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The original 1986 The Legend of Zelda released on the NES with 8-bit graphics, but a massive world map for the time. In the same way The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild blew fans away, so did the 1986 game. However, fans continue going back to the classic map even today. And fan Ian Roosma on YouTube created a behemoth Lego Legend of Zelda Hyrule map with a staggering 25,000 bricks. And they even made a video to tour fans through his creation.

Link fighting Gohma in Nintendo's 'NES Remix Pack' for Wii U which served as the inspiration for Ian Roosma's Lego 'Legend of Zelda' Hyrule map
Link fighting Gohma in Nintendo’s ‘NES Remix Pack’ for Wii U | Nintendo

How big is the Lego ‘Legend of Zelda’ NES Hyrule map?

The Lego master uploaded a video to YouTube detailing some of the numbers behind the massive Lego Legend of Zelda Hyrule map build.

In the video from Ian Roosma on YouTube, they say the build took 25,000 Lego bricks to build the entire map, including pieces for enemies representing Octoroks, Lynels, Moblins, and Zora.

Roosma included nearly 500 pieces for enemies alone, listing 493 enemies throughout the NES map of Hyrule.

The entire map stretches well over seven feet long and two feet tall, measuring 30.2 inches by 85.7 inches. He even included a Lego build of Link, complete with his green hat and tunic.

Ian Roosma said the Lego ‘Legend of Zelda’ NES map took 4 months to complete

Talking with Kotaku, Roosma said that the original Legend of Zelda marked one of the first game worlds he ever played. When he went to fill a blank wall space, he turned to Link’s first adventure to save Princess Zelda.

“I was looking for something that had personal meaning to me,” Roosma told Kotaku in an email. “Zelda on the NES is particularly nostalgic for me because it was the beginning of open-world games for me. The developer just drops the player off somewhere, and you decide where you want to go and what you want to do. It’s the best type of game.”

It took him four months to finish the Lego Legend of Zelda Hyrule map build. He used Bricklink, “a website made up of independent Lego brick sellers” to buy the pieces. 

“It hangs on my wall as nostalgic lego art to one of the best games on the original NES,” Roosma said in the video description.

Ian Roosma used 8,400 pieces on Hyrule’s trees alone

While the Kingdom of Hyrule has many terrains, like the Gerudo Desert in Breath of the Wild and the volcanic Death Mountain, it has a lot of forests.

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And Ian Roosma wanted to make sure his Lego Legend of Zelda NES map did not appear flat. He used varied pieces to give the build more depth. 8,400 of the 25,000 Lego pieces were used for trees alone.

However, after four months of work, Roosma plans to take a break before jumping into his next project.

“I don’t have plans for another epic build, but I’m always thinking about what could be built with Legos that would have personal meaning to me,” he said.

You can check out his video where he brings the camera on the whole adventure of Link through Hyrule to defeat Ganon.

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