View source for Tips & Tactics: The Legend of Zelda

{{Book
 | Title            = Tips & Tactics: The Legend of Zelda
 | SortTitle        = Tips & Tactics: Legend of Zelda, The
 | Image            = Tips & Tactics - Legend of Zelda, The - Paperback - USA.jpg
 | ImageDescription = Paperback - USA - 1st edition.
 | Author           = {{BookAuthor|Work House}}
 | PublishedYear    = 1986
 | PublishedMonth   = 02
 | PublishedDay     = ??
 | Type             = {{BookType|Non-fiction}}, {{BookType|Strategy guide}}
 | Genre            = {{BookGenre|Video Game}}
 | Themes           = {{MediaTheme|Video Games}}
 | AgeGroup         = Children
}}

'''''Tips & Tactics: The Legend of Zelda''''' is a [[strategy guide]] for ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. It was conceived of by [[Work House]] and published by [[Tokuma Shoten]]. The original Japanese release was titled ''必勝ヒント本 ゼルダの伝説, [Hissho Hinto Hon: Zelda no Densetsu], Winning Hint Book: Legend of Zelda'' and printed in February, 1986 under the ''わんぱっくコミック増刊 [Wanpakku komikku zokan] Naughty Comic: Special Edition'' series. It was translated into English and published in the USA in 1987.

==Personal==
{{BookStatus
 | Own      = 
 | Read     = Paperback.
 | Finished = 2019‎-11-20.
}}

In my NES days, I had no idea this book existed, but I would have loved it. My brother owned ''[[The Official Nintendo Player's Guide]]'' which had a lot of detailed maps and tips for ''The Legend of Zelda'', but this book goes into much more detail.

==Review==
{{BookRating|5}}

===Good===
* The book provides detailed maps for the over world and the first six underworlds. It also tells you what to expect from the seventh, eighth, and ninth underworlds.
* Rather than simply give all the game's secrets away, it gives hints to the reader enabling them to uncover each hint for themselves. Although, it doesn't do the best job at this.

===Bad===
* Despite having a wealth of information, the book's initial content is just duplicated from the original game manual.
* The key for the map layouts use the traditional top-to-bottom then right-to-left layout of Japanese text, not the left-to-right then top-to-bottom of English. This should have been updated for English readers.
* In the US publication there are a few Engrish moments, spelling errors, and typos. For example, the Triforce of Wisdom is referred to as the "Wisdom of Triforce." The US editor's name is even misspelled in the credits!
* A lot of the television photos are so close up you see a mess of RGB dots rather than an image. The photos from the game manual are superior. Also, some of the screenshots are from the Japanese version of the game with the Japanese text obscured with a black marker, but still semi-legible.

===Ugly===
* Rather than use a walk-through which would take the reader through the game's story in an orderly manner, the book gives hints based on where they appear on the map (in reverse order). For example, the starting cave where you get the rusty sword isn't described until page 46! And the first room described in the section on the first underworld is the Triforce chamber! This makes it impossible for the reader to look through the book without being exposed to unwanted spoilers. For example, the over world map tells all of the locations for the underworlds, so the old man hints in the underworlds are pointless by the time you reach that section of the book.

==Media==
<gallery>
Tips & Tactics - Legend of Zelda, The - Paperback - Japan.jpg|Cover - Japan - Link is striking a heroic pose with the landscape of Hyrule behind him.
Tips & Tactics - Legend of Zelda, The - Paperback - Japan.pdf|Hint book - Japan.
Tips & Tactics - Legend of Zelda, The - Paperback - USA.jpg|Cover - USA - Kind of bland, not unlike the US ''Zelda'' box art.
Tips & Tactics - Legend of Zelda, The - Paperback - USA.pdf|Hint book - English.
</gallery>

==Credits==
{| class="wikitable"
! Role !! Staff
|-
| Concept || [[Work House]], Tokyo.
|-
| Cooperation || Keiichi Kikushima, Jun Natsui
|-
| Cell Pictures || Original Pictures / Yoshimiru, Cell work / Hideaki Itoh
|-
| Illustrations || Susumu Kobayshi, Narumi Tanaka
|-
| Design || Ohbun-Seikosha Co., Ltd.
|-
| Publisher || Hideo Ogata
|-
| Published By || [[Tokuma Shoten|Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.]]
|-
| Editor || Masayoshi Suzuki
|-
| US Editor || [[Howard Phillips|Howard Philips]], with Lynn Griffes
|-
| US Version Producer || Tsutomu Otsuka
|}

==Links==


[[Category: Video Game Books]]