That’s a wrap for Zelda Week 2023

A week’s worth of legends, myths, and spinning charge attacks

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out. I’m sure many are reading this article on a Monday morning with tired eyes from a launch weekend full of exploration and adventures in Hyrule.

As part of this big launch, we kicked off another themed Zelda Week here at Destructoid. Throughout the week, our staff and contributors pitched in with stories, opinions, lists, analyses, and more, all about the Zelda franchise. It was a solid week full of articles that they should be proud of, and as the person that curated the whole thing, I’m very thankful for their contributions.

One of my biggest takeaways, as the week came together, was how expansive Zelda has become. It’s not just Link going on adventures. We had looks at what a fighting game, or Linkle-centered spin-off, might look like. Chris Moyse explored the legacy of fun, strange ads for the Zelda series, as they evolved over time and alongside pop culture. We looked at what place the titular princess has in the series, and how one big date may have marked a permanent shift in the series’ storytelling.

It was, by all accounts, an excellent week. So if you’re recuperating from a long weekend of playing Tears of the Kingdom and still craving some Zelda to read, here’s everything we put together from the last week of coverage.

Every Zelda Week article, 2023 edition

• CJ kicks the week off with a look at the best quotes from The Legend of Zelda. Even though Link isn’t (normally) talkative, there’s quite a few good ones.
• I, Eric, take one last trip through Breath of the Wild‘s Hyrule and its side quests, ahead of Tears of the Kingdom. After playing a good chunk of Tears, I feel pretty vindicated in my gut instincts on which side quests would carry some importance in the new game.
• Chris Penwell ponders what a Zelda fighting game might look like, carrying some of that Soulcalibur II legacy forward in the process.
• We re-shared CJ’s 30-year quest to beat Zelda II.

• Our staff shared their favorite Zelda dungeons from throughout the years, from Snowpeak Ruins to the Great Deku Tree.
• Holmes explores the cozy town vibes of older Zelda games, while also calling for a Link’s Awakening 2. Let him cook, I say.
• Cody asks if it’s time for Zelda to be playable in a mainline Zelda game, which yes, that would be rad.
• CJ praises the one-shot villains of Zelda; the also-rans, the non-Ganons of the world. They deserve some spotlight too!
• Chris Moyse takes us through the history of Zelda TV ads. It goes places.

• Chris Carter reviews The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and y’all, this game seems pretty good.
• Before Tears arrived, some of our staff recounted their favorite memories from playing Breath of the Wild.
• Another Zelda Week bump from the past, this time from community member Noir on the topic of fear itself.
• I looked at all the times Link has visited other game worlds in cameos, from fighting in arenas and racing on tracks to… taking a nap.

• I also shared some early Tears of the Kingdom videos, as users began subjecting Koroks to their terrible experiments. I’m delighted to report that the Korok test subject trend has only escalated since then.
• Zoey examines how Nintendo’s handled the role of Princess Zelda in the past, and whether the series would be better in veering away from her traditional status.
• Tim takes a deep dive into Zelda history to draw a line between Link’s big date in Link’s Awakening and a greater change in how Nintendo wrote the Zelda series.
• CJ considers what a Legend of Linkle game could look like, and which third-party studios may be well-suited to the cause.
• We asked the community to share some of the weirdest creations they’ve made thus far in Tears of the Kingdom.

Still more Zelda on the way

That’s a wrap for this year’s Zelda Week, but it’s far from the end of our Zelda coverage. There is little doubt we’ll keep following Tears of the Kingdom, seeing what players do with it and developing more takes on it as time goes on.

We may even look at doing some more theme weeks this year, as there’s certainly no shortage of big launches in our future. But to our writers who contributed, and to everyone who clicked through and read, thank you for making Zelda Week 2023 a great one. See y’all in Hyrule.