ARTiculAction Art Review - Special Issuue Aug. 2016 | Page 121

Mark Franz

ICUL CTION
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Special Issue

have changed in this satire and not the
elements that have stayed the same. For
instance, the moment when you receive
the sword in the original game, you are
told, “It is dangerous to go alone, take
this.” Viewers familiar with the game will
see the connection between that
sentiment and the one that is created in
Zelda Deforested that leads us to the
conclusion that the characters are living in
these caves precisely because it is
dangerous. This satirical dystopian world
suggests that an unregulated marketbased economy has led to complete
destruction of natural resources. In this
case, the most prominent and important

one is the forest. Those familiar with the
original game will notice a significant
difference in this landscape and are
encouraged to reflect on the actions that
led to these changes. In this way, a full
understanding of Zelda Deforested relies
heavily on the viewer’s knowledg e of
Nintendo’s imagery.
After the idea was conceived, I used the
process of rom hacking to create the
game. I had used this process previously to
create some graphic posters but had not
really had a use for it until I started
becoming interested in the topic of
deforestation. The Zelda world was the

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