Preservationist archives 3D scans of classic Zelda II toy line

For every piece of Nintendo history that’s readily available, there’s another that’s lost to time. Be that random game releases through digital means or merch collaborations, you don’t have to look hard to hear about a part of Nintendo’s legacy that has been lost to time. While so much has already been forgotten, one preservationist is doing their best to save some of these random releases.

These “keshi gomu” rubber figures were distributed via blind boxes, called Famicom Choco, from the candy company Lotte in Japan in 1987 and tell an important story about how the so-called black sheep of the Zelda franchise was marketed and enjoyed by players–both on and off the screen. These Zelda 2 toy scans replicate the likeness of all 10 figures by using over 31 million polygons! This part of gaming history is preserved and uploaded to the Internet Archive so that anyone in the future will be able to access these rare vintage toys.

Keshi Corner has set out to preserve a rare line of Zelda II: The Adventures of Link toys that originally released in Japan via blind boxes from candy company Lotte. This 1987 line of rubber toys is 10 characters strong, and there’s no doubt most people who had these back in the day have long since lost them, or they were destroyed from heavy play. Thankfully, this entire line has now been preserved online for all to see.

While you might not be able to pick up and enjoy this line in person, you can now sift through the entire line via 3D scans that were taken. While it’s a very small part of Nintendo’s history, it’s nice to know this random toy line will never be forgotten. You can enjoy the 3D scan gallery of these Zelda II toys through this link.