This free eBook is meant to serve as the most complete, insightful, and historically accurate account of how the Legend of Zelda series began, the changes it went through over the years, and why those changes were made. It highlights how market conditions and the minds at Nintendo influenced the development of each Zelda game, both from a creative and business standpoint. This dissertation took 4 years to research and is based on hundreds of developer interviews and behind-the-scenes materials, as well as a sound understanding of the games industry.

Images used in this book are material Nintendo has publicly released over the years. The vast majority of these images are from promotional material, press interviews, Iwata Asks interviews, and making-of videos. A scant few images have also been sourced from the three Zelda art books by Shogakukan and Dark Horse: Hyrule Historia, Arts & Artifacts, and Creating a Champion. I would highly recommend checking them out (especially Creating a Champion) if you have an interest in behind-the-scenes development material.