A link to the past, present, or future: Exploring confusing timelines within video games

Video games, like other artforms, have a long place of emphasis on the power of narration. Even in the early days of the 8-bit era games like Mega Man, which were by no means text-heavy, featured complex and convoluted backstories packed away in the instruction manual. Indeed, predating home console action games were the text-based adventure games on PC like Dungeons and Dragons, which were nothing but story.

As the medium is evolved and the advanced technology, games grow more likely to take on more narrative complexity. By the early 1990s, RPGs on the Super NES became renowned for their epic-scale plots; by the end of the decade, Hideo Kojima was revolutionizing the industry with his cinematic Metal Gear Solid.

As the videogame market was becoming more lucrative, publishers became more eager for sequels to successful games that would replicate their appeal. Of course, videogame franchises were nothing new; unlike other mediums, game sequels allowed for the development of technical issues, add content of the original and a new take on an established formula.

Sometimes, it seems like a whole idea of ​​a game's 'universe' is ignored in favor of churning out the next blockbuster in time for Christmas

Nevertheless, pressures on developers seem to be more complicated than ever before. Sometimes, it seems to be the whole idea of ​​a game's 'universe' was ignored in favor of churning out the next blockbuster in time for Christmas.

Perhaps the most infamous example Legend of Zelda series. from A Link to the Past (the third game in the franchise) onwards, the main character Link is depicted as a separate member of a broad family tree, with each iteration a descendant of a previous 'Link'. On the other hand, the games are often used in many other settings, which make them difficult.

In 1998, Nintendo released Ocarina of Time to great acclaim, to which point the question of the timeline became very, very messy indeed; the time-travel component of the gameplay which was highly praised at the time. In addition, its plot was very similar to its predecessor, A Link to the Past, while at the same time having major differences (such as time-travel, which never featured in the third game).

Another problem was the sheer difference, for instance, between 2003's The Wind Waker, in which the land of Hyrule has been completely flooded by the Great Ocean, and the following game, Twilight Princessin which Hyrule is very much on dry land. Not only that, but both games feature totally contradicting backstories regarding the aftermath of Ocarina and the fate of Ganon.

This issue, and many others (such as where the multiplayer Four Swords games fit) to the Zelda timeline, which is a piece of the game, with multiple timelines featuring multiple parallel timelines. Most commonly, fan timelines featured two branching timelines, usually with Ocarina as the point of divergence.

Eventually, bowing to fan pressure, Nintendo released its official timeline in the 2011 Hyrule Historia book, which featured no less than three alternate timelines: dubbed the Adult Link, Child Link and the Downfall Timeline). This place Ocarina of Time to the point at which the story diverged (given the time-travel elements of that game's plot). However, the latest release, 2017's Breath of the Wild, appears to contradict this. It is set after Ocarina, but appears to be in all three timelines. This is a reincarnation of the debate among fans and many now totally reject the 'official' timeline in favor of their own interpretations.

While the Zelda timeline is in the process of being self-contained, the individual games are thankfully self-contained (to an acceptable extent, at least); an expansive knowledge of the series is not required to jump onboard the Breath of the Wild love-boat.

the highly complex plot that runs through the series can be overwhelm any unfortunate newcomer who picks up the wrong entry as a jumping on point.

The same can not be said for Metal Gear Solid franchise. The series debuted on the MSX2 computer in Japan and Europe in 1987, and quickly made the jump to the home market. Unlike the Legend of Zelda, MGS 'troubles come from the fact that many of the games are ambiguously canonical. In addition, the highly complex plot that runs through the series can be overwhelmed by a newcomer who gets a jump on the point.

While the first two games are canon, their NES ports (which are better known in the west) are not. Snake's Revenge The 1990 NES sequel was produced by Konami without Kojima's knowledge. It was purged from the timeline with the confusingly-titled Metal Gear II: Solid Snake replacing it later in 1990, but only in Japan. To add to the confusion, 2000 saw a Metal Gear Solid appear on the Boy Color Game (known in Japan as Ghost Babel). It is a non-canon, 'alternate' sequel.

This did not stop Kojima from referencing the game's MGS entries. Worse still are the status of the obscure entries, like Metal Gear Solid Mobile for Nokia N-Gage and Verizon. It purports to be the missing link between Metal Gear Solid and its sequel Sons of Liberty, and while nothing in it explicitly contradicts it has been totally forgotten by Konami, as it is missing in the various official lists of the series. With the recent departure of Kojima from the company, it is not inconceivable that there will be more complications if Konami attempts to capitalize on the series without its creator.

In the case of both Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear SolidWhat makes the timelines confusing for both the canonical order and the canonical order. Surely it would be easier for everyone if MGS 3 was the third (or, more strictly speaking, fifth) chapter in the narrative, instead of the story-wise game storytelling. Gold that the original Legend of Zelda was the first game in both release and canon, and not the tenth (depending on how you order alternate timelines). While it is extraordinary, sometimes inspirational, to consider the time, effort and dedication some fans have shown that these issues, the fact that they exist to be a consequence of the video game industry's priority profit over the quality of the games they produce .