The Legend of Zelda · Nintendo Power · From 1992 · 12 issues
Nintendo Power serialised a twelve-part Zelda comic drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori — one of Japan's most revered manga legends, creator of Cyborg 009 and Kamen Rider — giving A Link to the Past a lavish adaptation with new characters and its own dramatic twists.
Running across twelve monthly parts from the January 1992 issue (Volume 32) through December 1992, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was a comic adaptation of the celebrated SNES game, and it carried extraordinary pedigree. It was drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori, one of the most famous and influential comic creators in Japanese history — the creator of Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider, and Hotel, and a foundational figure in postwar manga whose output and impact rank among the medium's greatest. Rather than transcribing the game beat for beat, Ishinomori's adaptation took liberties in service of drama. While the story loosely follows the plot of A Link to the Past, new twists and characters were introduced deliberately, both to preserve the element of surprise for readers who had played the game and to give the comic its own narrative momentum and emotional flow. This resulted in a version of Hyrule that felt familiar yet distinct, with sequences and figures that exist nowhere in the game itself, and a Link rendered with the weight and heroism characteristic of Ishinomori's work. The comic was presented in full colour and painted with a lushness rare for the medium, and its appearance in Nintendo Power represented a remarkable coup for the magazine. That Nintendo secured a creator of Ishinomori's stature — a genuine giant of manga — for a serialised tie-in comic in an American gaming magazine speaks to the ambition of Nintendo Power's early-1990s editorial output. The Zelda serial ran alongside Super Mario Adventures, and together the two strips made the magazine a destination for original comics as much as for game coverage. The series was collected as a graphic novel in 1993 and has since been reissued in modern editions, most notably by Viz Media, keeping it accessible long after its original run. It is widely regarded as one of the finest video game comic adaptations ever produced — a work elevated by a master cartoonist who brought genuine artistry and narrative invention to what could easily have been a routine licensed tie-in, and it remains a treasured artifact for Zelda fans and manga readers alike.
Bringing one of Japan's greatest manga legends, Shotaro Ishinomori, to a Nintendo Power serial, producing one of the finest video game comic adaptations ever made.
The comic's greatest distinction is its creator. Shotaro Ishinomori was not a jobbing licensed-tie-in artist but one of the towering figures of Japanese comics — the mind behind Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider, and Hotel, and a foundational influence on postwar manga. Securing him for a serialised Zelda comic in an American gaming magazine was an extraordinary coup for Nintendo Power, and his involvement lent the adaptation genuine artistic weight. His rendering of Link and Hyrule carried the heroism and dramatic craft that defined his broader career, elevating the strip far above the standard of typical game tie-in comics.
Ishinomori's adaptation deliberately departed from the game it was based on. Though the story loosely tracks the plot of A Link to the Past, new characters and twists were introduced to preserve surprise for readers who had already finished the game and to give the comic its own dramatic flow. The result is a Hyrule that feels familiar yet contains sequences and figures found nowhere in the original, making the comic a genuine creative work rather than a transcription. Collected as a graphic novel in 1993 and reissued by Viz Media decades later, it endures as one of the most artistically accomplished adaptations the medium has produced.