Every iteration of Hyrule in ‘Legend of Zelda’

wegotthiscovered.com:

The Legend of Zelda has changed a great deal since Link’s first adventure in the land of Hyrule. While many characteristics have changed, some have been pretty much constant, or at least a regular recurrence. You can pretty clearly see the link (no pun intended) from Tears of the Kingdom, stretching all the way back in time to the very first Zelda game on the NES – be it the gameplay, the characters, or the location. Even my personal favorite and first-ever experience with the franchise, Wind Waker, proudly flaunts its lustrous heritage. The kingdom is as iconic as the Mushroom Kingdom or Middle-earth.

Ever since the original game, subsequent titles would re-use the location again and again, with only a few moving to explore new regions. But exactly how many iterations of Hyrule have we seen in The Legend of Zelda? The landscape has changed a lot, from an 8-bit flat grid in 1986 to a glorious 3D world in Ocarina of Time; and most recently the huge (but poorly rendered) map in TotK. Here is every iteration of Hyrule in the franchise.

The best place to start is the original – the template for all future iterations. The Legend of Zelda (1986) introduced gamers to the sprawling land of Hyrule. This version contained all the most well-known areas – including Lake Hylia, the Graveyard, Death Mountain, and more. However, most of these names weren’t known to players yet. In fact, Nintendo itself may not have thought of a name for each location.

It’s easy to look back now and see the first dungeon as the husk of the great Deku tree, but at the time not many thought much of it. Aside from what would later be iconic locations, Hyrule also hides nine dungeons that must be conquered. The map is notorious for hiding secrets in random