Gaming Entertainment: The Legend of Zelda Cartoon Series Review · 7:36am Aug 28th, 2019
A new edition of Gaming Entertainment is up and this time we look at the 1989 Zelda cartoon by DIC. Video games in other medias during the late 80s and through most of the 90s has always been among the worst of animation. Not only are they the worst cartoons but terrible from a writing standpoint as both artists and writers screw up the source material. It usually comes down to them being unfamiliar with the product they try to draw and write about. Before any one point this out, yes, back then the NES and the 16-bit games had little narrative with a few exceptions. However, that's not a good excuse to produce a crappy cartoon all because they didn't want to do their research. It's just odd how TV shows and movies transition well into gaming half the time yet the opposite happens when this is the other way around. The reason this is the opposite is due to game developers researching the license they will build the project around. That should tell you the difference between film/TV producers and game developers when it comes to a good gaming narration.
Now, the Zelda cartoon as I think about this was a rarity for a studio to produce as it wasn't popularity compared to Mario. Of course, in the late 80s, both Zelda games sold millions of copies making these titles among Nintendo's long-standing series. That still doesn't compare to the ten million plus copies Super Mario Bros 2 sold during that era. The plot revolves around Link and Zelda along with Sprite (a fairy that tags along) who tries to defend the Triforce of Wisdom from Ganon. Just like in the games, Ganon uses his minors from the underworld to conquering Hyrule as its sole ruler. Yeah, my description sounds boring and an eye roller considering Sprite is the typical side kick in these cartoons. The question we should ask is had the cartoon aged well or something DIC should've stayed away from?
