Terada Great Fairy Art

historyofhyrule.com/publications/artbook_terada

Here's something you don't see in the Terada collections floating around; the Great Fairy from one of his actual artbooks. He's seriously awesome & his books are very worth buying. /Just your friendly neighborhood reminder to check out all the rare stuff on the site! ;)

Hyrule's Miss Manners: Your Guide to Concert Etiquette

So, I've been seeing in some comment sections that a lot of people aren't sure how they should act, or what the cues are for applause, in classical concerts. I grew up around the Ballet, let me pass this along, because feeling out of place and even possibly disrespectful to performers can be the absolute worst. Symphony of the Goddesses would be considered a classical concert: so here you go!

Concert etiquette is particularly strong at concerts featuring music from the Classical tradition, especially those featuring an unamplified orchestra. Such audiences have come to expect quiet, and disapprove of fellow members making any kind of noise louder than light breathing. Unavoidable noise such as coughs or sneezes should be delayed until a loud passage if possible, and muffled with a handkerchief, which is most effective placed at the inner elbow joint with the entire arm then pressed over the mouth. Mobile phones should be turned off for the duration of the concert, and it is increasingly common for an announcement to this effect to be made by venue management before the commencement of the concert.

Concert-goers are expected to arrive and take their seats before the performance commences. The audience waiting for a concert or opera to begin may talk freely until the end of the applause greeting the entrance of the conductor (or the concertmaster if the orchestra tunes on stage). Dress requirements have become less formal in recent decades, corresponding to a general "casualisation" of Western social standards. Some expect that the audience will at least meet "smart casual" standards, but some performance companies and theatres explicitly tell audiences to wear whatever makes them comfortable. Hats are not tolerated as they block the view of the stage.

During the 20th century, applause even between movements of a symphony became regarded as a distraction from its momentum and unity, and is now considered a gaffe or faux pas, though usually tolerated as a well-meaning one; most audiences applaud after the third movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony Pathétique and conductors seem resigned to this fact. As most concert goers are considerate enough to restrain themselves while the musicians are playing, a rise in audience noise may be heard between movements, as people shift in their seats, stretch their legs, release pent-up coughs, blow their noses, pass comments to their neighbours, and enter or leave the hall. The musicians will wait for this noise to die down before continuing the performance.

Audience members who are too eager to applaud at the end of a piece are sometimes resented, particularly in the case of a quiet finale such as Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony. The conductor always signals the end of the performance by lowering his or her hands to his or her sides. Sometimes this is prolonged past the cutoff of the orchestra, with hands held in the air or slowly lowered over several seconds, in the hope of allowing the audience to stay joined with the artistic creation even for just a brief moment after its sounds have ceased.

Upon conclusion of concert performances of substantial dolorous works, particularly sacred vocal works such as settings of the requiem, Passion or mass but also secular works of comparable gravity, it is common for audiences and performers to reflect in a moment of respectful silence or even silent prayer before applauding. Applauding as soon as the instruments and/or singing fall silent is thus frowned upon.

If, in fact, they are telling people at the concerts that they can applaud between pieces, then by all means do! They've probably come to accept that this would be the norm anyway.

Fanfiction Contest Winners!

Last year we hosted a Fanfic contest to complement the fanart contest. It's taken me a while to announce the winners, but here they are and MAN are they worth checking out. They're all also short stories, 2000 words or less, so they don't take a lot of time if you want to dive right in! All 3 winners are very different, and if you enjoy even some of them: be sure to read the rest. Everything was pretty great! Comments for the authors would also be amazing! Everyone loves to know their work was read.

1st place: Ghost Dance by Cavalier
A beautifully told dark tale about the Sheikah.

2nd place: RETURN of the SWORDSMAN by Hero of Geeks
An incredibly fun cross-over.

3rd place: The Rain Festival by Forlorn Rain.
A romantic tale that will certainly draw you in.

The other wonderful entries:
The Return of the Gourmet Festival by Lunitari
Skull Kid's Music Festival by Aktwitch
The Festival of Flight by Zelidnia
The Greatest Gift by Ray-Kat-Hollows
TriFestival by XxSassersxX
The Dance of Skyloft Riders by FadingChild
The Wind Festival by Forlorn Rain
A Fantastic Day by Jessie
Forest Haven Celebration by A Fish
Peach Blossum by Kitkatkelly

Nintendo expects a net loss of 65 billion yen.

Not so great news. Though, given, I believe this is the first year they've been the red. Profit loss and net loss are very different things. (edit: I messed up the headline and left off three zero's: it's billion not million. That translates to roughly $847,678,664)

Nintendo has re-forecasted it’s earnings for the full year, which ends in March 31st, 2012. Anticipating a larger than expected loss, Nintendo has also reduced shipments across the board including; Nintendo 3DS units, Nintendo Wii consoles and software titles.


The original forecast was a net loss of 20,000 million yen. Now Nintendo has stated that is expecting a net loss of 65,000 million yen, more than three times the original estimate.

A strong Yen against foreign currencies account for some of the adjustment, almost 79% of Nintendo’s earnings came from outside Japan. This caused a loss of almost 54 billion yen in exchange. Other factors are the early price-drop for the Nintendo 3DS handheld and a price-cut for the Wii hardware this year.

In the aftermath of the new forecast, Nintendo has adjusted 3DS sales goals from 16 million to 14 million units. The Wii console is now expected to sell 10 million units instead of the original forecast of 12 million.

On the software side, the Nintendo 3DS takes the largest reduction in expected sales. Originally anticipated to sell 50 million titles, the Nintendo 3DS is now expected to sell only 38 million. DS hardware and software goals are relatively unchanged in this forecast; hardware sales were lowered to 5.5 million from 6 million and software sales are expected to sell 59 million units, down from 62 million.

Source: Nintendo Investor Relations via Game Examiner

Read more: Joystiq: Nintendo profits fall 66% in fiscal year, 3DS sells 3.61 million
"Nintendo's net income dropped to ¥77.6 billion ($946 million) for its fiscal year ending in March, marking the company's third year of profit declines"

Skyward Sword Remlit Art

Gah, they're cute.

Nooo!

Ocarina of Time's Ganon Concept Art

Skyward Sword Map Concept Art

I was editing art and found these images really cute. I love the world map from this view, it's so charming. And the two sketches showing what must be a very early Skyloft are really interesting. You can tell they had other things in mind... and it doesn't quite look like birds were one of them.

If there's any art you want to see, from anything Zelda, I take requests!

Small update: I also found that there was a missing html file in the middle of the pub reader for the Zelda Box: so that's fixed now.

Hyrule Historia on Knights of Hyrule

Our friends over at Knights of Hyryle have created a beautiful and easy to navigate site to collect all the information and images for Hyrule Historia. Go check it out!

Doujinshi Scanlation: Twilight Revolution Patch

If you saved Twilight Revolution prior to today, there were typos found on the B&W page below that have now been fixed. All you need to do is save this one to your existing files, no need to download the whole zip again.

And... let me use this opportunity to say: if you haven't read it or our other doujinshi scanlations yet, check them out!

The Updated File:

Zelda II: The Adventure in Manga

Ever been curious about the game The Adventure of Link? Feel it's kind of tough to get around to playing it? If you want a general idea of what it's like, (even what dungeons and bad guys are in it,) why not check out the fun manga that was made for the game? All of the ones below stick to the game at least as much as (if not MUCH more,) the Himekawa manga does for later games. Plus, all of these have been started in English! Please enjoy! Download are available at the links below.

3 volumes of AoL manga by Daisuke Shigoto.
Download links

1 volume of LoZ and 3 of Aol by Ran Maru
Download Links

A short but descriptive manga from a guide for the 1st 3 games, AoL included!
Download  at the site.

History of Hyrule: The Adventure of Link

The old games are my favorite games. With translation news floating around today, and the rare manga finds from the past few days: I thought it would be a great time to go back and post some things from one of the most interesting, yet over looked, games in the series: Zelda II: The Adevnture of Link

Join the AoL fanlisting!

If you are interested in what AoL contributed to the overall series, here's a nice little break down thanks to Zelda Wiki:

Despite featuring many radical changes from the previous Zelda title, the game also offered canonical elements to be part of the series' standards. It contributed largely to the overall storyline and gameplay of the series. For instance:

• The ability of Ganon to be revived/return after defeat/death.
• The Triforce of Courage was introduced.
• The first appearance of Dark Link was in this game.
• A magic system, even though it was never used so excessively after this game.
• The introduction of several new enemies and one boss that return in later games, such as the Iron Knuckle and Volvagia .
• The Sages in Ocarina of Time are named after the towns in this game. (Darunia, Nabooru, Ruto, Rauru, & Saria. {Mido was also included})
• This is the first appearance of an "adult" Link in the series. Link is officially sixteen in this game.
• The suggestion of romantic interest between Link and Zelda, as implied by the ending.

You can go there to read more, but also introduced were:

• The mark of the Triforce on Link's left hand.
• The indication that Impa's people have always served the royalty of Hyrule.
• Castles, Palaces, and Temples.
• Zelda's Father, the King of Hyrule.

The Story from the Official Booklet is VERY worth reading.

Please keep in mind that there were some translation errors though, and that there were actually 2 princess Zeldas mentioned in the Japanese version: The Zelda you rescued in LoZ and then the "Sleeping Zelda" they introduced in the begining of AoL.

~*~*~*~*~From the Booklet ~*~*~*~*~

The Story of the Adventure of Link
At the end of a fierce fight, Link overhrew Ganon, took back the Triforce and rescued Princess Zelda. However, is it all really finished? Many seasons have passed since then.

Hyrule was on the road to ruin. The power that the vile heart of Ganon had left behind was causing chaos and disorder in Hyrule. What's more, even after the fall of Ganon, some of his underlings remained, waiting for Ganon's return.

The key to Ganon's return was the blood of Link - the valiant lad that overthrew the King of Evil. Ganon would be revived by sacrificing Link and sprinkling his blood on the ashes of Ganon.

Meanwhile, Link remained in the little kingdom of Hyrule and lent his hand to its restoration. But circumstances did not look very good.

One day a strange mark, exactly like the crest of the kingdom, appeared on the back of Link's hand as he approached his 16th birthday. The worried Link, went to Impa, Princess Zelda's nursemaid who was shocked and frightened when she saw the birthmark. When she regained her composure, she took Link to the North Castle.

There was a door in the North Castle called "the door that does not open." Only the descendants of the Impa family who served the king knew how to open the door. Impa took Link's left hand and pressed the back of it against the door. There was a sound of a lock falling open, the door slowly creaked open and there on an altar in the middle of the room lay a beautiful woman. "Here lies the Princess Zelda." Impa began to speak calmly.

"Link, the time has come when I must tell you the legend of Zelda handed down in Hyrule. It is said that long ago, when Hyrule was one country, a great ruler maintained the peace in Hyrule using the Triforce. However, the king too was a child of man and he died. Then, the prince of the kingdom should have become king and inherited everything, but he could inherit the Triforce only in part.

The Prince searched everywhere for the missing parts, but could not find them. Then, a magician close to the king brought him some unexpected news. Before he died, the king had said something about the Triforce to only the younger sister of the prince, Princess Zelda. The prince immediately questioned the princess, but she wouldn't tell him anything.

After the prince, the magician threatened to put the princess into an eternal sleep if she did not talk, but even still, she said nothing." "In his anger, the magician tried to cast a spell on the princess. The surprised prince tried to stop him, but the magician fought off the prince and went on chanting the spell. Then, when the spell was finally cast, Princess Zelda fell on that spot and entered a sleep from which she might never awake. At the same time, the magician also fell down and breathed his last." "In his grief, the prince placed the princess in this room. He hoped that someday she would come back to life. So that this tragedy would never be forgotten, he ordered every female child born into the royal household should be given the name Zelda."

From the stand next to the alter where Princess Zelda lay in a deep sleep, Impa took the six crystals and a scroll with the same crest and handed them to Link. "For generations, my family has been handed down these things which have been set aside for a time when a great king will come. They are written in ancient script that no one can read now. But you who have the crest may be able to read it. It is said that the key to uniting the Triforce is hidden there. Now it is time for you to read it."

Link glanced at the scroll half in doubt, but what do you know? Although he never seen the letters before, he found that he could read them as if they were talking to him...

This was written on the scroll.

"You who'll control the Triforce of the future. I shall hand down to you the secrets of the Triforce. There are three kinds of Triforce - Power, Wisdom, and Courage. When these three are brought together, the Triforce will share its maximum power. Of the three, I have left Power and Wisdom in the kingdom. But the Triforce of Courage I have hidden for a reason.

Not everybody can use the Triforce. It requires a strong character with no evil thoughts. But an inborn special quality is also necessary. Unfortunately, I have not found such a person during my lifetime."

"Therefore, I have decided to cast a spell on all of Hyrule. A crest will appear on a young man with that character who has been brought up correctly, has gained many kinds of experiences and reached a certain age. But, what will happen if someone else uses the Triforce before then? If it is misused, it will produce many evils."

"The Triforce of Courage is hidden in the Great Palace in the Valley of Death on the largest island in Hyrule. However, to enter you must first fight the guardians and undo the 'binding force.' When you have defeated the guardians, which I made to prevent enemies from invading the six palaces in Hyrule, set a crystal in the forehead of the statue you find. When you have set crystals in all of the statues in the six palaces, the 'binding force' placed on the Valley of Death will be removed and you will be able to enter the great palace. There you must fight the last guardian. And you can obtain the triforce only by defeating that guardian. There's nothing to fear. You are the one to get the Triforce. You are the beacon of hope for Hyrule."

Impa implored Link, who raised his head slowly after reading the scroll. "The magic spell cast upon the Princess Zelda will sure to be broken if the Triforce is used. Please, Link. Unite the Triforce and save the princess. And bring back peace to Hyrule."

Link nodded silently in approval, and left the room after taking a long glance at the altar. Then with a magical sword in his left hand and a magical shield in his right, he set off alone on his long travels. At that time, Ganon's underlings were calling up new allies from the Underworld, and were beginning to work devilishly towards the revival of Ganon.

For the first time in nearly 24 years, people can now see this manga!

If I were to be honest, I would say this was my favorite manga for the whole of the series. It's so well done and, despite what you might think, it's dark. Plus, love 'em or hate 'em: anyone who watched anime in the 80's will see so many familiar remnants of that era! The one real complaint Zelda fans might have is that, since the series wasn't very nailed down at that point, there's a lot of little inconsistencies that will be hard to miss now. But~ let's forgive it, because of when it was actually created. Instead, think about those games, and how spartan they were, and then realize just the 2 of them spawned all this story and art!

And if you would like to read more about why it's so amazing to have these scans, please head to this earlier post.

So, may I present to you, * drum-roll* for the first time in the history of the internet, the Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link series by Ran Maru. AoL vol 1 has a chapter done in English and German. Otherwise, here's the order in which you should go:

The Legend of Zelda
Zip Download of the Entire Volume in Japanese
Please comment on it here

Click the cover to read it:


The Adventure of Link Vol. 1
Zip Download of the Entire Volume 1 in Japanese
Chapter 1 in English and in German.
Please comment on it here

Click the cover to read it:


The Adventure of Link Vol. 2
Zip Download of the Entire Volume 2 in Japanese
Please comment on it here

Click the cover to read it:


The Adventure of Link Vol. 3
Zip Download of the Entire Volume 3 in Japanese
Please comment on it here

Click the cover to read it:


Update for January 21, 2012: The zips were updated, and these files changed:
(Just hit refresh if you get a forbidden error)

• AoL Vol 1: Page 035 was added
• AoL Vol 3: The cover, and pages 001, 039, & 040 were updated.

Leave a little "thank you!" for Kannon

If a few people could leave "thank you" notes (Anywhere: blogger, facebook, the forums, email... Whatever is easiest for you.) it would be awesome to be able to show Kannon, the guy who is sending all these AoL scans in, that they are appreciated. Any language is fine. I'd really appreciate it. :D

Holy crap! Two of the Lost Chapters of the Adventure of Link manga!

I had always heard that there were supposed to be 3 volumes of the Adventure of Link manga by Ran Maru, but that One Pack comics had financial trouble that prevented the release of the last volume. Instead they published the final 7 chapters (from Feb. 1988 - Aug. 1988) in their monthly magazine. I thought I would never be able to find or see these extra chapters. That they were simply lost....

Guess we should never lose hope.

It seems that History of Hyrule has Japanese viewers that have been enjoying the nostalgic blast from having the old untranslated manga pages online. A Japanese fan named Kannon has contacted me recently because of them. In an amazing turn of events, he has all the required issues of Wanpakku Comics Magazine and he's in the process of scanning all of them for us! Please, leave a thank you for him anywhere I can find it. In any language! I will pass them along. Fans like this deserve to know that the work they do, and the love the express, (simply to share what would otherwise be lost) doesn't go unappreciated!

I can't express how outstanding it is to be able to find a complete series of magazines from nearly 24 years ago! My mind is blown. Thank you Kannon, from the bottom of my Zelda-fan heart, thank you!

私は大喜びです！私の心の底からありがとう。
Kannon、あなたは私のゼルダのヒーローです！

When I get the rest, I will place them on a pub reader on the main site. For now, you can link to this post because it does not effect the main site's bandwidth at all. (Note: I'm also in the process of finding a new home for the zip's that went down with Megaupload. I'll update when that is done)