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.

I've spent 20 years being told the manga doesn't matter and I'm over it:

I always hear "Why isn't this manga more well known"... "this is such obscure material, that's why no one ever talked about it" etc.

Oh man guys... I really tried and it really shouldn't be.

Cool little fun things like this shouldn't be new to you either. We should have been having so much fun exploring all of this stuff for years now.

So a little backstory here: People who would link to my site on most of the big Zelda forums, back around 2002-2006, wanting to discuss some of the really cool and relevant topics found in the manga or gamebooks, would get their posts deleted and told not to bring it up again. "Zelda manga isn't a real Zelda topic," "Don't link to her site, it's not a real Zelda site and not relevant to Zelda discussion" they said... as they would discuss the Valiant Comics and cartoons. My site and this subject matter was effectively banned from being posted about or linked to on many of the major Zelda sites and Zelda forums. It was serious gatekeeping. When people would recommend my site be nominated for awards, they were told it wasn't allowed. Back in the early days Zelda Wiki wouldn't allow links to it or info from it, saying it wasn't really relevant content and that I hosted material still in print (I did not. In fact I worked hard to get it brought out officially in other languages.  No, really, here is Himekawa talking about it recently) while the site linked to other sites that continued to host other still-in-print works or US comics. It was weird times. I have a lot of webmaster friends that will vouch for how bizzare it was and how accurate this tale is. Anyway. Because of this continued gatekeeping we have absolutely missed out on so much. It was all kind of hushed away, a collective "we don't talk about this seriously in regards to the series," mood settled over much of the community.

I am so tired of pretending it doesn't matter simply because, historically, some people have been so loud and hostile towards anything they don't personally like.

Look, maybe you just don't like the manga. That's fine! Oddly, I'm not a giant manga fan either. I'm an art fan. I've just come to realize, in my 30 year long obsessive quest to find rare Zelda art material, that it's absolutely incredibly interesting in the context of the series. It's actually important. Maybe you would feel this way too if you spent some time on it. But why should you, you ask?

Why should we consider manga relevant to the creative development of the Zelda games? Especially if you don't really like it? 

Because someone likes manga. A lot. Enough that that's what he left art school wanting to do. Let's look at who that is:

Why is how he feels important?

It's not like his love of exploration as a child affected the course of the series or anything either...

I can't imagine why a guy who obviously REALLY likes manga, and grew up in a culture that is surrounded by comics to a vastly greater extent than most of the rest of the world, would check out manga based on his games, especially after he had only made 1-2 Zelda games... Come on! Seriously? I mean, everyone always wonders why Link has hot pink hair in LttP. It's a question that's gotten asked non-stop for decades. Everyone ends up saying Link had pink hair because it needed to share the exact pink with the rabbit, which by the way doesn't even share the same pink, but you know... it could never be because there were 2 years of really good monthly Zelda manga magazines on the shelves where Link had hot pink hair: in 1986-1988, well before LttP was released. So... why isn't that a consideration for you on that topic? Because... manga is just that invalid to you (or those before you) as a creative source of inspiration? Should it be?

Seriously: the burden of proof should be on the people who claim there is no way it could matter. Go to and art school and ask all the people there how they feel about that claim. Or a game dev studio and do the same. If you don't know anyone with extensive knowledge of both, feel free to ask me though and I can get you a shit-ton of responses for you. But I don't really even need to and neither do you because:

Let's look at whom else may have read some Zelda manga and had it create everlasting waves in the Zelda series...

"This guy? If I don't like manga then why would what influences him be important either," a great number of people have apparently muttered.

Well, let's see what he has to say... From this source I uploaded in 2005 

-----

Eiji Aonuma: In Ocarina of Time, as in most Zelda, we have created a large number of tribes, like the Goron who live in the mountains or the Zoras, people from the water. For the episode "The Wind Waker”, when we chose to situate the action in the middle of the ocean, we immediately felt the need to create a race that can move through the air. During long trips offshore, we needed faster characters capable of transmitting information to Link. It was at that moment that I remembered Watatara clan, you had invented for the adaptation of "Ocarina of Time." In short, I digress a bit about the initials but we are inspired by your work to give birth to Rito Race, creatures that are half-man half-bird that can move very quickly with their wings.

-----

Nagano (Himekawa): Frankly, we would be so happy if the creative Nintendo could learn from our manga to realize their games! To participate in the development of a Zelda, even indirectly, we would be mad with joy.

Eiji Aonuma: Well I can tell you, you’re already a great help! I've seen guys in my team who for a little help from mental exertion were taking their break by reading manga Akira Himekawa (laughs)! You have a knack for telling wonderful stories to us that is very useful. I, for example, I love your adaptation of the title "Four Swords Adventures". Yet, the content has so much more to do with then the original. In the original, four Link’s have the same expressions and the same reactions. Once they are passed in your hand, one will be impressed by how you came to give so many different personalities to each Link. You really did a good job on this subject, which is undeniable. The pages are yet in black and white but you can easily divide each Link by their given personality.

-----

Well. Huh. ...maybe... hop on this train because it's obviously fun and relevant. Or, at least... Stop gatekeeping? You don't have to enjoy manga or gamebooks but you're preventing people from discussing and discovering the history and context of the series by continuously dismissing it.

-----

A special shoutout to Mike Damiani, TSA, The Silent Assassin, for being "that guy" and to the massive numbers of people in the community who continued to support him even after these shows of extremely toxic behavior directed specifically towards women and "non-canon" content. You absolutely gave him the power to create an incredibly hostile environment. He posted so many rants like this on his Zelda page, ZHQ2/The Hylia:

(Context for what he's saying here: He was mad at me for refusing to remove an image of 2 adult men kissing from my site (he equated being gay to being a pedophile. I do not know why he thought he had the right to dictate what I had posted on my site but he got very serious about it and sent dozens of messages trying to explain it. Which I should still have catalogued on my first forum's backup. Hey, what can I say, I'm an archivist at heart) and for pointing out that the gallery "he scanned" was actually just my scans. He was stealing from, and then bashing, some of these other sites too and had been called out. He ended up doing this kind of thing to a lot of people in the Zelda community. until I guess he finally just burned all his bridges. But sadly people chose to support him as one of the biggest community leaders for years rather than draw a line at his clear and upfront damaging behavior.)

Though 80% of the people pictured here are awesome.

When I went away due to the gatekeeping, my health, and Mike's barrage of attacks, the site was down for a bit and when I put it back online (while still very disabled) it was not indexed well for newer search engines. For years the community had been discouraged from linking to these works, shouted down and shamed for talking about it because of stuff like that, so this content just became obscured. It's that easy. 

This has been your intro into the early history of Zelda fandom and why you probably don't know about content that's been online for 20 years.

-----

Anyway, with all that bullshit out of the way, as very clear tale about why I'm not going to just meekly pretend I'm not be excited about this stuff anymore like I use to, I'll probably start making short posts showing some of the fun ideas that first appeared in the various volumes of Japanese manga, gamebooks, and novels and I'm fucking psyched about it!!

Like as teasers: this amazing point Mak brings up one about the Imprisoning War and the split timelines, this incomplete one of mine about a lot of the firsts in the Ran Maru manga, and this little thing from the LttP manga that reminds me of Fi.

The manga, gamebooks, and novels are clearly a part of the history of Hyrule. If you have hang-ups about why you feel otherwise, question those. To start: all you need to do is look at what traditionally inspires creative minds working in the industry.

Edit: *cough* Miyamoto was probably never creatively influenced by manga *cough*

Firsts in the Zelda series from the 1986-1988 Ran Maru manga

Okay, it's obvious I really love this manga series. I can't get enough of it. And I could be wrong on these, I'm just quickly going off the top of my head without spending much time on it, but I just wanted to start a little list. And keep in mind: this is just for my own fun and for conversation, please don't take it too seriously. But do let me know if I got something wrong or missed something! :3

Major spoilers ahead:

• Slingshot as a starter weapon and inventory weapon
• Zelda speaking with, and visually manifesting, telepathically with Link
• Zelda speaking with Link through a crystal necklace (which is also a Star Wars reference here)
• Fairies reviving Link from death, not just restoring low health
• Ganon having a human form doppelganger and/or evil wizard that acts as his headman
• Link's sword growing in power as he advances, not just because he finds better swords
• The Triforce on his shield instead of a Christian cross (even though it's literally THE Triforce in this and not just decorative designs)
• Flying on a beloved bird companion, especially into battle
• Bat-wing Ganon
• Vaguely: Link having a flying companion that gives him advice. Not quite a fairy *meh* they function really similarly
• A Ganon paired with a trident.. though this is a huge stretch because it's Link's sword that turns into one to kill Ganon, not Ganon's weapon. I just have to admit the first time I read it I thought he took the trident off Ganon ;p
• Zelda locked in a magical stasis spell which is also where she was communicating telepathically with Link from
• Link being the absolutely most adorable thing ever
• Spin attack
• Hot pink hair
• His boat being struck by lightning and him washing ashore
• Link being lured towards a dungeon boss by a an enemy being disguised as a maiden he knows
• The Goddess and Zelda resembling each other: hinting at being linked together
• Zelda transforming into a man to foil Ganon's minions
• Multiple magical Links fighting together (though this is an illusion spell, not a splitting spell. They're not all actually Link)

I'll be back to add more later! There is actually more

Volume1, for LoZ: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430740/in/album-72157629760736528/

Volume 2, AoL vol1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430456/in/album-72157629760736528/

Volume 3, AoL vol2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430518/in/album-72157629760736528/

Volume 4, AoL vol3: https://www.flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/7211430792/in/album-72157629760736528/

Why did Link have Hot Pink Hair in A Link to the Past?

The world may never know. ...Unless we look at several years of monthly manga magazine covers from just a 3 years earlier, from early 1986 until late 1988. I don't know though, I've never heard of game developers who also like comics... and certainly not ones about the game they made. It's not like Miyamoto was trying to be a manga artist before he joined Nintendo or anything ...and I really doubt any of them would like one of the best comics ever made for the series. And thus it will forever remain a mystery ♡

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, in One Pack Comics, by Ran Maru

ゼルダの伝説, わんぱっくコミックス,  乱丸

Find the English translation for the Hyrule Fantasy, the first volume this story starts in, here.

And here are the English translations for Adventure of Link volume 1, volume 2, and volume 3.

There's also some other other magazine art that's kind of fun. The first 2 are a hot pink haired female Link from Shonen Captain (Monthly Magazine) May 18, 1986. 3rd image unknown but it comes from this video. EDIT: I have found, and made, 2400dpi scans of this art of her.

Anyway, just a guess. Maybe we could agree that hot pink is just a great color too. #plink

Edit: There was a giant fanart challenge thanks to @Aeyga_X based on my scans and she was dubbed "Linka" by fans

Also, I saw this said a lot: "16-bit" is about the processor, it doesn't mean 16 colors. Though, yes! Some of the modes for the SNES topped out at 16 colors per sprite/tile, and LttP is an example of the use of one of those, so I could see how people could get confused. Source 1. Source 2. But, no, it wasn't pink because the bunny was pink and it "needed to be the same color for technical reasons" ...because, even if (?) that were true for some reason, the rabbit's color of pink wasn't even the same as his hair. (Thank you to whomever made this graphic, I couldn't find the source to credit) 

Update: Just to keep all of the Pink Haired Link images in one place, here's a cool feature from a Famitsu issue from 1992

I've had that manga online for ages, on the old main site, (the better scans on archive.org are new,) but so many fans and other sites in the early days would blow off the manga (and my scanning work and site*) as "not real Zelda content" -so it's just been overlooked for 35 years when this question would get asked. Which is a huge shame. Wanpakku, Naughty Comics, sometimes translated as One Pack, was a  division of Tokuma Shoten: the publisher Nintendo always officially used back then. And Wanpakku did the Japanese version of Tips and Tactics that Nintendo translated and released officially in the US

Edit 2: Okay, guys, turns out pink haired female Link from 1986 (May 25, 1986 and May 18, 1986) is as official as the Itoh art from Tips and Tactics because she IS in the Japanese version of Tips and Tactics. This kind of changes the way I'm thinking about her, I no longer thing she was just a mistake made by a comic magazine's walkthrough artist like I originally did.

Tips and Tactics was released by Nintendo of America in 1987 and calls itself the "US edition" "Translation of HISSYOU HINTBON Originally published in 1986 by Tokuma Shoten"

Both publishing companies, Wanpakku (the maker of this guide) and Shonen Captain, where she appeared, were owned by the publisher Tokuma Shoten: and Nintendo worked with them a LOT back then.

Here are the 2 manga pages with pink-haired Link and a fairy that were left out, along with some of the Itoh art, of the US edition: 

Edit 3: Slightly different but here's a cute pink-haired Princess Zelda from a Famicom magazine "ファミコン決定版(1986-07-20)"