Brandon Schmitz, Senior Editor https://www.zeldadungeon.net/

It’s easy to understand how Shigeru Miyamoto’s inspiration for The Legend of Zelda came in part from his memories of exploring his hometown as a kid. Throughout my childhood, few things captured my imagination so thoroughly as exploring the woods within my neighborhood. My brothers and I spent seemingly countless days exploring its various paths. I wouldn’t discover the Zelda series until a few years later, but Ocarina of Time’s Lost Woods and The Wind Waker’s Forbidden Woods evoked that same, unbridled sense of mystery and adventure. The notion that this whole other world exists just beyond my backyard — it’s a concept that’s recreated beautifully in Twilight Princess’s Faron Woods, especially.