From Zelda Wiki, the Zelda encyclopedia
The following is a brief listing of notable Legend of Zelda fansites that have been created since the advent of the internet.
1997
- North Castle - Launched in the summer, North Castle is the oldest surviving Zelda website on the internet today. One of the site's primary features is its library of fan fiction and fan artwork.
1998
- Ganon's Tower - Created by Ganon, it remains one of the longest running Zelda websites online. The site served as an impromptu refuge for members of The Great Deku Tree, hyrule.com.ar, and HTLOZ after their respective sites closed. In 2008, Ganon's Tower changed management and the main portion of the site was removed, leaving just the forums. In June of 2010 the site announced it would be closing, and two months later, it was removed.
- The Grand Adventures - Originally created by John Rogos and later maintained by The Missing Link. Work on the site was discontinued in 2007, but it remains online today.
- Hyrule.net - One of the longest running Zelda websites. Celebrating over 10 years online, Hyrule.net has a community forum of over 5000 registered users. The site has since launched Hyrule.net 3.0.
- Hyrule: The Land of Zelda (HTLOZ) - Founded by Falco-X, HTLOZ was one of the most popular Zelda websites during the late 90's and the turn of the millennium. After its disappearance in 2002, numerous refuge sites sprung up, such as HTLOZ II.
- Zelda Power - Founded by Aaron Holt, Zelda Power was one of the largest Zelda websites at the turn of the millennium. It is currently maintained by KoSoVaR and Kao and has the second largest forum community, behind Zelda Universe.
1999
- Great Deku Tree - Launched by Attrox as part of the massive ZeldaGames.com network. The site grew to become one of the largest Zelda sites online before its sudden closure near the end of 2004.
- Hyrule.com.ar - Between 2000 and 2002, Hyrule.com.ar was the largest Zelda website online. It succeeded HTLOZ and preceded Zelda Universe as the most popular Zelda website.
- The Desert Colossus - Created by Jack O'Reily. The Desert Colossus is notable for its encyclopedia, Compendium of Hyrule, and for Hyrule Adventures 2, a text-based online game.
- Zelda Classic - Created with the idea of completely remaking the the original Legend of Zelda for windows. Upon reaching the goal, Zelda Classic created ZQuest, software that allowed fans to create their own custom quests for Zelda Classic.
- Zelda Legends - Originally created by Khuffie, Zelda Legends became a hit website when it merged with its hostee, The Legends of Zelda. Zelda Legends is one of the largest media-based Zelda websites, with manga, comics, Zelda books, a massive gallery and more.
- Zelda Planet - Also known as Z64 Planet, Zelda Planet covered Ocarina of Time at its launch. It soon followed with Majora's Mask and several other Zelda titles. Zelda Planet was one of the largest Zelda websites at the turn of the millennium.
2000
- Kasuto.net - Founded by Kasuto of Kataan, originally as a place to showcase his, and others', fan fiction.
2001
- Zelda Dungeon - Launched by Mases Hagopian, Zelda Dungeon is a well-known for providing in-depth game walkthroughs and strategy guides. The site is currently one of the largest Zelda websites online.
- Zelda Elements - One of the most prominent Zelda sites during the early 2000s. The site was the network Zelda website at Gamespy, and was well recognized for its layouts.
- Zelda Universe - Launched in February by Lars-Christian Simonsen, Zelda Universe is the largest Zelda community online today. The Zelda Universe forums contain over 50,000 registered members and over 2.5 million posts.
- The Sacred Realm - Founded by Lysia and is well known for its large collection of fan works as well as promoting The Hero of Time fan film.
2002
- Exploding Deku Nut - Launched on November 25 by Darth Citrus, Exploding Deku Nut has taken on comedy as its primary focus, with humorous comics amongst other features. Exploding Deku Nut also runs the annual Golden Item Awards, which recognizes the achievements of websites in the Zelda community.
- History of Hyrule - Created by Melora. Melora and the website are well known for their contributions of rare Zelda comics and manga, of which many have been translated into English. The website was also home of many rare Zelda artwork scans that could only be found in rare Japanese guides.
- PureZC - Pure Zelda Classic is a website that was created as a branch off from Zelda Classic. The website offers downloadable fan created quests for Zelda Classic, as well as other materials that could be used in creating a fan game.
- The Temple of Time - Launched June 20 by Yumil. The website had a rocky history over approximately six years moving to multiple hosts and changing names a few times along the way. The site was ultimately renamed Zelda Relic and merged into Zelda Dungeon in 2008.
- ZHQ2 - Created by TSA as the successor to the original Zelda Headquarters (ZHQ). Realms of Hyrule launched through ZHQ2 in 2003. In 2005, ZHQ2 was closed and TSA launched The Hylia.
- Zelda Dimension - Although no year is archived, it's assumed that Henry started Zelda Dimension about 2002. It had several openings and closings through its lifespan, which including gaining a co-owner, Mystic_Faerie (Henry's girlfriend). The site ultimately closed due to a malicious user and corrupted database backups just a short while after winning Exploding Deku Nut's Golden Light Arrow award around March, 2008.
2003
- Just Zelda - Launched on August 11th, Just Zelda has gone through numerous web hosts and two webmasters. The site is most well-known for its personal fan game 'Zelda, Just Beginning'.
- Zelda World - Originally created by Toby, it was a succeeded by a short lived Zelda blog known as 5 Rupees. The site closed in 2006, just weeks before the release of 5 Rupees.
2004
- Zelda Reorchestrated (ZREO) - Created by FireGS, ZREO was intended to re-orchestrate every Zelda soundtrack using newer synthesizers and samples. The project briefly became known as Zelda Music in 2005 before closing later that year. In December 2006, the project was revived with the assistance of HTLOZ II. The new forums were originally hosted by HTLOZ II, but moved to Zentendo in early 2008.
- Hyrule: Land of the Legend - Started as Hyrule.nl in 2004, fused with Hyrule.net in 2005 and branched off to their own domain later that year. The site gained notability for its news updates and a controversy with TSA from The Hylia. The site has since gone on hiatus and subsequently vanished.
2005
- The Hylia - Launched on October 1st by TSA, the site succeeded ZHQ2 but was more news-oriented. The site became well known as a quick and credible source for Zelda news. In 2007, the site's ownership changed hands and is now run by DSCUBED.
- Hylian Help Desk - Shortly after launch, it replaced Zelda Elements as the network Zelda website on the Gamespy Gaming Network. The site remained offline for some time, having not been updated since the winter of 2006-2007. It has since been relaunched on a new host.
- ZeldaBlog - Created by The Missing Link of The Grand Adventures fame, the site acted as a blog for the Zelda community. It was a collaborative project involving several webmasters from around the community. ZeldaBlog was discontinued in 2006, though efforts were made in 2008 to revive it.
- Zelda Oracles - Originally known as Zelda Discussions, the site was created by Henhouse. The site later merged with Zelda Online, run by The Burning Link. Zelda Oracles has since archived its website and is no longer active.
2006
- Zelda Europe - Launched in February by Evelyn Jade, this German Zelda website is one of the top foreign Zelda sites, and offers a huge database of media, and unique features like the forum roleplay Zelda Chronicles.
- Forsaken Legend - Started by Sam Brereton, Forsaken Legend went on to merge with two other Zelda websites, Zelda Temple and Zelda Cavern. After administrative issues, the website was taken offline. A relaunch was planned, but in 2008, the site was closed for good.
- Kafei A'La Mode - Launched on March 30th. The website is dedicated to the character Kafei. It and includes a large database of screenshots, videos and more about Kafei.
2007
- 5 Rupees - A Zelda blog created by Toby, marking the closure of Zelda World. 5 Rupees had a very short lived run and closed just two months after launch.
- Zelda Divine/Zelda Temple - A small Zelda site that was created after Yusei was inspired by Zelda Dimension, Zelda Dungeon, Zelda Legacy, and Zelda Universe. It was originally named Zelda Divine, but with name issues, it was moved to Zelda Temple when Karashimu offered Yusei the hosting and the domain name. It originally started in December of 2006, but Yusei considers January 9th, 2007 as its official opening with the opening of the forums that same day.
- ZeldaInformer - Originally created as an offshoot of Zelda Universe in July, ZeldaInformer is the current home of the well known group of writers, The Bombers. In that same summer, the website merged with Absolute Zelda.
2008
- Link's Hideaway - Created by Autydi. It started out on January 22, 2008. The site currently has an active staff and frequent news post. Later this year, the site is scheduled for a site wide revision.
- Portal to Hyrule - Created by DekuLink. Started as a freewebs site called "Fans of Zelda" in late 2006. After working on the new site for two years, it was finally released on June 28th, 2008 as Portal to Hyrule.
- Zelda Eternity - Created by Mike and Link. It opened November 15, 2008. The site is a merger between two small Zelda sites called Stone Tower Temple (Mike) and Zelda Haven (Link).
- Zelda in my Pocket - Created by former Zelda Universe staff member Duncan "Hylie" Ruffle. The website was to focus on handheld Zelda games and was set to launch in early 2009. However, due to the unexpected death of the webmaster, the site never launched and currently sits near completion.
2010
2011
- iZelda - Created by Blackheart, opened in April 2011.
