Season 1 Episode 1 - Background and The Legend of Zelda

Season 1 Episode 1 - Background and The Legend of Zelda

Author: Franchise Festival December 29, 2019 Duration: 1:10:36
Christian, Hamilton, and Spencer discuss the pre-1986 background of the Legend of Zelda series along with its first Famicom Disk System / Nintendo Entertainment System installment. [temporarily removed]

Franchise Festival digs into the stories behind the video game series that shaped a medium. Each season is a deep, chronological exploration of a single franchise, tracing its creative and technical evolution from often-humble 1980s origins through to its latest installments. You’ll hear about the design breakthroughs, the business decisions that changed course, and the cultural moments that turned pixels into lasting legends. This isn’t just a review show; it’s about understanding how these interconnected worlds were built, year by year and sometimes crisis by crisis. The podcast favors depth over breadth, spending multiple episodes to fully unpack the development history of noteworthy series like Castlevania, SimCity, or Mega Man. The narrative focuses on the people and processes behind the games-the how and why, not just the what. It’s for anyone who’s ever wondered about the connective tissue between their favorite sequels or the forgotten prototypes that paved the way. Tune in for a thoughtfully researched and structured audio documentary experience, one franchise at a time.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 86

Franchise Festival
Podcast Episodes
Season 1 Episode 16 - Skyward Sword (Part 1) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:39:22
Christian, Jasmine, and Spencer cover the development history, gameplay mechanics, minigames, localization, and cut content of Skyward Sword (2011). This game's unique status as the intersection between portable and home…
Season 1 Episode 15A - Spirit Tracks Outtakes (Bonus) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:09
This bonus feature covers content cut from our Spirit Tracks episode. In these clips, Hamilton, Jasmine, and Christian discuss the Tower of Spirits' development process, anti-piracy measures, localization quirks and more…
Season 1 Episode 15 - Spirit Tracks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:37:00
Christian, Hamilton, and new full-time co-host Jasmine go in-depth with The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The crew covers this controversial Nintendo DS game's development history, gameplay, and cut content. Zelda's si…
Season 1 Episode 14 - Phantom Hourglass [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:34:05
Christian, Spencer, and Hamilton explore the development, gameplay, story, dungeons, and bosses of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The Temple of the Ocean King is litigated at length. Your hosts discover that, th…
Season 1 Episode 13A - Twilight Princess Outtakes (Bonus) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:45
This bonus feature covers content cut from the original two Twilight Princess episodes. In these clips, Hamilton, Spencer, and Christian discuss fishing minigames, the origins of Twilight Princess' Shiekah ghost town, an…
Season 1 Episode 13 - Twilight Princess (Part 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:11:12
Christian, Hamilton, and Spencer explore the second half of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. We go in-depth on the Arbiter's Grounds, Snowhead Ruins, Temple of Time, City in the Sky, Palace of Twilight, and Hyrule…
Announcement: Publishing Schedule Update [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12
Just a quick announcement that we are returning to our original once-per-month publishing schedule beginning with Season 1 Episode 13: Twilight Princess (Part 2) on September 1, 2020. There will consequently be no new ep…
Season 1 Episode 12 - Twilight Princess (Part 1) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:56:38
Christian, Hamilton, and Spencer explore the development history and gameplay generalities of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess before taking a deep dive into the story and dungeons through Link’s acquisition of the…
Season 1 Episode 11 - Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:17
Christian, Hamilton, and Spencer explore the development, story, and gameplay of The Legend of Zelda's multiplayer Four Swords spinoffs. The quirky charms of the Satellaview's rare Legend of Zelda remakes are also discus…
Season 1 Episode 10 - The Minish Cap [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:37:32
Christian, Hamilton, and Spencer explore what got them into video games before discussing The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. The series' best sprite graphics are lovingly dissected. Skip to 9:41 to jump straight to Zel…