Greatest Zelda painting of all time.

Context: 25 Years of Zelda. Oh, and it gets bigger.

With Pokémon Black/White coming in just a few short weeks,  I we all have some hard questions to ask ourselves. Do I go to the midnight launch?  Should I buy the strategy guide? Will I be able to catch ‘em all? However, none of these questions are as important as the one we all must answer when we get to the front of the line at our local Gamestop: Black or White?

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On February 21, 1986 — 25 years ago today — Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then, the Zelda series has gone to become as iconic, recognized and truly legendary as its trademark golden cartridges. From Hyrule to Termina and beyond, we’ve gone on some truly ground-breaking adventures with Link as each Zelda installment intricately refined the action-adventure genre with its memorable cast of heroes and villains, challenging and exciting gameplay, unforgettable classic tunes, all set in an enchanting world that recalled the limitless imagination and mischief of a young Miyamoto exploring the forest caves of his childhood home.

Other sites have focused on the oddities of the series and silly Zelda-related merchandise and spin-offs that have sprouted up over the years, but I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the lasting impact of a series that completely changed my understanding of how magical and immersive a videogame could be. Despite our culture’s tendency to throw the word “epic” around in a cavalier fashion to describe everything in the world, The Legend of Zelda is a franchise that has stood the test of time and truly deserves the accolades it has received. It is our generation’s video Odyssey and a modern masterpiece in every sense of the word.
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In addition to Two Door Cinema Club, I’ve been listening to a lot of classical. A lot. That said, help me form an opinion on the below, you kind and cultured Infendo readers:

Over the years, Nintendo fans (especially children of the 80s who were growing up right as the NES was released) have amassed quite the impressive collection of systems, games, controllers, and other peripherals. Some would call this business I’ve got going on here a veritable shrine to gaming greatness. When I got to thinking about it, I realized that I’ve never met another female with a Nintendo collection that could even come close to surpassing my own. I have only ever met one guy who had more Nintendo games and systems than I (including numerous Game Boy Advances of every iteration, a DS, a DSi, and a DS XL), but even he had to give me props for collecting something he hadn’t — a Virtual Boy.
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In a recent edition of the Iwata Asks series, Satoru Iwata interviews Hisashi Koinuma of Tecmo Koei.  In edition to talking about the upcoming 3DS game Samurai Warriors Chronicles, they also chatted up a bit about how Koinuma was introduced into gaming. His story got me thinking about how I first became interested in video games.

My first memories of anything relating to video games is from my daycare center La Petite where I played Castlevania on the NES when I was four. I immediately begged my parents for a ‘Nintendo’ for what felt like a lifetime until finally one glorious day my parents came home with a second hand console, complete with Super Mario Bros./Duckhunt, Ninja Gaiden, two controllers and a Zapper. I was hooked for life.

So tell us world of Infendo, how did you find every body’s favorite pastime, video games?

Join Derek and I this week as we discuss Japanese gaming with our overseas correspondent Naomi, Mario and Luigi’s battle royal, Japanese RPGs, and escapism vs amusement. We also field listener calls and emails. Enjoy the show!

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Music: “Baby Elephant Walk” by Henry Mancini, “Death by Diamonds and Pearls” by Band of Skulls.

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- Okamiden’s US release date of March 15th will be here before you know it. Check out three new trailers (one, two, three), and a couple of tempting pre-order bonuses: the Brush Touch Pen and Okamiden Art Screen Cleaner from Gamestop, and an ungodly cute-beyond-words Chibi Keychain Plush from Capcom. (Press Release)

- A new winner of the Nacho Mama Tees t-shirt in our t-shirt give-away has been randomly chosen! And the winner is… Marc of Cleveland, OH! Is this you? Please get in touch with us and we’ll hook you up with the goods, stat. (Infendo)

- Seattle PI gets their grubby mitts on a 3DS and raves about the experience, especially regarding the included AR (augmented reality cards), boldly asserting that playing the 3DS “is more or less guaranteed to blow your mind.” I am quivering in anticipation. (Seattle PI)

- I laughed way harder at this “tribute” to Nintendogs than I care to admit. With Nintendogs + Cats just begging to be taken to a good home, I guess it’s time to put the old dogs down and prepare for the rise of a 3D breed. (Youtube)

A rebranding kinda sorta worked for The Big Mouse in Disney’s Epic Mickey, but would it work for Mario? This, dear readers, is the question I ponder today as I look over this impressive Mecha Mario battle suit artwork over at Cool Vibe this morning.

An even closer look at artist Marat Ars’s new suit design—and new look—is available in that second link. Clicky clicky!