It has already been 25 years since Myamoto created “The Legend of Zelda”! To celebrate, I thought of reminiscing about the games and what they mean for me. I’m sure that I am not the only one for who Zelda is more than a well crafted adventure. The legend of Zelda defined a bit who I am and taught me a lot on how to make games. It made me imagine new adventures that we’d play in the backyard.
Myamoto says that the inspiration for Zelda came from his childhood when he was playing around his neighbourhood, exploring forests and caves. Well, when we were young, sometime we were Link. I remember clearly when I first played the original game and tried to discover all its secrets. Do you remember when you discovered that you could get a second adventure by calling your game “Zelda”? How amazing was that!
Then came the second game, “Adventure of Link” which I’ve never finished (shame on me) even if some would argue that it doesn’t count as a Zelda game.
When the game jumped to the SNES, I remember playing nonstop to “The link to the past” and get chills when I discovered that there was a dark world and 7 more dungeons to beat! Link to the past is still my favourite game of all time. Its brilliant design is the reason I do games for a living today.
Ocarina of time is following very very closely in my fav game list. Dungeons in 3D with all sorts of new puzzles? Sign me in! Again I was struck with amazement when I grabbed the master sword and jump in the future to play an adult Link.
Even Majora’s mask and Twilight princess had their amazing moments.
All the games have fun places to discover, tools to experiment with and loads of secret to find. More importantly, it wasn’t just about fighting baddies like most games of their generations, it was about clever puzzles and engaging story. It made you feel good. It’s the only game that still make me feel like a kid. PURE MAGIC!
May you live long “Legend of Zelda”, I can’t wait to play the next game and the thousand remakes. 🙂
By the way I invite you to check the 1up page on the event which is filled with treasures.
The pixel art at the top can be seen in its original form in my gallery @Pixel Joint.
The Bosstopus 