The popularity of the Zelda franchise permitted for the release of Zelda-related merchandise such as clothing, toys, candy, books, a TV show, and comics. This Zelda themed market expansion allowed Nintendo to generate more money from the Zelda franchise, and also increased the social penetration of the Zelda meme.

The Legend of Zelda is an American animated series based on the The Legend of Zelda video game series for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The plot follows the adventures of Link and Princess Zelda as they defend the kingdom of Hyrule from an evil wizard named Ganon. It is heavily based on the first game of the Zelda series, The Legend of Zelda, but includes some references to the second, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The show was produced by DIC Entertainment and distributed by Viacom Enterprises in association with Nintendo. It comprises thirteen episodes which first aired in North America from September 8, 1989 to December 1, 1989.

The Legend of Zelda was featured on every Friday episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show in place of the Super Mario Bros. cartoons. Each episode ran for about fifteen minutes. The series was made in association with Nintendo of America, produced by DiC Entertainment, and distributed for syndicated television by Viacom Enterprises (now CBS Television Distribution). Due to its syndicated nature, only one season of sixty-five episodes was made of the The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and Zelda was aborted after thirteen episodes. However, slightly modified versions of the characters of Link and Zelda, together with their original voice actors, were later transplanted into NBC's Saturday morning program Captain N: The Game Master, also produced by DiC Entertainment. In 1992, the episodes were time compressed (sped up) and played in double episode format on the Captain N & The Video Game Masters syndication block. Zelda episodes were rarely shown, but at least once, the episodes "Underworld Connections" & "Doppleganger" aired with the titles switched around. It was played in this block from 1992-1993 in syndication, and from 1993-1995 on USA Network.

Clips previewing the episodes were shown in the middle of the live-action segments when the Mario cartoon was shown. These clips were cut out of the video releases and Yahooligans! TV, but were restored for the Super Mario Bros. Super Show DVD set (except for "King Mario of Cramalot").

Zelda was first released in the early 1990s along with the Super Mario Bros cartoon. It was produced in the form of two-episode VHS tapes in four volumes; the gold color of the VHS slipcases matched that of the original NES games. The series was released on DVD in two volumes by the animation company Allumination FilmWorks The first DVD, Ganon's Evil Tower, was released on July 22, 2003, including three episodes of the Zelda cartoon and two of Sonic Underground. The second DVD was released on September 27, 2005, titled Havoc in Hyrule, containing a further five Zelda episodes.

The complete Zelda series was released on October 18, 2005 by Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, with extra bonus features such as interactive DVD games and line art from the series. However, it did not include all of the associated The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! live action segments; some were included as bonus features.^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda_(TV_series)

A number of official books, novels and gamebooks have been released based on the series.

The first was Moblin's Magic Spear published in 1989 by Western Publishing, Inc. under their Golden Books range 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 and both written by Matt Wayne. The first was The Crystal Trap which focuses more on Zelda and the second titled The Shadow Prince, both 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 based on Oracle of Seasons released in 2001 and the second based on Oracle of Ages released in 2002, both written by Craig Wessel. In 2006, Scholastic released a novel as part of their Nintendo Heroes series titled Link and the Portal of Doom. It was written by Tracey West and was set shortly after the events of Ocarina of Time.

In 2011, to coincide with the 25th Anniversary of the series, an art book was published exclusively in Japan under the name Hyrule Historia by Shogakukan. It contains several pieces of concept art from the series's conception to the release of Skyward Sword in 2011, multiple essays about the production of the games, and for the first time ever in Zelda history, the series's timeline was included in the book, confirming fan theories about a split in the timeline, as well as a third split, asking what would happen if Link was defeated in the final battle with Ganon in Ocarina of Time. It also includes a prequel manga to Skyward Sword by Zelda manga duo Akira Himekawa. In August 2012, the book was confirmed for an international release by Oregon-based publisher Dark Horse Comics on January 29th, 2013. Demand was high enough that the book took the number one spot on Amazon's sales chart, taking the spot away from E.L James's 50 Shades of Grey trilogy.

A world without Zelda...

The NES Wouldn't Have Proven Itself a Worthy PC Competitor

Nintendo's initial line-up didn't reach far beyond the bounds of its arcade efforts -- remember, these were the days when console games strived to be "arcade perfect." So, while games like Super Mario Bros., Excitebike, and Kung-Fu certainly provided better experiences than their Atari-based competitors, PC gaming stood as an entirely different beast. Remember, before the days of Windows 95 and Plug and Play, getting a PC program to run properly often presented more of a challenge than any puzzles found in the actual game itself. The PC games market reflected this savvier audience, as well as their improved means of input; while Nintendo-ites were hopping and bopping with Mario, those lucky (and wealthy) enough to own a computer in the early 80s found themselves undergoing relatively sprawling adventures full of real characters with actual dialogue, like the King's Quest series.

The first Legend of Zelda changed console gaming's superficial reputation by presenting a game that wasn't meant to be finished in one sitting; sure, some Nintendo titles featured level select codes as a roundabout way of incorporating this same feature, but Zelda's built-in battery acted as a "bookmark" of sorts -- introducing an audience of millions to the concept of "saving" your game. With this idea in place, Nintendo showed that console gaming could present an experience that couldn't be bought elsewhere for 25 cents.

Game Design Would be Much More Chaotic

For a game hailing from 1986, The Legend of Zelda has an astounding amount of moving parts -- though their elegant implementation isn't happenstance. Other games -- especially those on the PC -- would feature inventory systems of their own, though Zelda differs by making sure all of the items collected actually serve some purpose in the long run. Those used to more complex computer adventures had no choice but to nab anything that wasn't nailed down for fear of some future obstacle eventually screwing them out of progress. Zelda may have existed in an age where designers often forced players to restart from the beginning if they missed a single item, but Nintendo managed to avoid this issue entirely. Need more bombs, arrows, or potions? The means to obtain any of these objects can be found all around young Link. His world is open and inviting, rewarding experimentation instead of punishing a player's creativity with unfair and unforeseen deaths.

Game Series Wouldn't Draw Upon Their Pasts

In the 8-bit era, the idea of what a sequel should be wasn't fully formed -- which may explain why Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link took entirely different approaches than their predecessors. And even though Zelda now operates on a model fully formed by Ocarina of Time, by A Link to the Past, we all assumed that each game in the series would move our hero Link to a different land, full of new treasures to find and monsters to slay. It's fair to criticize the series for relying on its history a bit too much, but Nintendo has created a mythology of sorts with The Legend of Zelda; one they can iterate upon, and subvert to surprise their audience. By sticking so close to the central tenants of the monomyth -- intentionally or not -- The Legend of Zelda eventually proved tradition had much to offer gaming, and that often the simplest stories resonate with us the most.

3D Combat Would Still be Messy

Though id Software had the whole "3D controls" thing down pat with 1996's Quake, steering a character outside of the FPS context still presented many challenges. Of course, Mario 64 proved this brave new world of polygons could be just as fluid as games from the past gen, thanks to its smart design and analog controls; but outside of a few awkward punches, combat wasn't Mario's bag. Facing enemies one-on-one -- let alone aiming and firing projectiles accurately -- proved even clumsier until Ocarina of Time's Z-targeting arrived to save the day. Though earlier games offered their own stabs at targeting systems, Ocarina's clicked more than any had in the past; Z-targeting always informed the player of their current target, and prevented Link from squaring off against more than one enemy at a time. Other developers would take this ball and run with it, causing Ocarina's bold experiment to seem downright primitive in our modern era -- but without Nintendo's patented lock-on technology, who knows how long it would take the industry to overcome the difficulties presented by the dreaded Z-axis?

Levels Would Be Far More Linear

Before The Legend of Zelda, video game levels mostly existed as a one-and-done sort of thing; you'd go from point A to point B, and never trod the same territory again. The first Zelda turned this idea on its ear by allowing players to go from point Q to point F, all the while allowing them to do just whatever the heck they wanted in between. Past areas didn't fade from existence just because Link scrolled them off-screen; even geography considered thoroughly explored would yield valuable secrets when revisited with new items, rewarding perceptive players. This early open world approach made Hyrule feel much more alive than any video game world before it, as the ever-present mini-map stood as a constant reminder that a land teeming with danger constantly existed around Link. PC games of the mid-80s might have tried to offer robust worlds of their own, but Zelda showed how well this idea could work in a context far more accessible than what could be found in Ultima or Wizardry.

http://www.1up.com/features/world-without-zelda

The Legend of Zelda was one of the very first games that offered a free roaming experiance of the game's universe. This means that the gameplay did not have any invisible walls and very few loading screens. Those are the usual elements in your traditional linear level design.

By making open world style content, the designers of Zelda permitted for unique personalised stories and game progression.

Zelda's open world environment is a forerunner of the nonlinear gaming that is common today in game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Final Fantasy, and Fable.

The previous system was named "Side Scrolling." In this game interface layout the player had a two-dimensional perspective that gave a sense of height and width. Movement in this graphic interface is usually left to right. Side scrolling did not support non-linear game play, generally these side scrolling games were very rigid in the experience provided. Examples of this is Super Mario Bros, Mega Man, Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes, Street Fighter, and Golden Axe.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link tried the side scrolling style, but many loyal Zelda fans were not happy with the result. In The Adventure of Link, combat was done left to right and kept free roaming travel to the original sky view. After the complaining of the dramatic change, Miyamoto and his team returned to the original game play with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

This next video is the game play of Zelda II.

Non-Linear Gameplay in Mega Man:

In 1987 the Capcom game "Mega Man" was created for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Mega man let the players choose in what order to complete the six stages of the game, this system allows alternet paths in a similar way as The Legend of Zelda permitted. With the defeat of each Robot Master Mega Man gains a unique weapon to be used against enemies. These new obtainable weapons are quite similar in concept to The Legend of Zelda's system of weapon obtaining.

THE FAMICOM DISK SYSTEM-For the technology of the time, Miyamoto’s plans for Zelda were ambitious to say the least. The launch title for Nintendo’s then new Famicom Disk System peripheral, the disks’ 112KB capacity allowed more room for content than a standard NES cartridge, and also meant that players could save their progress – a first for a console game. Unlike the game itself, the Disk System wasn’t particularly popular, and The Legend Of Zelda was re-released a year later on a standard cartridge with battery back-up – another video game first.

http://www.denofgeek.com/games/zelda/21231/the-inspiration-behind-the-legend-of-zelda

THE BATTERY BACK-UP- The Legend of Zelda introduced the back-up battery to the video game industry. This first appeared in the classic Nintendo. The battery back-up meant that players were able to come back to their previous game after shutting the console off. Previous to this innovation, the saving of player progress consisted of passwords that were used to access a checkpoint. Instead of the quick and repetitive entertainment that mid-80's video games provided, the battery back-up system allowed games to be more expansive. Being able to save progress in The Legend of Zelda allowed the player to become more immersed in the game content than any arcade machine ever could.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask of the Nitendo 64, did something no other game did before, it introduced time as a main factor in structure. The game offered three different days (until the moon falls on the beginning of the fourth) to complete the goal of stopping a moon from crashing into Hyrule. Essentially, each day is then split into sunup and sundown. Each of those times is split into twelve hours (twelve real-life minutes). Every minute in the game counts as a real life second, which means there are 4,320 seconds in the game for us to use(without pausing). The time limit of a game has been done before in the first Marios, however, the point is that every single one of those seconds counts. Stores will be open at certain times. Depending on the day, a shop game will change. Some people will only talk to you about an important item for their side-quest at a certain time. Aliens will attack cows at 2 AM, not just “at night”. You have only a couple of minutes (game hours) to catch a person doing something that moves the task forward. Therefore, the non-linear time structure gave gamers replay value because they could find so many different side missions that only occur at certain times.

An on-screen clock tracks the day and time. Link can return to 6:00 am on the first day by playing the "Song of Time" on the Ocarina of Time. If he doesn't, then the moon will destroy Clock Town, including all the surrounding regions of Termina and Link will lose everything he accomplished.^[13] However, returning to the first day saves the player's progress and major accomplishments permanently, such as the acquisition of maps, masks, songs, and weapons.^[14] Cleared puzzles, keys, and minor items will be lost, as well as any rupees not in the bank, and almost all characters will have no recollection of meeting Link.^[15] Link can slow down time or warp to the next morning or evening by playing two variations of the Song of Time. Owl statues scattered across certain major areas of the world allow the player to temporarily save their progress once they have been activated, and also provide warp points to quickly move around the world.