The Legend of Zelda (video game)
"The Legend of Zelda" is considered a spiritual forerunner of the modern role-playing video game (RPG) genre. Though it is often not considered part of the genre since it lacked key RPG mechanics such as experience points, it had many features in common with RPGs and served as the template for the action role-playing game genre. The game's fantasy setting, musical style and action-adventure gameplay were adopted by many RPGs. Its commercial success helped lay the groundwork for involved, non-linear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful RPGs, including "Crystalis", "Soul Blazer", Square's "Seiken Densetsu" series, "Alundra", and "Brave Fencer Musashi". The popularity of the game also spawned several clones trying to emulate the game.
The Legend of Zelda
A number of official books, novels, and gamebooks have been released based on the series as well. The earliest was "Moblin's Magic Spear", published in 1989 by Western Publishing under their Golden Books Family Entertainment division and written by Jack C. Harris. It took place sometime during the first game. Two gamebooks were published as part of the "Nintendo Adventure Books" series by Archway, both of which were written by Matt Wayne. The first was "The Crystal Trap" (which focuses more on Zelda) and the second was "The Shadow Prince". Both were released in 1992. A novel based on "Ocarina of Time" was released in 1999, written by Jason R. Rich and published by Sybex Inc. under their "Pathways to Adventure" series. Another two gamebooks were released as part of the "You Decide on the Adventure" series published by Scholastic. The first book was based on "Oracle of Seasons" and was released in 2001. The second, based on "Oracle of Ages", was released in 2002. Both were written by Craig Wessel. In 2006, Scholastic released a novel as part of their "Nintendo Heroes" series, "Link and the Portal of Doom". It was written by Tracey West and was set shortly after the events of "Ocarina of Time".