Fan 3D-Prints Original Zelda Map

A Legend of Zelda superfan has created a 3D-printed version of the overworld map from the original NES classic. Mike Matei, a producer for Cinemassacre, the production company behind The Angry Video Game Nerd, has produced a beautiful three-dimensional diorama of Hyrule, which will be familiar to anyone who took on Link’s mission to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon as their own.

Matai is famously a Zelda fanatic, a love he has made clear during the James & Mike Mondays video series he hosts with James Rolfe, the man behind the Angry Video Game Nerd character, plus a number of other Cinemassacre releases, including a series of swordless runs of the first game.

“My favorite Zelda game is the original,” Matai told Zelda Informer. “I’m sure that’s partially due to nostalgia. It was the first game I became obsessed with as a kid, and I guess I always felt, that’s how a Zelda game should look. The 8-bit graphics, to me are the perfect way to showcase that world. That’s not to say I don’t love later incarnations of the series. I really love the art direction in Wind Waker for example. I feel that colorful style suits the Zelda universe perfectly. As I always envisioned Hyrule to be a colorful place. But to me, I’m most at home when Zelda is in 8-bit.”