I was surprised and thrilled to see that The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia topped The NY Times best-seller list for “hardcover advice & misc.” The book is a collaboration between Nintendo and Dark Horse Books. It tells the history of The Legend of Zelda franchise, outlines the official canon, and is illustrated by tons of fantastic concept art. Hyrule Historia features contributions from Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, and Akira Himekawa. Here’s the Amazon.com description:
Dark Horse Books and Nintendo team up to bring you The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda franchise. This handsome hardcover contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! Starting with an insightful introduction by the legendary producer and video-game designer of Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto, this book is crammed full of information about the storied history of Link’s adventures from the creators themselves!
For gamers — especially longtime Nintendo fans — this is pretty much the best coffee-table book ever made. While I knew it would be popular with videogame aficionados (duh), I was still surprised to see it top a NY Times best-seller list…but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. A lot of people that grew up with Zelda are at an age where they’re buying fancy coffee tables and need fancy books to put on top of them. Hell, Robin Williams named his hot daughter — Zelda Williams costar of Noobz — after the game.
It’s fantastic seeing how mainstream gaming has become. If you had asked Fledgling Gamer Me if a videogame book would be at the top of the NY Times best-seller list, well…I probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to you because I was glued to my Fairchild Channel F. However, if you asked me that question when I first started writing about games for Happy Puppy, I would have said not for a very, very long time. Yet it hasn’t been all that long (humor me) and Hyrule Historia reigns supreme!
Any of you surprised by the book’s success? Any of you have it or plan on getting it (through the nifty Amazon link above, please)? Now please excuse me, as I need to order the book for my (totally cheap Ikea) coffee table.
I’m hoping to get this book soon.