Let’s flashback to some of the greatest Legend of Zelda TV ads

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Game marketing has sure changed in the post-internet world. And while we can be grateful for the abandonment of those weird “lad’s mag”  years, there’s definitely something of a yearning for the well (and not-so-well)-conceived commercials of the 1980s and 1990s. This was a time when context was absolutely necessary, where no answers or information could be found via a quick wander through the information superhighway.

The commercial had to do all the selling. No live streams, no banner ads, no YouTube previews, and no E3 visit for Johnny Public. You have 30 seconds to tell people to spend $50. Make them count.

Fortunately for Nintendo’s premier fantasy franchise, The Legend of Zelda, its universe and characters exemplified magic, mystery, excitement, and adventure. Marketers had a literal universe of brave heroes, beautiful princesses, vicious monsters, grim castles, and haunted woods at their disposal, advertising Link’s newest adventure to eager youth — pockets bursting with dollar bills, due to the fact that the only subscription anybody had back then was a subscription to Nintendo Power.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on Nintendo Switch later this week, riding on the crest of a commercial, according to social media, left some fans literally crying with emotion. For sure, there is an art to making a modern game trailer, especially with a release as epic as TOTK. But still, one cannot help but wistfully recollect those carefree Saturday mornings, when a show that you remember being better than it actually was would eventually cut to commercial — And it was in this arena that The Big N would do its very best to compel you and your friends to the Land of Hyrule…

…Armed, more often than not, with the power of Rap.