Map from The Legend of Zelda Gets 3D Printed

I definitely had a love affair with the Legend of Zelda franchise as a kid. However, I was an infant when the franchise first started. If you were anything like me, most of your memories of the original Legend of Zelda were spent getting completely lost (and then dying). It sported a crazy, open world design with pretty much zero direction. In fact, the only direction you get in the game is that it's supposedly dangerous, so take a sword. Other than that, go hog wild. Paper maps of the game world were completely unheard of. They practically didn't exist at all. So it goes without saying that it's fantastic that someone took the time to actually 3D print the entire thing.



The entire piece was meticulously printed and hand painted from a Minecraft creation. The lucky buyer of the map, Willard McFarland, claims that the creator spent 6 months recreating the map from The Legend of Zelda in Minecraft before porting the map file to the 3D printer. The printer then took about 24 hours to finish the job. Then, the painting took another 6. It truly is a labor of love.

Tragically, I doubt there will be more of these 3D maps going around. If I spent 6 hours carefully making such a beautiful creation, I would think twice before making it mainstream. However, if that time ever does come, the map file is primed and ready for more 3D printing. Maybe we won't be able to get our hands on one fully printed and painted in our lifetimes, but if we're lucky, maybe we can get a hand of that file so we can print and paint one on our own. Here's hoping.