Archival Scans of the Link to the Past Nintendo Player's Guide

Scans for this aren't new, but this is the best quality you'll find online. I scanned this at 1200dpi and you can find both the cleaned up images and pure raw scans on my archive.com page, here

It was published by Nintendo of America in conjunction with Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. 1992

If you've never flipped through this, do so! It doubles as a story book & production art book- which was so rare

ZeldaLegends.net still has the original downloads released by Nintendo. The images are small but they have great color. Find those here

Other Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past, Strategy Guide, Nintendo Power, Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, aLttP, Lttp, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda, SNES, 600ppi, 1200ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, book, videogame, Nintendo Power, Strategy Guide, Game Guide, Player's Guide, Katsuya Terada,

Archival scans of the 1993 Link to the Past manga by Junko Taguchi

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org


If you downloaded this before February 21, 2022 then you will want to re-download the new larger, cleaner, files I've uploaded

The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zalda [sic]
A manga for A Link to the Past
by Junko Taguchi
Published by Hippon Super!
ISBN4-7966-0741-2
First Published Date: November 20, 1993
Approx Length: 192 pages


My old upload of it was here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_lttp_zalda

Other Keywords: The Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past, Manga, ゼルダの伝説, 神々のトライフォース, Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, aLttP, Lttp, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda, Zeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods, SNES, Super Famicom, 600ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, book, videogame, comic, comics,

High-resolution scans of the elusive pink-haired female Link from 1986

Thanks to Ikhana's hawk eyes at auction I was finally able to get my hands on the May 1986 issue of Monthly Shonen Captain, that was first posted about on Twitter by KazzyKazy. There was an absurd bidding war but thankfully I was able to win it and I'm now happy to be able to being everyone 2400dpi scans. I have both the edited, patched up versions, as well as the un-touched raws, uploaded in the gallery starting here. In this issue there are 6 images total. 5 of Link, or Zelda as the protagonist, and one of a fairy. We do not know the original artist's name, we can't find anything that even implies it in the issue. If you would like the link to my original post on Twitter, you can find it here.

We know there are probably 2 more images because of this video, also thanks to KazzyKazy's research. Me and a few other people have been trying to track down where they can be found with no avail. They do not appear to be in any of the other regular monthly issues of Shonen Captain from that year. I know because I've bought most of them and other people have checked their issues for me and confirmed it. Someone I was talking to even asked the Youtuber if he remembered where the cut-outs were from and unfortunately the font from the magazine he thought it might be from (below) doesn't seem likely because the page number fonts don't match up. The only hints we have are that fairy and other drawing are overlaid on the last dungeon/room in a walkthrough and appear on page 33 and 36, they are color but not on glossy pages, and we are not finding issues with a Zelda feature on those pages either. If you find it, or have any thoughts, please let me know and I will spend the money to get it and then make good scans of it too. melorasworld@gmail.com

random113: この雑誌を覚えていますか?

hijiQuish channel: なんだっけなぁ😂ファミマガではない。ファミマガは、切り取らなかったから。 全くわからんなぁ。1986年ですよねぇ。 ハイスコアという雑誌かなぁ🤔

random113 : ありがとうございます。私はそれを探し続けます

The amount of fan art that this piece has generated has also been incredible. I think pretty much every single one of my favorite artists has made something inspired by it over on Twitter. It's been mind blowing. You may be able to find them searching under Linka (a new fan name for this one that really caught on) or Plink (though Plink has been used for male pink-haired LttP Link for ages.) They really took off when Aeyga_X made a post about it and you can find a lot of them, though not even close to all of them, linked to from there.

New English Translation: Oath of Lilto Volume 1

Ammon contacted me a while back to express interest in translating something and, long story short, he ended up translating the highly requested Oath of Lilto. He did a wonderful job! This funky little Dragon Ball Z style Link to the Past manga was done by Furusawa Jun'ya (古澤純也) of Dragon Ball fame, and spans 4 volumes. You can find the 600dpi scans and the translation text document over on archive.org

If anyone would be interested in page cleaning and typesetting this, please do. This translation is not a scanlation, it's just a text document, I'm swamped in other projects and don't have time to be able to do that myself right now. 

Rare Art: New High Resolution Scans of the Haruhiko Mikimoto Zelda Linework

Update: Here's 1200dpi scans of the whole artbook

Here's the 1200dpi linework for the amazing Haruhiko Mikimoto, 美樹本 晴彦, Link and Zelda, pieces. These are for The Legend of Zelda: The Hyrule Fantasy, 1986, from his Cellu Works artbook, February 28, 1989,  ISBN4-19-669607-4. Scans of the full publication are currently in the works and I *think* I may have the right Newtype purchased and on the way to me so that I can finally get better scans of the finished versions online too. 

Find them all in the gallery starting here

I must thank Anim'Archive for originally posting about these and where they could be found. You can check out the original post, here: https://animarchive.tumblr.com/post/178281392068/link-and-zelda-by-haruhiko-mikimoto-cellu-works

As well as Old Newtype, https://oldtypenewtype.tumblr.com/post/32887883467/another-awesome-haruhiko-mikimoto-illustration-of and https://oldtypenewtype.tumblr.com/post/32887378137/very-cool-illustration-of-link-by-haruhiko where I first found out that there was anything like this. I cleaned up his scans and those versions have been circulating the internet for a while. 

New High Resolution Scans of the Ocarina of Time 4koma by Enix

 Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.


Title: The Legend of Zelda 4Koma Magic Theater
Artist or Circle: Anthology
Publisher: Enix
ISBN 4-7575-0008-4
First Published Date: April 16, 1999
Approx Length: 123 pages

Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now.

I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know!


If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Other Keywords: ゼルダの伝説　時のオカリナ, Zeruda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, manga, comics, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画,  OoT, LoZ, Princess Zelda, Link, Marin, Sheik, Epona

High Resolution Scans of the Game Book The Legend of Zelda: The Mirage Castle

 Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

Futabasha Famicom Game Book Series 3
The Legend of Zelda: The Mirage Castle by Akio Higuchi (Writer) and Yuko Tanaka (Illustrator) a Choose Your Own Adventure Gamebook for the Original Legend of Zelda
Licensed by Nintendo 1986
Published by Futaba-sha Books Co. Ltd. Studio Hard Co., Ltd.
ISBN4-575-76013-7
Approx Length: 282 pages

My original scans and info were here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/book_novel_loz


Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, 600ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, Choose Your Own Adventure, book, ゲームブック

New High Resolution Scans of the Ocarina of Time 4koma by Futabasha

 Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.


Title: The Legend of Zelda 4Koma Magic Kingdom
Artist or Circle: Anthology
Publisher: Futabasha, Action Comics, G.G.C.
ISBN 4-575-93616-2
First Published Date: June 12, 1999
Approx Length: 127 pages

Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now.


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know!


If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Other Keywords: ゼルダの伝説　時のオカリナ, Zeruda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, manga, comics, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画,  OoT, LoZ, Princess Zelda, Link, Marin, Sheik, Epona

New Large Resolution Scans of the Link to the Past 4koma Action Comics #2 by Futabasha

Here are 300dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

The Legend of Zelda 4 Koma Manga Kingdom # 2
A 4koma for Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past
Anthology
Published by Action Comics and Futabasha
ISBN4-575-93359-7
First Published Date: April 28, 1994
Approx Length: 129 pages

Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now.


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know!


If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.

Other Keywords: Zelda, tLoZ, LoZ, aLttP, Lttp, A Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda, Zeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce, The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods, SNES, Super Famicom, 300ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Ganon, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, book, videogame, Comics, Manga, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画, LA, LoZ, Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima, Windfish, Koholint Island, Marin, Link, Tarin, Nintendo, Gameboy,

High resolution scans of The Legend of Zelda, An Original Version: Adventure Hero's Books No. 13

This might be the first time we see Zelda trapped in a crystal in the series

The 1200dpi and 600dpi scans are here: archive.org/details/zelda_manga_adventure_heros_book_13

--
Edit: Here's a summary breakdown in English: http://www.sceneryrecalled.com/zelda/newzelda.htm

I'm told there's been a Russian translation for a while and it looks like the guy who knows about it will translate it into English, maybe.

--

Information:
The Legend of Zelda, An Original Version: Adventure Hero's Books No. 13
A Choose Your Own Adventure manga by Mitsunori Kitadono and Ikuo Miyazoe
Character and Story Base Licensed by Nintendo 1986
Published by Keibunsha Co., Ltd
Introduction by Koji Takizawa, Editor of MULTI WAVES
ISBN4-7669-0525-3
Approx Length: 224 pages

My original scans and info were here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_loz_13

File Information:

• The largest zip contains the uncompressed individual RAW scans at 1200dpi with no compression.
• The 2nd largest zip has somewhat cleaned individual image files saved at 600dpi with no compression.
• The largest pdf is somewhat cleaned files posted at 600dpi and was saved with no compression.

The other files were made by archive.org's software and will have compression.

If you are looking for more information on rare and out of print Zelda publications and art, or have info that might be of interest, please visit my site historyofhyrule.com or email me at melorasworld@gmail.com

Other Keywords: Zelda, LoZ, tLoZ, 600ppi, RAW, RAWS, scan, scans, high res, high rez, high resolution, Link, Princess Zelda, Hyrule, Nintendo, NES, Famicom, Family Computer, book, videogame, Choose Your Own Adventure, book, ゲームブック

New High Resolution Scans of the Ocarina of Time 4koma Volume 2 (manga) by Enix

Here are the 600dpi scans posted on archive.org

I've started scanning the 26ish volumes of Legend of Zelda 4-Koma and I'm actually going to post large versions of it, which I usually don't do, but it's only because I think the chances of it having a market to be republished are pretty slim. I'm trying to make sure I support publishers but, also, it's a shame something disappears because it's been unavailable for decades so I'm trying to figure out the balance there.

Title: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 4Koma Gag Battle Boukenhen
Artist or Circle: Anthology
Publisher: Enix
ISBN 4-7575-0034-3
First Published Date: June 18, 1999
Approx Length: 120 pages

Any translations will be posted to this Flickr album for now.


I am super sad these never got popular. They're so awesome! I've had small scans of most of the pages on historyofhyrule.com since 2002-2004 and I haven't even seen so much as a meme from them. And they are so meme worthy! Only 1 out of roughly 26 Zelda 4komas have been translated so, if you would like to translate this, even just sections of it, please go ahead and let me know!


If you use these pages please always link back to the main website though, so people can find more information and rare materials, or even help me find more!

Here are examples and info on the other 4koma, they're for the games LttP, LA, OoT, MM, WW, OoA, and OoS. I will be scanning them all in the coming weeks: Here's what you can expect to see.


Other Keywords: ゼルダの伝説　時のオカリナ, Zeruda no Densetsu: Toki no Okarina, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda, manga, comics, RAWS, 600dpi, High Resolution, Scans, 4koma, 4-koma, Yonkoma, 4コマ漫画,  OoT, LoZ, Princess Zelda, Link, Marin, Sheik, Epona

The LttP manga basically has the concepts for the Hero of Time/Ancient Hero/the split timeline (and Fi) years before OoT, TP, and SS:

"The Master Sword is reacting to something..it's trying to tell me where the location of the enemy is" 

-Zelda: A Link to the Past by Ataru Cagiva, 1996

"Oh hey there Fi!"

For people who don't know me, these posts about the manga are just for fun because I think it's interesting.

I've known Mak probably longer than anyone else on the internet since we were both on the first forum/social site I ever joined, Gaming Universe. It was a general gaming forum but he was a Zelda knowledge guru and I was all about the Zelda material scanning. The thing I love about knowing him is that my mind does not remember story details, his does, and I will forever love the incredible but somewhat random discussions that happen when we all get together.

When I was re-scanning the LttP manga I posted this:

HoH: "Spoiler if you haven't read the LttP Cagiva manga then this is that time, all the way in 1995, that Link met the spirit of a Link from the past at the Master Sword who then tested him and eventually taught him how to wield it."

HoH: "From our old translations/scanlations of volume 3: I'm going to be uploading good, new, scans of these 3 volumes starting tomorrow but if you want to read the old scans in English, just start here: historyofhyrule.com/publications/manga_lttp1 "

HoH: "If you don't get my wistful reference *cough*"

The Ancient Hero, the Hero's Spirit, Hero's Shade from Twilight Princess, teaches his descendent

And Mak dropped in and pointed out: "In ALttP's backstory, no one was around to wield the Master Sword, so Ganon was sealed away. In the game's boss fight, Ganon has a secret technique of darkness. In the manga (1996) Ganon also used the technique of darkness and the hero from the Imprisoning War 600 years ago lost."

Mak: "Ocarina of Time (1998) deals with the Imprisoning War and the sealing of Ganon. In the game Ganondorf uses waves of darkness, and Navi cannot help. Link ultimately defeats Ganondorf with Zelda and the Sages. That should lead to A Link to the Past, but the Master Sword was used..."

Mak: "Ganon is suppose to be sealed with the whole Triforce for ALttP to occur but only has Power in the game's ending. Its mentioned early Ganon has to take it from Link and Zelda since it split."

"Hyrule Historia (2011) explains a timeline split occurs during the battle with Ganondorf, one where Link wins, and one where Link loses with Ganondorf gaining the entire Triforce and sealed by the Sages, leading to ALttP."

Mak: "I brought this up before when you first published the Cagiva manga English translations . Its interesting to see a similar scenario play out with the previous hero in the early manga from 1996."

"Going back to influences, Dragon Ball Z is huge in Japan, everyone has seen it. The time travel aspect with Trunks is similar to Ocarina of Time (and Avengers Endgame). Trunks can only return to his future, he can't change it. The sequel Dragon Ball Super follows the same logic."

HoH: "This is really random but didn't one of the earlier artists for Zelda also come from a Dragon Ball background? I could be remembering wrong but if not: I wonder if they did what people do and still went to lunch with their old colleagues and discussed work and stuff."

Mak: "Toei produced the Dragon Ball anime and supposedly the cell art for Zelda 1."

 

Mak: "The ancestor in the manga is basically an early Hero of Time."

And that was our fun little manga chat! Enjoy the manga, y'all. 

Massive Dump of Retro Magazine Scans Incoming

I would like to mention that there are interviews in them that I really hope someone translates! Link me if you know of someone who is doing that!

I've been wanting to post this (and a few other things!) for a few days but Blogger has been acting up and then I had to play through LttP, lol, but thanks to the absolutely incredible efforts of the Videogame History Foundation, and Hubz of Gaming Alexandria, a huge batch of Family Computer Magazine from 1886 and beyond (and Famitsu magazine) have been purchased in bulk and are being archivally scanned. And just being scanned, period, for the first time is incredible because it's allowing us a whole new look at the history of the series: and it's honestly it's already a goldmine. Look at just a few highlights from just a few issues:

As twitter user MrTalida points out:

In this series of tweets we see that these 4 issues feature Legend of Zelda Q&A interviews with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, identified by their pseudonyms at the time of "MIYAHON" and "TEN TEN."

That this features images of sprites before they were finalized

This is a Q&A with Miyamoto and Tezuka teasing mentioning the Adventure of Link very recently after Hyrule Fantasy's release

Dark_Linkael realized this was a different photo of the overworld map model and noted these cool differences that mirror what the original prototype of the Hyrule overworld looked like

This, below, is my favorite thing ever though!

VGDensetsu posted these pages of these adorable clay models of pink haired Link from A Link to the Past and let us know that they were created by Hiroyuki Nakazawa / なかざわひろゆき. They're pictures taken from the September 11, 1992 issue of Famitsu, also uploaded by Hubz on Archive.org. They remind me so much of what they ended up doing for the Link's Awakening remake that I kind of wonder if someone at the company remembered these, pulled them out, and was like "I know how this should look."

There is this really awesome 4 page comic that user Capcom of Metroid Database scanlated and posted in this tweet

Anyway, Hubz has been scanning the Famitsu issues for a while and you'll see a whole load of them but the Family Computer Magazine issues are new: be sure to check both out on his site or user page at archive.org. And follow VGDensetsu and MrTalida on twitter, they post/find/highlight some of the most amazing stuff.