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Nintendo recently reported their quarterly financial results for their first quarter which ended on June 30. The report revealed Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D to be the first 3DS game to reach one million in sales. From the game’s June 16 Japanese debut through the month’s end, Nintendo sold 1.08 million copies of Ocarina of Time 3D. Yesterday, the company said it had sold 4.32 million 3DS units globally, meaning there’s one copy of Ocarina of Time 3D…

long-time-coming super-secret project for launch (pardon the maintenance downtime, by the way).

Nevertheless, I’ve now got pretty much everything we know about Skyward Sword all compiled in one nice, neat

huge article, complete with descriptions of all the items, enemies, characters, and gameplay features we’ve seen so far. There’s a spiffy Table of Contents that you can use to navigate to the stuff you want to read about most (did I mention this article is huge?).

UPDATE 9/15: We’ve now navigated the full article to a new URL, nested as part of our Skyward Sword homepage. Update your bookmarks and get reading if you want to know about all the new items, gameplay features, and trailers cause we have them all in one convenient place.

Origin tales. They’re everywhere in the Zelda series. From the tale of the first generation Princess Zelda in Adventure of Link to the story of the Triforce, the Master Sword, and the rise of Ganon in A Link to the Past, to the retelling of many of these elements in Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and now Skyward Sword, they’re definitely one of the most popular ways the creators connect the games together.

Ocarina of Time explained the origins of one of the most special components of the entire series: Link and his funny green tunic. In that game, Link was raised as an adopted member of the Kokiri tribe of forest children, all of whom “grow up” wearing green clothes. When he became a legendary hero, his tale was passed down through the generations, and young lads took up swords and donned green tunics themselves to emulate his example. But in Skyward Sword we see a Link who predates the one from Ocarina of Time – and he’s wearing the same green tunic.

How can this be? Is Nintendo turning their back on a classic origin tale? What do we know about the hero tunic in Skyward Sword? What could this mean for the poor Kokiri tribe? Jump inside to find out.

Even in the wake of the Nintendo Dream interview in which Eiji Aonuma confirmed that Twilight Princess is “parallel” to The Wind Waker, tons of mysteries remain surrounding how the child ending of Ocarina of Time leads to Ganondorf’s capture and execution. When did Link arrive in the past to have that fateful conversation with Zelda that changed everything? How was Ganondorf apprehended? Did the goddesses really bestow the Triforce of Power upon him? This weekend’s Two Sides to the Story entry gives two of the most well-supported angles on these intensely-debated issues of Zelda lore.

Which conclusion is the true one? We obviously each have our own ideas, so we’ll leave that up to you. We’re just here to present Two Sides to the Story.

In many horror films, sometimes the scariest protagonists are often children. This is very apparent in films such as Children of the Corn, The Shining, The Omen, The Exorcist, Orphan, and even the show iCarly (well, maybe not). The Kokiri are also frightening in their own special way. You just need to look for it. The Kokiri I will be talking about are of course those found in Ocarina of Time , and while they may not be as frightening when Link is a child, its obvious that the seven years after he was sealed away really messed with the Kokiri’s heads.

Hell, we’re not even sure exactly how old each of them are, since you know, they never age. Upon returning to Kokiri forest as an adult you see an entirely different side of these little hell children. First off, they all just sit there…and STARE at you, cause you know, you’re an adult (more or less), and they’ve never seen that shit before. At least, we haven’t….

Jump inside for more.

Over at our YouTube Channel, Caleb has continued to upload parts of the Majora’s Mask Video Walkthrough, and he is now well into Chapter 4 of the guide. Chapter 3 of the guide takes you through the first major dungeon in the game, Woodfall Temple. Chapter 4 on the other hand includes a number of side quests that you can do after completing the Woodfall Temple. You can see the first video in Chapter 3 embedded just above.

Ocarina of Time is my favorite video game. Isn’t just my favorite Zelda game, but, in my opinion, the best video game ever made. There are a lot of different reasons for that, many of which have to do with my original playing experience. Most of my theorizing and general Zelda discussion, one way or another, always come back to this game. You’d be surprised if I told you how much time I’ve devoted to just thinking about the subtle nuances of this game. It’s reached the point where I have this strange sense of ownership over the game, even though I didn’t make it and other fans have very different ideas about it. It doesn’t help that, in order to learn how to screen-write, I wrote a film adaptation of the game. So while, I’ll never be posting that here (not to say it isn’t good), it’s given me an interesting perspective on the characters of the game. I really had to figure them out in order to get them work for the silver screen. What I’m talking about isn’t fan fiction, but character studies.

Kokiri Village is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. When Ocarina of Time first came out, very few other games were stressing story. Since then, story has become a vital part of the gaming experience (not in all games, but certainly the ones within the action-adventure genre). Due to improved gaming technology, developers have been able to better deliver on this front. Looking at games like Twilight Princess we can compare Ordon Village to Kokiri Village and get an idea of what the Ocarina team envisioned for their game, but were unable to accomplish. The Ocarina team was still able to get a lot across to its audience, but there’s still a lot more hidden beneath the surface. Like the story-elements in Ordon Village, the story-elements in Kokiri Village set up Link’s entire character in the game (all the Link’s have distinct personalities from one other; they aren’t the same guy and they aren’t you).

Feeling dirty after reading that title? Oh you Sly dog you. A couple months ago we commenced a giant hiring session for news posters and article writers that went pretty well. We had over 900 applications, and it was a very tough choice narrowing it down to just a handful of people. Some people heard back from me that things were going to go further and it ended there. Others never heard back at all. I made an effort to try and respond to each application but when you have over 900, it’s impossible to really get to them all.  It was actually 938 to be exact. Many of you have grown to love and despise some of our new writers in the way only ZI exists (yay love hate relationship!).

Tom, Erica, Bre – they are practically house hold names already. Others are still feeling there way around their personal lives. Still, the beat must go on and this time around we are hiring for so many different positions it’s getting crazy. So, lets get to it shall we? Hop inside to find information on what we are looking for, how to apply, and how there truly is a position for everyone, even if your only skill set is making a wigwam out of popsicle sticks.

Before I begin, I would like to say that I have heard and read many opinions on different Zelda games being the best Zelda games of the franchise, and they are all very great theories.  This article is just about my own opinions on Majora’s Mask.  This article is not intended to offend any of you.  In all honesty, I love reading everyone’s theories and opinions!  For the longest time, I have always considered Ocarina of Time to be the best Zelda game in the franchise.  However, I have recently been replaying Majora’s Mask and realized that this game was created to be so much better than Ocarina of Time.  In fact, I would really love to see Majora’s Mask re-made.  Read the opinions inside!

For those of you who aren’t aware, Operation Moonfall is a response to Zelda director Eiji Aonuma saying that if there was enough fan support for it, a Majora’s Mask remake on the 3DS is a possibility. Through a Facebook group, numerous emails sent to Nintendo of America, and a petition, Operation Moonfall aims to show Nintendo that there is definitely a strong interest in Majora’s Mask 3D from Zelda fans.

Recently, Zelda Universe user Zorathan received a reply to the email he sent to Nintendo regarding Majora’s Mask 3D. Hit the jump to see what Nintendo of America representative Karla Lerback had to say, as well as more information about the progress of Operation Moonfall.