Title Screen

The,            also known as the , is a recurring interface in the Legend of Zelda series, visible upon starting up the game and when quitting. It usually displays the game's title logo and copyright date with a looping intro. Pressing the START button or an equivalent input takes the player to the File-Selection Screen.

A waterfall flows between two cliffs under a pink sky in the NES version, or a yellow sky in the GBA version. At 0:09, the sky fades to night and the intro rises in, surrounded by vines. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

MANY YEARS AGO, PRINCE DARKNESS "GANNON" STOLE ONE OF THE TRIFORCE WITH POWER.

'''PRINCESS ZELDA HAD ONE OF THE TRIFORCE WITH WISDOM. SHE DIVIDED IT INTO "8" UNITS TO HIDE IT FROM GANNON BEFORE SHE WAS CAPTURED.'''

GO FIND THE "8" UNITS "LINK" TO SAVE HER. -NES version THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

LONG AGO, GANON, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, STOLE THE TRIFORCE OF POWER.

PRINCESS ZELDA OF HYRULE BROKE THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM INTO EIGHT PIECES AND HID THEM FROM GANON BEFORE SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY GANON'S MINIONS.

LINK, YOU MUST FIND THE PIECES AND SAVE ZELDA. -GBA version

At 0:27, the intro rises out and a list of the items in the game scrolls up. At about 1:20 after all the items have passed, Link holds up a comically large sign saying "PLEASE LOOK UP THE MANUAL FOR DETAILS." Finally it loops back to the beginning.

A sword is stuck in the ground on a cliffside at night, with a view to the sea. A single meteor descends at 0:04. The title logo rises up in the background at 0:09 and holds. The intro starts to scroll up at 0:43. '''AFTER GANON WAS DESTROYED, IMPA TOLD LINK A SLEEPING SPELL WAS CAST ON PRINCESS ZELDA. SHE WILL WAKE ONLY WITH THE POWER OF NO.3 TRIFORCE SEALED IN A PALACE IN HYRULE. TO BREAK THE SEAL, CRYSTALS MUST BE PLACED IN STATUES IN 6 WELL GUARDED PALACES. LINK SET OUT ON HIS MOST ADVENTURESOME QUEST YET...'''

©1987 NINTENDO -NES version '''AFTER GANON WAS DESTROYED, IMPA TOLD LINK A SLEEPING SPELL WAS CAST ON PRINCESS ZELDA. SHE WILL WAKE ONLY WITH THE POWER OF THE THIRD TRIFORCE SEALED IN A PALACE IN HYRULE. TO BREAK THE SEAL, CRYSTALS MUST BE PLACED IN STATUES IN 6 WELL GUARDED PALACES. LINK SET OUT ON HIS MOST ADVENTURESOME QUEST YET...'''

©1987-2004 NINTENDO -GBA version

The title logo then rises once again and the loop repeats.

In the SNES version, "Nintendo Presents" appears on a black background to the sound of a Rupee being collected. The text disappears and the three pieces of the Triforce enter from their respective edges, rotating in 3D until they converge and form the complete Triforce. The title logo appears in front of it, and the Master Sword strikes downward through the "Z" as the screen flashes rapidly. A background appears, showing a castle standing in a lake with trees and a mountain in the distance. After several seconds, a cutscene telling of the Seal of Seven Maidens is shown, which then loops back to the Title Screen when it's finished.

In the Game Boy Advance version, the Title Screen appears after the combined File-Selection Screen for. The "Nintendo Presents" text is omitted, and the prologue cutscene is not shown until the player begins the game for the first time.

Upon startup, an anime-artstyle cutscene plays of Link sailing back to Hyrule in his small boat, as he had been shown leaving for training in distant lands in the ending cutscene of the Linked Game. Unfortunately, he's now encountered inclement weather, and his boat is struck by lightning. Fade to white, and cut to Marin walking on the beach, now in the in-engine artstyle. She stops in her tracks when she sees Link offscreen, and runs forwards. She steps slowly the last few meters, looks down at him, and shakes him. Then as the music speeds up, pan upwards to the Wind Fish's Egg atop its mountain (surrounded by a cloudy sky in the DX and Nintendo Switch versions) where the title logo appears. The upbeat title music loops 3 times as the title logo sparkles, and then the cutscene loops to the beginning again.

The Nintendo 64 logo is briefly shown before the Title Screen fades in. Link rides Epona across Hyrule Field at dawn, seen at first from a distance, then with various sweeping camera angles. The title logo appears with flames behind it. Link and Epona take a brief break by Zora River, and then the camera flies into the entrance to Kokiri Forest with a lens flare effect. One of a set of three cutscenes then plays before the Title Screen repeats.


 * Nabooru is attacked by Twinrova in the Spirit Temple as Link watches
 * Sheik appears in Death Mountain Crater and walks towards Link
 * Ganondorf rides his horse through flames

The Nintendo 64 logo is briefly shown, then fades to a black background. The title logo will appear instantly at any point when a button is pressed during the following scenes. Majora's Mask appears in the distance and begins moving closer to the screen, with a noticeable motion-blur effect. It appears to fly through the screen and then back into the distance. The Happy Mask Salesman is then seen reaching for the Mask, and he lets out a laugh before the screen fades to black again.

The screen fades back in to a close-up of Clock Tower, as the Clock Town music begins. The camera zooms out, showing the Carpenters preparing for the carnival as Link sits atop a scaffold. Several more scenes from around Clock Town show the residents going about their lives; each scene appears to get later in the day. The scene finally returns to Clock Tower during the pitch-black night, and the music turns ominous as the camera pans upward, showing the Skull Kid atop the tower and the Moon just above him. The title logo fades in, if it had not already appeared. After several seconds, the Title Screen restarts from the beginning.

The Nintendo and Capcom logos are briefly shown, then fade to a white background, whose aspect ratio changes to widescreen for the anime-artstyle cutscene. Link rides a horse across a grassy plain, slowly approaching the camera. Another camera angle of Link riding his horse is shown, and then a pan up a still image of Link on his horse. A shot of the horse rearing up at the point of a cliff overlooking a Hyrule Castle in the daytime is shown, then fade to white and transition to an in-engine cutscene of Link slowly and hesitantly walking towards the three pieces of the Triforce hovering over pedestals at the end of the room. As Link draws nearer to them, they react to his presence and fly upwards, surrounding him in a ball of red light and picking him up. A distortion effect happens over the screen, and Link disappears. Then, the camera pans up over the Maku Tree to a view of a blue sky with cirrus clouds, where the title logo appears.

If START is pressed at any time in that cutscene, it skips straight to the title logo over the blue sky. The music then loops two and a half times before abruptly cutting back to the Nintendo and Capcom logos.

The Nintendo and Capcom logos are briefly shown, then fade to a white background, whose aspect ratio changes to widescreen for the anime-artstyle cutscene. Under an enormous sunrise over the ocean with seagulls flying in the distance, Link rides a horse along a beach or clifftop. A brief shot is shown of riding towards the camera, then a narrow closeup of Link's eyes, and then a pan up a still image of Link on his horse. A shot of the horse rearing up at the point of a cliff overlooking a Hyrule Castle at dawn is shown, then fade to white and transition to an in-engine cutscene of Link slowly and hesitantly walking towards the three pieces of the Triforce hovering over pedestals at the end of the room. As Link draws nearer to them, they react to his presence and fly upwards, surrounding him in a ball of blue light and picking him up. A distortion effect happens over the screen, and Link disappears. Then, the camera pans up over the Maku Tree to a view of an orange sky with cirrus clouds, where the title logo appears.

If START is pressed at any time in that cutscene, it skips straight to the title logo over the orange sky. The music then loops two and a half times before abruptly cutting back to the Nintendo and Capcom logos.

The Title Screen of begins similarly to, though featuring more advanced graphics and an orchestrated version of the same theme song. Three pieces of the Triforce appear onscreen, each rotating until they form the complete Triforce. A spark of light flies onto the screen and around the Triforce, casting a "shadow" that is actually the inverted Triforce of Lorule. The title logo slides into place, and an in-game location appears in the background at a slight isometric angle and gradually scrolls around. This scene is actually the location of the latest saved game; if no saves exist, then the area around Link's House is shown.

Once the music completes, the Title Screen fades to black and begins to tell the game's prologue, seemingly describing the events of while animations in the style of a pop-up book are shown on the upper screen. Once this story concludes, the Title Screen is restarted.

The theme song to begin to play just as the game completes loading, and the title logo appears and flashes once. The Title Screen otherwise remains static until the complete theme song is heard. After one and a half minutes, the Title Screen begins to zoom out and is shown to actually be the cover of a storybook. This book opens up and flips through several pages before reading the game's prologue, with simple animations on the upper screen. Once the story has completed, the Title Screen restarts.

A silent montage of promotional art.

Trivia

 * Version 1.0 of is one of eleven games that feature an error in the Nintendo 64 logo; several faces have incorrect colors. This was fixed in version 1.1 and all subsequent releases.