Introduction: Why Hyrule Field Notes?

For my first Field Note I thought I would address a different question. Elsewhere on this site I have answered what Hyrule Field Notes (HFN) is, how it’s being done, where I’m playing each game, and when new Field Notes will be posted. With all of that information, I’m still missing one of the essential questions: why do a playthrough blog at all?

I’ve been a Zelda fan for a long time. Over 21 years in fact—since 1999 when I first played Ocarina of Time on my best friend’s N64. I was twelve, my family was in shambles, and I was living with my friend and her mom in a temporary foster care situation while a judge decided my fate. I’ve written on my Doppelganger Trilogy fan page about what this first exposure to the series meant to me and what life lessons I have learned from Zelda, and I might repost that here for fun, but that story is beside the point here.

I believe that every long-term fan of the Zelda series has their own “Zelda Testimonial”. For me, it was connecting with a boy about my age who had also lost his mother and was thrust into a bigger and more dangerous world unexpectedly. There is the popular Twilight Princess HD story about a man whose “Zelda Testimonial” is playing Twilight Princess on the Gamecube with his brother who passed away too young. I’ve heard testimonials about friendships that were forged through Zelda, and hobbies or professions discovered through the series. I’m sure that you have yours too.

Still, even with such a strong connection to Ocarina of time, 21 years of devotion is a long time. 14 Zelda games have come out since then (not counting HD versions, remakes, and spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule). Many timely catch our interest but still come and go in our lives, including other fandoms I’ve been a part of, but for some reason Zelda sticks.

I’ve played through almost every Zelda game. The ones I have missed are the three multi-player games and the Minish Cap. And you know what? I love every single Zelda game I’ve played. Sure, there are some that I have more fun with than others, and there are some that mean more to me than others, but if it’s a Zelda game I’m gunna love it for what it is.

So when the idea came to me to play through the whole timeline in chronological order, it wasn’t long until I also thought about writing about the experience. I love both Zelda lore and literary analysis, and I also love talking about things I love. Why not do it on a blog and have fun with it? So here we are: HFN.

The goal of this project is to look at the 20 mainline Zelda games from different angles. Hopefully these articles will be bite-sized chunks based on small, timed playthroughs. I will indicate in every Field Note which game I’m playing, what system I’m playing it on, what portion of the game I played through, how long I played for, and total playtime for the whole project. If there are any other stats you’d be interested in tracking, let me know in the comments and I will see about adding it!

Thank you for reading this introduction to Hyrule Field Notes. What is your Zelda Testimonial? I’d love to hear your story in the comments!

Please subscribe to see when HFN is updated, and I will see you in the next Field Note! Thanks for reading.