Nintendo show off original Legend of Zelda design plans

In celebration of The Legend of Zelda’s 30th Anniversary, Nintendo have unearthed some of the original design documents from the production of the 1987 classic.

Drawings from both Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka have been uploaded to Nintendo’s website and the analogue style of game design is a fantastic historical account of the NES/Famicom legend.

Looking at these drawings personally reminds me of days spent playing Dungeons and Dragons on a flat grid, imagining where the walls and cities were as our parties took to battle… And invariably died.

The pictures not only show the drawings and colouring of the levels, but are also a lovely look at Nintendo’s planning sheets. A simple, easy to reference document that is instantly recognisable. A far cry from our digital world nowadays but certainly interesting to see our analogue past and how early classic design was realised.

There’s also a short video too showing the whole of the Zelda map, which might includes some secrets, but it’s been 30 years. Do you really need a spoiler warning? Probably not.

(All images from Nintendo)