> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.killscreen.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The Zelda archetype will outlive us all
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/zelda-archetype-will-outlive-us-all/
- Published: 2013-12-11T20:29:51.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T16:15:19.000Z
- Description: In games, we face strange questions that don’t tend to come up in other mediums. Here’s one. When did The Legend of Zelda become a genre? Hack ’n’ Slash is a rather blatant homage to the series starring a stubby elf in the green tunic who’s saved the world with a bow, boomerang, and hookshot on num
- Author: Jason Johnson
- Tags: News, legend of zelda, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

In games, we face strange questions that don’t tend to come up in other mediums. Here’s one. When did *The Legend of Zelda* become a genre?

*Hack ’n’ Slash* is a rather blatant homage to the series starring a stubby elf in the green tunic who’s saved the world with a bow, boomerang, and hookshot on numerous occasions—but there’s a twist. Instead of the normal stockpile of bombs and arrows, your very familiar-looking lad and his fairy-friend will deconstruct the dungeons using computer skills, namely hacks, cracks, and cheating. Thus, **Hack* ’n’ Slash*, get it?

The concept is definitely inventive, but the wrapping paper has been used and reused. This is the latest example of the continuing fetishization of *Zelda*, a trend which includes titles such as *Ittle Dew, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP*, and *[Oceanhorn](http://killscreendaily.com/articles/reviews/oceanhorn-borrows-all-worst-parts-zelda/?ref=killscreen.com)*. This is a very recent thing, introduced when *Okami* directly mimicked the format in 2006\. Even Nintendo have been guilty of making games that are too *Zelda*\-y, a common criticism of the rut that that series has occassionally fallen into. I find it wistful and peculiar that people want to keep playing the same game forever, and have to wonder what magic the *Zelda* archetype has over us.