Camp Hyrule was an annual online virtual camp that was sponsored and moderated by
Nintendo of America
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...
. It first opened in the summer of 1995, and emerged as Nintendo's biggest online event. Camp Hyrule, which was usually held in August, allowed Nintendo fans to chat, play online games, and win prizes under the supervision of Nintendo employees and ''
Nintendo Power
''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
''
columnists.
The camp's name is named after the fictional land of
Hyrule
''The Legend of Zelda'' is a video game franchise created by Japanese video game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is mainly developed and published by Nintendo. The universe of the ''Legend of Zelda'' series consists of a variet ...
, a prominent and recurring setting in
''The Legend of Zelda'' series. The last camp was in 2007, with no plans to host another Camp Hyrule.
Background
Essentially an online simulation of a
summer camp
A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...
, Camp Hyrule had refined many traditional outdoor themes, such as
campfires
A campfire is a fire at a campsite that provides light and warmth, and heat for cooking. It can also serve as a beacon, and an insect and predator deterrent. Established campgrounds often provide a stone or steel fire ring for safety. Campfires ...
,
water sports
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...
, and
archery into many
Java-based games.
Participants were assigned to cabins, where they worked with other teammates to earn points by participating in games, Photoshop contests, and other activities. After the camp session ended, the cabin with the most points won a special prize, while runner-up cabins received other consolation prizes.
The camp was also used to promote various Nintendo-related products. In past years, some of the camp's games have revolved around ''
1080° Avalanche
''1080° Avalanche'' is a snowboarding video game for the GameCube, developed by Nintendo's in-house development studio, Nintendo Software Technology, and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2003 in Europe and North America, and in Japa ...
'', the
Game Boy Advance SP
The Game Boy Advance SP (GBA SP), released in Japan on February 14, 2003, is a sixth-generation handheld game console developed, released, and marketed by Nintendo that served as an upgraded version of the original Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in ...
, and ''
Donkey Konga
is a GameCube rhythm video game series starring the ape Donkey Kong, developed by Namco and published by Nintendo. The series' games are intended to be played with a special controller called the DK Bongos that resemble two small bongo drums, b ...
''.
Additionally, the camp had a theme, related to an upcoming video game, that often prompted mini-story line. For example, in 2005, the camp's design and layout reflected the upcoming ''
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess''.
Nintendo went to further detail to add a story line to that camp session, in which games and layouts were mysteriously vanishing at the hands of an evil force. Nevertheless, all the issues were always resolved at the camp's closing ceremony, where awards and grand prize winners were announced.
Camp Hyrule was moderated and maintained by
Nintendo of America
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...
's online staff. Staff members, called counselors, were responsible for moderating their assigned cabin's
message board
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
and
chat rooms
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
, while also advocating participants to earn points.
The camp's staff also sent participants daily emails pertaining to earning points or the camp's plot developments. Nintendo later turned to the ''NSider Forums'', their official online community, in order to provide additional moderators. Camp Hyrule also had a
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
, named Stumpy, who was often seen wandering the campgrounds.
The community elements were removed from Camp Hyrule in 2007, coinciding with the closing of the NSider forums and the impending switch from in-house publication of
Nintendo Power
''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
to publication by
Future US, which occurred in November 2007.
Registration
Unless announced otherwise, Nintendo usually opened registration for Camp Hyrule in late July or early August. Although there was no limit as to how many users could sign up, registration was only open for one week. To register, one first needed to acquire a "My Nintendo" account (which Nintendo has since phased out to bring
Club Nintendo
Club Nintendo was a customer loyalty program provided by Nintendo. The loyalty program was free to join and provided rewards in exchange for consumer feedback and loyalty to purchasing official Nintendo products. Members of Club Nintendo earned ...
to the US), and then visit the official Camp Hyrule website for further instructions.
The 2007 camp was open from August 13 to August 23 to all My Nintendo members, and registration was not required.
Landmarks
Camp Hyrule features several landmarks which have appeared year after year on the campgrounds:
* NOA HQ, a
chatroom
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
exclusive to Nintendo of America employees. It also serves as the camp's
command center
A command center (often called a war room) is any place that is used to provide centralized command for some purpose.
While frequently considered to be a military facility, these can be used in many other cases by governments or businesses ...
.
* Trading Post, an area where updates regarding announcements, contests, and other miscellaneous information are disseminated to users by camp counselors.
* First Aid Hut, an area which offers users technical support.
* The Amphitheater, a
chatroom
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
which hosts special events, such as interviews from Nintendo officials, and the camp's annual closing ceremony.
* Lake Webaconda, an area which features games related to
water sport
Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants.
On the water
* Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races
* Boatin ...
activities, such as fishing and boating.
* The Bonfire, usually the camp's largest "general discussion" chat room.
* Stumpy's Stable, where users can play a game in which they feed Stumpy, the camp's mascot.
* The
Lost Woods, a chatroom for discussion of
''The Legend of Zelda'' series, often secretly used by the majority of the veterans from the "Trivia HQ", one of the Live Chats on the NSider forums during Camp Hyrule as a substitute place to chat. The Annual Lost Woods Trivia was also hosted here by TSA.
* Maniac's Cave, a secret chatroom inside Camp Hyrule. The Camp Maniac would occasionally come out and boot everyone out of the chatroom.
* Kirby's Mess Hall, a chat formerly called "Mess Hall" until Kirby took over. Users were virtually fed "food" and it was a general discussion chat.
* Mr. Pickle's Crib, a chat only open to NOA Shaun when he decides to use it.
History
*Camp Hyrule was first held from August 15 to August 19, 1995 on
AOL.
*In 1997, Camp Hyrule was moved from
AOL to www.nintendo.com
*In 1999, Camp Hyrule moved to the more familiar "www.camphyrule.com".
*Beginning with the 2000 camp, campgrounds were designed around a theme based on an upcoming console or game release. The first theme used was ''
Majora's Mask
''The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' is a 2000 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home console. It was released worldwide in 2000 as a main installment in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series and was th ...
''.
*In 2000, Camp Hyrule began the tradition of ending each year's camp with a disaster.
*In 2002, registration quotas were finally removed due to popular request. Prior to 2002, Camp Hyrule was limited to the 500-2000 registrants, thus causing intense competition and often overloading the servers.
*In 2002, a majority of the camp's themes were renamed to make the camp more Nintendo related.
*In 2005, each member of the winning cabin received a free Stumpy T-shirt.
*In 2006, due to
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
es the closing ceremonies were delayed for two hours.
*In 2006, all campers were entered into a
sweepstakes
A sweepstake is a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners. Sweepstakes began as a form of lottery that were tied to products sold. In response, the FCC and FTC refined U.S. broadcasting laws (creating the ...
to win a
Wii.
*In 2007, the site's administrators announced they will remove Camp Hyrule's community elements. Also, all participants in the United States were able to enter a sweepstakes to win a life-size
Link statue.
*The 2008 event was nonexistent.
*In 2009, the Camp Hyrule page originally directed to the
Nintendo.com
is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
home page, though it eventually relaunched in the archived 2007 format.
Summary of past camps
References
*
* Donald-Evans, Catherine
Summer Camp Heads to Cyberspace (August 15, 2003), FOXNews.com, Retrieved on November 1, 2022.
External links
Camp Hyrule{{Nintendo Company
Nintendo events
Recurring events established in 1995
Recurring events disestablished in 2007