Zelda Games (Collection Part 2)

Zelda Manga (Collection Part 1)

Once my Zelda Manga series was nearing completion, I turned my sights closer to the original source material: the games themselves. Now, I have (almost) always had all of the games in some form, and some way to play them basically at all times. The few exceptions are getting the original Legend of Zelda after owning A Link to the Past, a 6-month gap between Four Sword Adventures coming out and getting it for Christmas, and not being able to play the DS games due to not having a DS. But what I prioritized was being able to play a game in some fashion, and not necessarily having every version. Like comics, I was less interested in the merch but was into the puzzles and story, so I didn’t rush out and get Ocarina of Time 3D when it first came out just because of some quality-of-life improvements and upgraded graphics. There wasn’t any new content or more Hyrulian history to learn about so I didn't feel compelled. Likewise, if Four Swords hadn’t been included, I might not have gotten the GBA port of ALttP.

As another example, I didn’t really feel the need to own the Zelda Collector’s Edition because it seemed redundant due to still owning the original hardware and cartridges in working condition (and being able to also play them on the Wii VC). Nor did my wallet feel the urge to get both the Wii and GameCube versions of Twilight Princess, because it was basically the same game other than being mirrored. I only bought the GBA re-releases of the NES games because my son had a GBA and I didn’t feel like hooking up the NES.

So once I set my sights on obtaining a complete collection, I started off by making a list and noting the things I was missing. These were things like the GameCube version of Twilight Princess, the WiiU version of Breath of the Wild, a physical version of Wind Waker HD (I only had the digital version up to this point), and the Collector’s Edition disc. All of this would be a bit of spending so I gave myself a $100 per month limit, both to avoid putting us in the poor-house and to make the collection process more fun by spreading it out over several years rather than all at once.

This would complete the games, but to make them a bit more presentable, I found a shop that specializes in making reproductions of the original game boxes as well as the instruction manuals. So I added those to the list of things to buy. Luckily, I still had all of the boxes and manuals from Ocarina onward, so I really only needed to replace the boxes for the NES games, ALttP, both versions of Link’s Awakening, and the GBA re-releases of the NES games.

I figured I might as well do the same for the spin-off games as well, so I imported the 3 Tingle DS games from Japan, got the 3DS and Switch version of Hyrule Warriors, bought a Game & Watch Zelda, and found a seller who made physical copies of the BS-X games along with custom manuals and boxes. Unfortunately, the CD-i games were prohibitively expensive, so I resorted to making my own versions of the discs and jewel cases, knowing full well that they would never be played. My work was . . . adequate, but then I learned of a British place that made much better replicas, so I ordered some. And for the three other games that only got digital releases (FS:AE, TMTP, and MNP:TP), I made custom cases using Photoshop and some cheap cases I got from a used game store.

In addition, I also got Japanese versions of the first six games (including both disk and cartridge versions), the Japanese FSA (because it has Navi Trackers), and a set of the Barcode Battler II cards for ALttP. The only thing that doesn’t have a box is the Nelsonic Game Watch. I could buy one with the packaging, but I’m still a bit too cheap at the moment and would rather spend my money elsewhere. Perhaps in the future, maybe. But all of this wrapped up in April of 2022 with a complete Zelda game collection.





What’s next? I’m glad you asked . . . (Part 3)