebrating the 8th Anniversary of Hyrule Blog, because I felt like doing so right before E3 and there was also a nice total of exactly 888 posts at the time. But both Breath of the Wild and all the Hyrule Warriors - Legends DLC gave us a lot to talk about, so we already accumulated 112 more posts in the meantime.

Seriously? That's a lot!
A lot! A lot!!!


With 1000 posts in total there really is a lot to read on this site, if you ever get bored. But with this post I want to give an overview of the different article series that happened over the course of these 1000 posts. Most of them will be game journals, where I shared my impressions while playing a new Zelda game or replaying old ones. But there were other interesting series as well.

Feature Article Series


  • The Future of Zelda
    This was the name of the first post on Hyrule Blog, which spawned a series of posts about what could be next for Zelda in the upcoming years. This was running until 2012, at times where you couldn't really do anything else but speculate, because nothing much was known about Nintendo's future plans for the Zelda. The years after always gave the Zelda fan community something to look forward to, so the "Future of Zelda" series was put to sleep. But I might return to it after Breath of the Wild...

  • Zelda Year Reviews
    At the end of each year I look at all that's happened for the Zelda franchise and sum it up with a nice graphic. These posts may vary in quality, but right now I'm preparing a good one for 2016.

  • Zelda and Multiplayer
    Long before Tri Force Heroes was a thing, in early 2010 to be exact, I've written a series about the various multiplayer outings of the Zelda games and the frustrations that came with them. It's essentially a cry for Tri Force Heroes, which in the end also didn't do everything right and probably deserves another "Zelda and Multiplayer" entry.

  • Zelda Manga Journey
    I do like Manga & Anime (mostly One Piece, but also some other stuff like Akame ga Kill!), so it was inevitable that I would review the entire Zelda Manga series by Akira Himekawa at some point. This was during the 25th Anniversary in 2011 and nothing much has happened since then, except for the new Twilight Princess manga, which was just released in Germany two weeks ago.

  • Excuse me, Episodes
    Believe it or not, I do enjoy watching the cheesy Animated Series for The Legend of Zelda. And this year, as a countdown to E3 2016, I was having a little fun with each individual episode.

  • Let's Update
    This is a newer series, where I think about, how the newest Zelda games could potentially benefit from getting updates and DLC. This includes improvements over some issues, as well as new features and content.

You might also find some additional highlight posts in my Zelda Articles section, but this has been very loosely labeled and it might be missing a few...


Game Journals

  • Mystic Quest
    This was quite the weird entry to this blog back in 2008, but Mystic Quest (a.k.a. Final Fantasy Adventure or Seiken Densetsu) was one of my favorite Action RPGs and thus one of my favorite games on the GameBoy next to Link's Awakening. I never did beat it back in the day, though, which is why in this series I'm returning to this gem to finally conquer it. That's the only game that hasn't to do with Zelda, which has gotten a journal series on this blog, but I've also occasionally talked about other games that I like in individual postings.

  • BS Zelda Tour
    The Zelda games for the BS-X Super Nintendo add-on are wildly unknown, which is why I made it my mission to bring more attention to them here on Hyrule Blog. I gave detailed insights into all the different episodes with my original "BS Zelda Tour" back in 2009, while also replaying the games with newer and improved versions over the past years, including the dubbed versions of 2016.

  • Spirit Tracks Rail Diary
    Spirit Tracks was the first Zelda game to be released during the run of this blog and it was also the first time, where I blogged about my progress and my impressions while playing the newest Zelda game on a daily basis. It's one of my least favorite Zelda games, but I still had some fun with it back in the day.

  • Replaying the Zelda Games
    In this long-running and probably never-ending series, which essentially started with the 25th Anniversary in 2011, I go through all the Zelda games again and again and share my impressions. Sometimes I try to achieve something new that I have never done before. Sometimes it's just been a while and feels good to return to the games.

  • Four Swords Rounds
    Four Swords was for the longest time the one Zelda game that I couldn't finish, until I managed to finally find someone to play it with me in 2011. Afterwards the Anniversary Edition was also released, which gave me additional access to the game thanks to the new singleplayer mode.

  • Ocarina of Time 3D Quest Log
    The first of many 3D Zelda Remasters was welcomed by me with a series of eight posts, where I go through both the normal game and Master Quest.

  • Skyward Sword Blade Journal
    After Four Swords and Ocarina of Time 3D it was finally time for the big new game, the game of the 25th Anniversary, filled with amazing moments, but also quite some disappointments. My 12 day journey, as well as two Hero Mode entries, can be read in this series.

  • The Wind Waker HD Logbook
    Two years after Skyward Sword we arrived on the Wii U system and are playing the next remaster with The Wind Waker HD. Besides the lack of any new content, it was quite enjoyable. Lots of fun with Miiverse posts and Tingle Bottles!

  • Majora's Mask 3D Daybook
    After skipping both A Link Between Worlds and Hyrule Warriors, because I got review copies for these games roughly one month ahead of release and couldn't talk about them while playing, I finally returned to my journals with yet another remaster. This one is mostly about the changes and sidequests, with a focus on the new fishing feature, where I even made a separate Majora's Mask 3D Fishing Journal.

  • Twilight Princess HD Diaries
    Sadly, after also skipping Tri Force Heroes, because I was too busy playing it with other people, my next journal was again about - you guessed it - a Zelda remaster. In a total of six days I take a look at all the smaller changes that the Wii U version has encountered this year in March. I even plan to return to this series, when I play the new Hero Mode.

  • Hyrule Warriors Impressions
    After Hyrule Warriors was released in 2014, this blog essentially changed from "Hyrule Blog - The Zelda Blog" into "Hyrule Blog - The Hyrule Warriors Blog". There are tons of posts about Hyrule Warriors on this site, where otherwise we wouldn't even be close to the 1000 yet. The above series highlights some of the finer posts, where for the most part I take a look at the various additions that came with Legends and all the DLC this year.

I especially regret not having journals for both A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes, because I really like these games and would love to read my initial thoughts about them. But it can't be helped. I can only try to keep doing this with upcoming games, where Breath of the Wild would be the next target.

Anyway, I hope that with this overview you may find something to browse in the history of 1000 Hyrule Blog Posts. Or feel free to use the archive on the right side to look around. You might discover something interesting.

Off to 1000 more posts!

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