Virginia man achieves his 25-year long quest for the largest Legend of Zelda collection

When Constantine “Coz” Adams (USA) was young, he would sit next to his older brother for hours and watch him play video games – racing downstairs as soon as he recognized the starting music, and staring at Eric as his blinking controller sped through levels of Super Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy II and III, and Super Metroid. 

Some of their best-loved games were multiplayer, but Coz’s favourites were always from the Zelda series – even though he’d have to see his brother take on the single-player challenges alone. He was drawn to the lush art styles and rich storytelling of the games, as the main character Link explored new realms, completed complicated quests, and reunited with his beloved Princess Zelda to save the world. 

He also just liked spending time with his brother, eventually following in his footsteps as he got older, and completing Zelda games of his own. He even repeated the tradition with his own children, especially his son, who would sit in his little chair and memorize the names of the bosses and levels his dad beat.

This deep, familial connection to the Legend of Zelda universe is what inspired Coz to submit his Zelda memorabilia collection to Guinness World Records – saying that his kids would constantly flick through the books, shouting out interesting titles, so why not show them that their dad could accomplish something similar?

And on 19 July, Coz and the Adams family finally achieved their dream – after hours of counting and organizing every one of the 3,918 items of memorabilia he had amassed from the game over 25 years, he took home the title for the largest collection of The Legend of Zelda memorabilia.

“He may have started out watching me play video games all day, but he's truly become the ultimate collector,” said Coz’s brother Eric. “I've loved watching his collection grow to such legendary proportions, and my wife and I get a kick out of trying to find a Zelda item he doesn't already own. This journey has been so much fun for the whole family, and it's amazing to see his dedication to something he loves.”

It was 1993, when Coz was nine, when he got his first Zelda item – a Gameboy, for a birthday present, with the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. The game was something like an awakening for him, too, inspiring the young gamer to collect more and more versions of his favourite series.

“I remember playing in the car, and it was the first game I ever played through,” he said to his local Patch news in Fairfax, Virginia, USA. I fell in love. And after that, I was just playing games and games and games and games.”

His collection began in earnest in 2000, at age 16, when he started amassing a large collection of video games from the NES to the PlayStation 2 eras. However, a pivotal moment in 2016 reshaped his focus, he says, after he discovered amiibos – little figurines from Nintendo that can connect to different game consoles – and he was ripped off by a Craigslist dealer who bailed on Coz’s attempt to purchase the entire lot.

“I developed a particular fondness for the Zelda-themed amiibo, which opened my eyes to the vast and vibrant community of Zelda collectors and the world of memorabilia beyond the games themselves,” he told Guinness World Records. 

“By 2019, my passion had crystallized, and in 2021, I made the decision to sell approximately 90% of my general video game collection to concentrate exclusively on acquiring memorabilia from the Zelda universe.”

Now, Coz’s collection fills up his basement – racks of carefully-organized memorabilia display thousands of items like amiibo figurines, keychains, board and video games, controllers, apparel, and plushies – in a colourful space that looks like a cross between an arcade and a museum. 

He sources all of his purchases from around the world, buying things from fellow collectors, eBay and Japanese auction websites, saying that making connections within the vibrant trading community is “one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.”

“While the collection is vast, it contains several ‘crown jewels’ of particular interest that showcase its depth and rarity,” he said. “These include a graded, sealed Exin Castillos building block set for Ocarina of Time, a vintage Accutime wall clock, a vintage lucite promotional sign featuring Link’s face, and two promotional physical hourglasses for Phantom Hourglass.

“Perhaps the rarest items are a complete set of three promotional scrolls that were exclusive to contests in Australia, with only an estimated 26 of each ever made.”

But undoubtedly his favourite piece in his collection is a fully custom, one-of-a-kind claw machine themed entirely around the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the first Zelda game he ever played by himself. The project took one year to complete.

“I laid out all the artwork, which pays homage to the game, and programmed a Raspberry Pi inside to play music from both the 1993 original and the 2019 Switch remake, all controlled by a classic Nintendo controller,” said Coz.

“This machine is more than a collectible; it is my personal love note to the franchise and, specifically, to the game that started my journey three decades ago. It represents the ultimate fusion of my passion and creativity.”

And now that his children – Lucas, nine, and Elaina, seven – are older, he loves that he gets to share his collection with his whole family. His son has watched him play through his two favourite games, Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii and The Windwaker for Gamecube, while his daughter is a chip-off-the-old-block, collecting her own custom Lego creations, seashells, rocks and minerals, and rubber duckies.

“It’s really cool that you have a Zelda collection and how you realized that you could get a Guinness World Records title off of this, and that you worked so hard to get the world record. A lot of the books are really interesting and I am surprised that you actually did it!” said his son Lucas.

And his daughter Elaina gave him a big kiss when he got his record certificate in the mail, saying: “It’s really cool that you will be in the Guinness World Records book! Your Zelda collection is really, really nice!”

Also supportive of his accomplishment is his wife, Amanda, who jokingly said: “It’s cool that you were so dedicated to something and so meticulous about displaying the collection. I don't necessarily want a basement full of Zelda stuff but I still support you!”

As well as his beloved parents, Aleca and Chris, who were captivated by how organized Coz keeps his collection. 

“It's fascinating to see how much has been gathered over time,” said his mom, Aleca, “You have incredible items, each piece is unique and special. The way everything has been arranged and organized is admirable! It's like a museum dedicated to Zelda and it's clear how passionate you are about it.”

And even though he’s running out of space in his basement, Coz doesn’t plan on stopping collecting anytime soon. He credits his family for always supporting his interests, and appreciates just how one video game series can positively alter the lives of at least three generations of Adams.

“Overall, I think my family thinks the collection is pretty awesome, and they support me since they know that both the collection and hobby are important to me and that nostalgia makes me happy,” said Coz.

So congratulations again to Coz and the Adams family – you are Officially Amazing!