Hyrule Castle’s Representations

Hyrule Castle might just be the most recognizable single location in a Zelda game. It makes for a rousing start to A Link to the Past and an intense ending to Twilight Princess.

It’s interesting in other games as well. In Ocarina of Time, The Minish Cap, and Spirit Tracks, it helps flesh out the world of Hyrule just a bit more. For the most part, it’s a safehaven or it’s barely seen at all. The Wind Waker’s might just be my favorite; it’s atmospheric and wholly appropriate to that game, with a perfect buildup. It’s a nice hub of sorts to the underwater Hyrule, giving the player an illustration of prior events without explicitly telling too much.

Each version of Hyrule Castle is appropriate to its game, but it’s the ones in A Link to the Past, The Minish Cap (as Dark Hyrule Castle) and Twilight Princess that provide the best example of the castle as a conventional dungeon. All three versions are intimidating and give the player a bit more room to explore. Both are also notable for feeling like full-fledged castles while still boasting good dungeon designs.

I’d love to see Hyrule Castle used as a framing device again–either at the beginning or end of the game–and also given the same ambitious scale it had in both A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess. It’s kind of surprising it’s only been used as a full-fledged dungeon in three games so far, considering how important it is and how successfully it was done in those three games.

What are your favorite representations of Hyrule Castle? Do you have any ideas for how it could be approached differently in the future? Share your thoughts below.