Miyamoto Order
from Zeldapedia, the Legend of Zelda wiki
The Miyamoto order is what the chronology of the Legend of Zelda series is according to its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. It was released in an earlier issue of Nintendo Power. It states the games go in the following order. Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda, Adventure of Link and finally A Link To The Past. He states that Link's Awakening could take place anywhere in between. This is important to many timeline theories- considered canon by some and discarded by others (due to conflicts with the events portrayed in the actual games).
It is important to realize however that this order is likely outdated as many Zelda games have been made since this interview that could have potentially altered the order of these games since. Also important is that Miyamoto is no longer the sole director of the Zelda series as Eiji Aonuma now also holds that title and may have further altered this timeline.
[edit] Quote
- Nintendo Power: Where do all the Zelda games fall into place when arranged chronologically by their stories?
- Miyamoto: OoT is the first story, then the original Legend of Zelda, then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and finally A Link to the Past. It's not very clear where Link's Awakening fits in--it could be anytime after Ocarina of Time. --1998
[edit] Flaws
- Ocarina of Time ends with Ganon imprisoned in the Sacred Realm/Dark World, so, going by the Miyamoto order, how is it that he's free in The Legend of Zelda?
- If Ganon was killed in The Legend of Zelda, and was still dead in Adventure of Link, how is it that he's suddenly alive in A Link to the Past, when developers including Miyamoto have said that Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past include the same Ganon? Furthermore, how was he resealed in the Dark World? According to several other developer statements also made in 1998, "Ocarina of Time" was the backstory of "A Link to the Past" (although "The Wind Waker" may have retconned that), but this order makes that impossible.
- This statement was made in 1998, and so it seems to be heavily outdated. While Miyamoto had no interest in the timeline, Aonuma has changed things significantly, and the games still contradict this order.
These and other conflicts with the game storylines could be attributed to Miyamoto generally not being involved as much with the story of the Zelda games as he is on the gameplay and design. This is generally used to disprove the theory, as Miyamoto's disinterest in the timeline suggests that he was likely to have made a mistake.
