Map Gallery and New 2400dpi Map Scans and Repairs

I needed to get someone some images for a time-sensitive project they're doing so I've been adding old strategy guide maps to the gallery for Zelda: A Link to the Past. This gallery on Flickr will also have all of the Zelda maps and "world scenes" that I've been able to get to so far. There's some pretty good ones in there already and A LOT more to come. Some of these also need to be cleaned up (like the dungeon maps for LttP) but me, and the ever wonderful and talented Olga, have gotten some of them done. Specifically the overworld. I did the 2 from this "Continental Shobo" guide, and she cleaned up the 2 big maps of the Light World and Dark World from The Zelda Handbook. What she accomplished was an utterly massive amount of work when you realize how many of the buildings and details were nearly completely covered by text and how much detail the seam in the middle needed to be fixed:

By the way, these haven't really been online before. There was one bad set of full-book scans on archive.org that is now missing but no one ever got good images online or cleaned them up. So this is very likely the first time you are seeing them. Give them a look, they're great.

Two new interviews with me about Zelda art and preservation!

These were both really fun! I'm pretty shy but it was nice to continue push myself to be more public. Both cover the same subjects, which makes sense because retro Zelda art and archiving would be what to ask me about, but both still feel vastly different and wonderful. They both had some great questions.


First, this is amazing, I'm in a magazine! I was interviewed for Nintendo Force Magazine, a spiritual successor to Nintendo Power. As someone who is deeply in love with books and other publications this feels utterly surreal. You can purchase digital or physical copies here.

Second is an interview for Tokyo Game Life. This is a beautifully produced podcast from the heart of Japan. You can listen to my interview, and find their other episodes, here. I hope you enjoy it, I'm pretty shy about speaking for recordings so I hope I did alright. It was really fun!

Scans of The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda Dawn Publications Strategy Guide

I just high-res scanned and uploaded another retro guide for the original Legend of Zelda game, find the 1200-2400dpi RAW and lightly cleaned files at this link.

ISBN 4-7508-0521-1 and 9784750805214

Thank you to Mases of ZeldaDungeon.net. He has been making sure these guides are preserved by collecting them all, scanning them, and then also sending them to me for high-resolution archival scans.

Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, ppi, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, Game Guide, Guide, NES, Map, ファミマガ, ファミリーコンピュータ, ファミリーコンピュータ マガジン, Gaming, Nintendo, Retro, Art, Illustrations

Scans of The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda Victory Strategy Guide

I just high-res scanned and uploaded another retro guide for the original Legend of Zelda game, find the 1200-2400dpi RAW and lightly cleaned files at this link.
 

This guide has some of my favorite enemy art done for the series.


ゼルダの伝説 必勝攻略ガイド

ISBN 4-405-06068-1 | C2055

Shinsei Publishing . Nova Publishing

Artist: Shuichi Aikawa . 相川修一


Thank you to Mases of ZeldaDungeon.net. He has been making sure these guides are preserved by collecting them all, scanning them, and then also sending them to me for high-resolution archival scans.


Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, ppi, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, Game Guide, Guide, NES, Map, ファミマガ, ファミリーコンピュータ, ファミリーコンピュータ マガジン, Gaming, Nintendo, Retro, Art, Illustrations

Added the Scan of the Original Painting of the Fairy for Hyrule Fantasy

I finally replaced the old image of this fairy with the utterly amazing and beautiful scan we have thanks to ArtofNP, he also heads the non-profit The Interactive Art Collection:

"Established in 2021, the Interactive Art Collection is a non-profit focused on the discovery, preservation, education, and sharing of original video game art."

This is the original animation Cel painting. It's beyond impossible that this piece of art was saved and made its way to someone who was willing to scan it for all of us. I can't thank Stephan Reese enough for being willing to do things like this. He makes fans dreams come true.

Here's his photo of it in Nintendo Power next to the original:

2400dpi Scans of the 1986 Hyrule Fantasy Bandai Board Game

You can find the high resolution files here and I will be adding more of this higher-res art to the gallery at some point in the future. I just need time away from scanning to clean it all. For now all I have updated is the boss cards. 

I also cleaned up Ganon's boss room and faked a card for him, so we could have a nice little set. Also want to thank JairulNait for scanning Aquamentus, because my set is missing his card. It is at 1200dpi though so, if anyone could get it for me at 2400dpi one day, that would be awesome! (Send me the RAW, if you use the auto adjustments on the scanner sometimes it blows out the colors) melorasworld@gmail.com

2400dpi Scans of the Two-Tone Pages from the Zelda 2 Manga, Volume 1

This is the Monthly Wanpakku issue for March, 1987. I have only scanned the Zelda manga by Ran Maru but if you need info on anything else in the volume, please let me know.

I've been trying really hard to collect the color pages for these since they are incredibly beautiful works of comic art. I am so happy I was able to get this one, which is also the first chapter that starts the Adventure of Link manga after the first volume of Hyrule Fantasy (Zelda 1) manga. 

Before, because the novel is black and white, I thought the sun was just eclipsed. It's awesome to see a blood red sun or moon here. 

There is a translation for this manga if you would like to read it. You can find everything you need at this link.
 

2400dpi Scans of the the Legend of Zelda: The Dreaming Isle Japanese Game Manual

I actually only just bought this because it felt weird to have all of the other ones to scan and not the Link's Awakening one. The first 4 games are kind of my true loves, after all. Anyway, I just finished scanning and uploading this and you can find it here!

Other Keywords: Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, LA Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda, SNES, 600ppi, 1200ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Nintendo, book, videogame, Nintendo Power, Strategy Guide, Game Guide, Player's Guide, Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima, Windfish, Koholint Island, Marin, Link, Tarin, Gamboy, The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, ゼルダの伝説, 夢をみる島, Manual

2400dpi Scans of the the Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods Japanese Game Manual

 

I just high-res scanned and uploaded the Japanese Super Famicom game manual for The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods (aka A Link to the Past.) The 2400dpi RAWs and lightly cleaned files are at this link. 

There are some cool translation comparison tables and notes at this link.

Other Keywords: Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, aLttP, Lttp, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda, SNES, 600ppi, 1200ppi, 2400ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, book, videogame, The Legend of Zelda, ゼルダの伝説, Link to the Past, 神々のトライフォース, Manual

2400dpi Scans of the the Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link Japanese Game Manual

 

I just scanned & uploaded the Japanese Famicom Zelda II Adventure of Link manual at 2400dpi. Find it here.

I'm editing the next one but if you like this then also check out this official AoL guide that's packed full of art not found anywhere else: Family Computer Magazine Special Edition: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Winning Guide

You can also find some great translation comparison tables here.

Other Keywords: Zelda, AoL, Zelda II, Link no Bouken, tLoZ, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Ganon, Triforce, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, Famicom Disk System, videogame, The Legend of Zelda, ゼルダの伝説, The Adventure of Link, リンクの冒険, Manual

2400dpi Scans of the Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda Japanese Game Manual

I just finished scanning the Japanese game manuals for the first 4 Zelda games at 2400dpi & will be editing & uploading them over the next few days. Here's the original's booklet (I'd love to go back & make Hyrule Fantasy stick as the fan-reference name)

Here is a really cool post from Legends of Localization that speaks about all of the details in this and the US manual: Legends of Localization

You can also find some great translation comparison tables here.

My copy is missing 3 stickers, one is the logo and 3 are art of Link that is standard official art. You can see what they are in that Legend of Localization Link

Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Ganon, Triforce, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer Disk System, videogame, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda 1, The Hyrule Fantasy, ゼルダの伝説, Manual

2400dpi Scans of Shogaku Magazine, Grade 3, May 1986, Zelda Manga Appendix

TRANSLATIONS WANTED! If you would like to translate this, please contact me: melorasworld@gmail.com

I made more 2400dpi scans of Zelda content & manga that has never been online before! This is from a detachable appendix in a children's magazine from 1986. The artist is Yukio Sawada of Mario manga fame. It's pretty short but it has some pretty great art. Also, there's a bonus feature on... TURTLES! Find it here.

Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Ganon, Triforce, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, magazine, kids, child, ゲームブック, コミック雑誌, Yukio Sawada 沢田ユキオ / Takahiro Eguchi 江口貴博, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda 1, The Hyrule Fantasy, ゼルダの伝説, Manga, Magazine

Zelda Story Illustration Scans: Shogaku Ichinensei 1992

TRANSLATIONS WANTED! If you would like to translate this, please contact me: melorasworld@gmail.com

These are from some almost impossibly-rare children's magazines and I am so excited to finally be able to see good versions of nearly all of them because the art is incredible. They come from Shogokukan's magazine for 1st graders from 1992 and the Link to the Past feature ran from April to September. They're called "The Legend of Zelda, Link's Great Adventure." The artist is: Junichiro Saito / 斎藤純一郎 and I want to thank fellow fan, Sambyu / 旅人, for helping me so much with information on everything.

These are rare enough that I, personally, only own August at the moment. But Linkabel/AbelMunizJr has been collecting them for a while and was incredibly kind when I asked if I could get some photos of them. And now that they got some time, and a working scanner, they archived them for all of us. 


AbelMunizJr posted these on Twitter saying:

"Here are the scans for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past manga that was featured in Shogaku Ichinensei issues, from 05/1992[sic] to 09/1992. It seems I'm missing one issue, but I'm sure it will eventually surface.

Direct scans here and thread below: https://t.co/SIuZRu6UZc "

Here's what was in each issue:

• April (White Pages)
• May (Blue Pages)
• June
• July (Pink Pages)
• August (Tan Pages)
• September (Lilac Pages)

The Final Volume of the Twilight Princess Manga is Now Available in English!

 

I'm so excited for this. What a wonderful milestone! The final volume of Zelda: Twilight Princess manga by Akira Himekawa is out in English! (April 11, 2023.) There are 11 volumes total. And this only happened because fans & the artists pushed so hard for it for so long. Please support the amazing artists behind it & show publishers its, once again, worth listening to fans!

Thanks to my good friend, om_nom_berries/Louisa of Indie Zelda, for reminding me this was out today. I thought I pre-ordered it, lol, I guess I didn't. You can find it via VIZMedia through Right Stuf Anime or other bookstores

Here is a link to all 11 volumes on sale at TRS for $6.99 each.

(I have been ordering from then since before there was an internet, they're a great business to purchase through and are responsible for keeping a lot of anime from being lost to time.)

Volume 7 was out of stock with them when I last checked, I'm sure it will be back in stock soon, but you can find it on Amazon for $9.99 if you are in a rush.

I also can't lie: I have a little bit of humbled pride right now. I know I'm only a very tiny drop in the bucket but seeing a Twilight Princess Akira Himekawa manga happen was a big goal of mine & I spent a huge amount of time hyping, writing publishers, & pushing for it to exist. It was one of my big early efforts/campaigns. I'm so happy!

I do feel weird bringing that up though, but then, if I don't: then maybe someone wont realize what they could see come to pass if they push through their doubt. If you want artists to be able to work that you know you would love: Push hard to support them in the eyes of fans & publishers!

Never Before Seen Zelda Manga Scans Trying to Predict what Link to the Past Will Be Like

TRANSLATIONS WANTED! If you would like to translate this, please contact me: melorasworld@gmail.com

Here's a small strategy guide Zelda manga that I just scanned that hasn't been online before! It was drawn by Hiroshi Aizawa, who also actually did work for the official Nintendo Player's guides too! It's pretty cool: it's speculating what Link to the Past will be like after Adventure of Link.

Find all 5 pages here. 

It's from this guide and here is the credit's page.

The title translates to something like "Emergency Report Super Famicom"
Published December 25, 1990, size B6 size, 79 pages, by Keibunsha, Magazine code 63550-53

Never Before Seen 2400dpi Zelda Manga Scans from "The Legend of Zelda Handbook"

TRANSLATIONS WANTED! If you would like to translate this, please contact me: melorasworld@gmail.com

This is actually in a strategy guide but, for now, I only have the 16 pages of manga scanned. Which is absolutely beautiful. The guide is The Legend of Zelda Handbook by Keibunsha.

Find the 2400dpi page scans here.

The manga artist is Matsunori Iwamoto | 岩本松徳 who did artwork for the official Nintendo Player's Guides. Specifically animal and item art that is quite detailed and stunning.

The guide was published by Keibunsha, March 28, 1992, 63552-25 / T1063552250889

Scan of Lost Official Art: Pyramid of Power from A Link to the Past

This one blows my mind. That background image, of the Pyramid of Power, absolutely has to be true official art they simply never reproduced anywhere else. Why do I think this? 

In several issues of Famimaga, an official Nintendo Magazine in Japan, they started off the Link to the Past feature each month with one of the other official images. Like Link smiling at the maiden in the crystal. This is the only image from that set that is not in the booklet for the game. And the quality is just as good as the others and the style is so similar to the other animation-style backgrounds. I really have no doubt that this is official but simply stayed on the cutting room floor until someone grabbed it for a filler image for their magazine. It's not like something this high quality was made just for the magazine (and just to be covered up by that other random art.)

Anyway, I'm devastated that we will probably never get to see the full image of this. For all the guides, magazines, and merch I have seen over the years: this is the only place this appears. As far as I know at least. However, if you see it somewhere else, please write me right away and let me know. 

Find the 2400dpi scan here. It is specifically from the 1992 no. 03 issue of Family Computer Magazine

Here are some photos twitter user, Number 20, took to show us (Thank you so much for your help!)

     

Nintendo Power Illustration Credits

Nintendo Power art (top) by Hiroshi Aizawa with art from a guide he did a small manga for (below)

I'm trying to figure out who all of the artist's are. As in: matched with their actual art. This is just going to be a reference sheet for me while I work on this project.

Nintendo Power Volume 1: July-August 1988

• https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Nintendo_Power_V1
• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20001%20July-August%201988/
• Hiroyuki Kurano
• Yoshihiro Onmo
• Keizo Kikushima
• Nobuhiro Ohyo
• Adam Eisenberg
• Izumi Takada
• Osamu Kasai (Gekkosha Co.. Ltd.)
• Ryokuju Tsukamoto
• Atsuko Matsumoto
• Noriko Hasegawa
• Yasuhiro Ohori
• K. Iino (or K. lino)

Nintendo Power Volume 2: September-October 1988

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20002%20September-October%201988/page/n5/mode/2up
• Hiroyuki Kurano
• Fisherman Orimo
• Ani Orimo
• Izumi Takada
• Osamu Kasai
• Leo Tsukamoto
• Etsuko Kuwahara
• Atsuko Matsumoto
• Noriko Hasegawa
• Desu Iwamoto
• Shugi Shugi Jeff

Nintendo Power Volume 3: November-December

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20003%20November-December%201988/page/n3/mode/2up
• Goblin Takagi
• Kaz Aizawa
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Tomoyuki Fukutome
• Orange Nakamura
• Shuji Imai
• Shinichi Hayashi
• Katsuya Terada
• Makikazu Ohmori

Nintendo Power Volume 4: January-February

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20004%20January-February%201989/page/n5/mode/2up
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Goblin Takagi
• Takao Watanabe
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Egu Egu Eguchi
• Tomoyuki Fukutome
• Kazunori lihara (Kazunori Aihara?) (Pokemon artist. Would be funny if he did the AoL map)
• Hiroshi Aizawa (Huh... what if he did the AoL Link and Item art and the LttP Item art. (the line weight and style is the same even if his shading and noses changed...) Look up Bump N Jump on page 80, looks like his style
• Yoshimiru Hoshi and Hideaki Itoh have uncredited work in this issue
• Who did the castle and sword art?
• The dungeon level art
• Who did the enemy art
• Who did the link art on page 14

Nintendo Power Volume 5: March-April

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20005%20March-April%201989/
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Yukio Sawada
• Kazuhiro Kamachi
• Zen Kiyoshi
• Hiroshi Aizawa (Looks exactly like his art on page 23 for Ninja Gaiden, the barbarian, the bomberhead 26, and the little spot illustrations on page 29) Also has the Zelda art though
• Higehige Ohmori
• Who did the castle and sword art?
• The dungeon level art
• Who did the enemy art

Nintendo Power Volume 6: May-June

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20006%20May-June%201989/page/n3/mode/2up
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Hiroko Nagami (Hiro-Con Nagami?)
• Zen Kiyoshi
• Hiroshi Aizawa (Kinda looks like he did the art for Cobra Triangle and definitely Faxanadu: The castle from that matches the castle in his LttP manga. Also looks like he did the art for the TV Link on page 68 and 69)
• Higehige Ohmori
• Tomoyuki Fukutome
• Katsuya Terada
• who did the cute link and zelda on page 21

Nintendo Power Volume 7: July-August

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20007%20July-August%201989/page/n3/mode/2up
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Kazuhiro Kamachi
• Zen Kiyoshi
• Tatsuya Terada (Katsuya Terada)
• Tomoyuki Fukutome

Nintendo Power Volume 8: September-October

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20008%20September-October%201989/
• US Illustration Staff:
• Kaz Aizawa
• Nob-Rin Takagi
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Japanese Illustration Staff:
• Hideaki Ito (Hideaki Itoh)
• Tatsuya Terada (Katsuya Terada) -Dragon Warrior
• Shuji Imai -Dragon Warrior
• Orange Nakamura
• Makikazu Ohmori
• Hiroshi Aizawa -Might have done some of the Fester's Quest enemies, pg 39. Maybe the Bases Loaded II art, pg 85.
• Kazunori Aihara
• Tomoyuki Fukutome
• Poster Art: Hige-Hige Ohmori
• Who did the dragon warrior map
• who did the dragon warrior border
• who did the Willow map art, pg 61, was it Aihara? It actually has some similar tones and I could see how it could bridge the gap between the AoL map and the LA map
• Link art, page 94. Western comic style.

Nintendo Power Volume 9: November-December

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20009%20November-December%201989/page/n3/mode/2up
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Makikazu Ohmori
• Magician Sasaki
• Kazunori Aihara
• Tomoyuki Fukutome 福留朋之 bio COVER ART COVER ART 2
• Poster Art: Tatsuji Kajita
• Whomever did the willow art, pg 9, I feel like they did the AoL castle and sword art, and something else I can't place my finger on. Maybe they actually did to the LttP map but just actually spent time on it. Wow the map on page 13... is this really old Kazunori Aihara art? That would be a big evolution if so. Maybe I have this wrong. I need to look into the other people for sure. Like it's kind of stiff, I could see it more as Makikazu Ohmori art and who is Tomoyuki Fukutome... 
• Super Off Road art, the sketchy overhead art on pg 25 looks relevant. Could be whomever did the sketchy art in the Ultima guide
• Iron Sword Item Art looks relevant, pg 27
• Who did the Shadowgate art pg 58
• who did all the detailed art on pages 84-85
• Who did the map and ramp art on page 66-67, could also be whomever did LttP level maps

Nintendo Power Volume 10: January-February

• https://archive.org/details/Nintendo_Power_Issue001-Issue127/Nintendo%20Power%20Issue%20010%20January-February%201990/page/n3/mode/2up
• US Illustration Staff:
• Jim Frisino
• Nob-Rin Takagi
• Hiro-Con Nagami
• Japanese Illustration Staff:
• Shuji Imai
• Orange Nakamura
• Makikazu Ohmori (I still think he must have done the Willow art but idk.) Did he do the Astyanax art on page 63? Guessing he did the wild mech art on page 64
• Magician Sasaki
• Kazunori Aihara (I still think he must have done the Willow art but idk.) Could have done the Mario art on page 57
• Poster Art: Yuji Kaida
• Photography: Izumi Takada
• Claymation: Maji Sasaki
• who did the twin cobra art, they probably did the willow art and the AoL map

More coming soon

--------------------------------

Willow Videogame:

Info
Visual Design Masako Honma (Manashi) Yuki Kyotani (Yuki) Nagineko
Monster Design Naoya Tomita (Tom-Pon) Hironori Matsumura (Fish Man) Tall Nob (as Tall Nob)

Japanese booklet may have credits, look around.

-------------------------------

High Res Barcode Battler Card Art and Hyrule Fantasy Envelope Art

The Zelda collector Linksliltri4ce has been so amazing to me over the years! She just sent me all of the Barcode Battler cards, and 2 little envelopes with un-scanned images, so that we can all have incredible high res scans of some really unique and rare art! Find the Barcode Battler cards in the Link to the Past Album and the envelopes here and here. I can not thank her enough for everything she does for me and this community. Check out her site and the plushies she makes!

We are still missing an envelope with Link playing the flute. If you have it, could you send me a scan? If you want to sell or trade it, please contact Linksliltri4ce

Hyrule Fantasy Bandai Board Game Art!

This is a really beautiful little board game that was produced by Bandai in 1986.

While I have this, and plan to make bigger scans at a later date, I wanted to upload the art for people to enjoy and also so myself, and everyone else, can keep track of what we have and what is missing. You can find the scans in the Zelda 1 Art Album.

Amazing cleaning and editing done by: Alberto Vitali https://boardgamegeek.com/user/sbaracleto 

I did a 2nd pass on the map and cover to remove some more text.

Scanned by an anonymous donor and sent to Derrick and Bludd at https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/769070/hyrule-fantasy-total-conversion-project

If you would like to learn more, or play this game, you can find it here: https://historyofhyrule.blogspot.com/2021/09/hyrule-fantasy-board-game-fully.html

If you would like to play other pysical Zelda games, check out this link:

https://historyofhyrule.blogspot.com/2021/10/zelda-game-night-all-non-console-games.html

And here is an absolutely beautiful Hyrule Fantasy (Zelda 1) map from the same Bandai board game that I just posted. This set has incredible art. I'll make higher res scans at a later date but this was mainly cleaned by Alberto Vitali & then I did some too: flickr.comofhyrule/52720823435