The Legend of Zelda celebrates 25th anniversary

Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka's The Legend of Zelda first went on sale in Japan 25 years ago today, spawning a series that would go on to sell 59 million units.

The title went on sale for Famicom in Japan on February 21, 1986. It would release a year later in the US and Europe for NES.

1UP has a massive retro feature on the series here.

The series has sold 59 million units as of April 2010, with 1997's Ocarina of Time considered by many to be the greatest game of all time; it's currently being remade for 3DS.

The next major title in the series will be Skyward Sword, which was announced at E3 last year, and will hit this year for Wii.

The series has birthed 17 releases in total. The number will increase to 19 with the releases of OoT 3DS and Skyward Sword.

The series has also spawned comics and cartoons, and enjoyed cross-genre appearances in other games, such as Super Smash Bros. and Soul Calibur.

It's also been the only videogame series to receive multiple top scores from Japanese mag Famitsu: both Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker scored 40/40.