I'm currently celebrating my 20th Anniversary with the Zelda franchise! It was Christmas 1997, when I first got my hands on a Zelda game - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for the original GameBoy, my first own video game system. You know, the one that looks like a grey brick. I was 11 years old at the time and this game was pure magic, my first real love in gaming. Before Zelda I mostly liked the Super Mario Land series, especially 6 Golden Coins and Wario Land. But with both games my main fascination was always about the islands, where you would "explore" the individual areas and find hidden paths.
At the time we also had the "Club Nintendo Magazine" in Germany, made by Nintendo themselves. This magazine was free and it was basically just advertisement, where every game was reviewed as "great". But as kids we still loved it, because it was still something in a time when broadband internet connections weren't established yet. Magazines and TV were our sources for news. And it was in this magazine where I stumbled over Link's Awakening. To be more accurate, it was the following article in issue #4/1997 that drew my attention to the game and led to the birth of yet another Zelda fan:
At the time Link's Awakening got added to the "Classix" series, which is similar to today's "Nintendo Selects". So, this is why the magazine featured the game in the year 1997. It promised an adventure on a mysterious island, which you could explore in a seamless fashion. It was basically what I always wanted from the Super Mario Land games. And for weeks I kept studying this article, imagining how the game would be like. This was a special feeling of excitement that I can still recall today. And I still have this article, among many others, kept in a special Zelda filing folder.
After I finally got the game, I also remember how I hummed the Tail Cave melody in the car during the Christmas days, because I had this Earmoldorm, after I was stuck in the dungeon for quite a while. At first I didn't know that you could have side scrolling tunnels connecting rooms and I thought I had to drop into the right abyss to reach another floor, because the manual mentioned that. It was funnily stupid, but the first Zelda game is always the hardest... and I had similar problems with other puzzles in the game. I was stuck in Level 6 for weeks, because I didn't realize that the "eyes of the map" could have rooms inside of them. And the infamous pillar puzzle in the Eagle's Tower certainly also took me quite a while. But it was part of the fun and as kids we didn't have many games, so it was nice when a game lasted long. Today I can complete it within four hours, where it has become a small Christmas tradition for me to replay the game.
The next big stop was Ocarina of Time, but before that I borrowed a Nintendo Entertainment System from a buddy at school together with Zelda II - The Adventure of Link, as well as The Legend of Zelda from another classmate. Because I had to return the NES after a while, I wasn't able to finish both games back then, but I was motivated enough to make it to the final dungeons. It was exciting for me to discover the origins of the Zelda series, for example what enemies already existed in the first game. And I wanted to learn as much as possible about the Zelda games, where only five of them existed at the time (not counting the LCD or BS-X games).
At Christmas 1999 it was finally time for a Nintendo 64 (I got the grape purple one) and Ocarina of Time, one year after the original release of the game. Best Christmas present ever. Again I had Club Nintendo articles as a source of wonder for how the game ultimately would be like and where I couldn't wait to finally experience it on my own. I still remember the awe of my first playthrough and how I was scared to enter the Royal Family's Tomb again, because I died to a Redead there, which kept me from the best weapon against them for a while. It's funny, how my memories about the (early) Zelda games often revolve around my biggest fails. But it's the parts where you really get stuck that stick with you.
But what also stuck was the amazing atmosphere of this game, created by the sound and music. When the windmill ratters through the night of Kakariko and you hear the bird sounds in the distance, it still gives me the chills. And I would keep listening to the (Club Nintendo) soundtrack, because it was so amazing and magical.
In 2000 we had multiple Zelda games in the making with Capcom's episodes on the GameBoy Color and Majora's Mask (or "Zelda Gaiden", how it was first called), where I kept collecting multiple articles from different video game magazines. I also didn't want to wait for Christmas anymore, so I bought these games at the day of release from my well saved pocket money. And I spent a lot of time with them, especially with Majora's Mask, where the world of Termina with its even greater atmosphere really sucked me in and the three-day-cycle let me replay any part of the game at any time. And with the Oracle games I was excited to get more than one new Zelda game in the same style as Link's Awakening.
I was truly a big Zelda fan already, but things changed with the Wind Waker and the Nintendo GameCube around 2002, because both weren't really what I had in mind as a teenager for the future of Zelda. Things had to be dark and cool and not some Cartoon Zelda on a console that looked like a child's toy. As I matured, I learned to accept and enjoy all Zelda games for what they are, but for the time being I only upgraded to a GameBoy Advance SP in 2003. With the system I had access to A Link to the Past and later also the NES Classics, so I could finally complete those Zelda games.
A Link to the Past had eluded me for the longest time, because I didn't own a Super Nintendo and I also didn't know anyone with one. More than any other Zelda game, this game grew in my imagination as I studied pictures and articles in old Club Nintendo magazines. But unlike the games before, it couldn't live up to that "hype", however, which is probably why A Link to the Past never really was among my top favorites, despite this being a true classic.
With it came also Four Swords on the GameBoy Advance, another Zelda game that would elude me for many years, until I finally would complete it in 2011. But at the time I wasn't really happy about the multiplayer, because there was no one around to play with. Many schoolmates had played Link's Awakening and many wanted to play Ocarina of Time. But starting with Majora's Mask the interest seemed to diminish, which later was also true for me with the Wind Waker...
When I did my military service in the end of 2004, the Minish Cap was released on the GameBoy Advance, which was perfect timing, because I had to travel per train for long distances each week. I was already able to try the game at the Games Convention 2004 in Leipzig, so I was looking forward to this for a while. My Zelda game time then caught the attention of a roommate, who later brought his GameCube to our room, because he wanted me to help him collect all Heart Pieces in Majora's Mask on the Collector's Edition disc. The same disc also came with a demo for the Wind Waker, where I tried the game for the first time and really liked it. I loved Windfall Island and I was positively surprised how the toon style still could be used to render atmospheric dungeons.
At the time a first trailer of Twilight Princess also made the round – the one were the audience cheered at E3 2004. I could even try a demo of the game at the Games Convention 2005, which then finally convinced me to buy a GameCube. This led to a good time in Fall 2005, where I could play through the Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time - Master Quest and Four Swords Adventures one after another, finally catching up with the Zelda series again. It felt great and after this, I would get every new Zelda game on launch day.
By then I also had set my roots in the world wide web, roaming various internet communities to correspond with fellow Zelda fans. What I used to have earlier in the school I now got from online forums. And the hype for Twilight Princess certainly was real when the game was about to be released in 2006. But it also couldn't live up to it, really. Despite this being the longest and largest Zelda game up to date, thanks to its high linearity for me it felt like the game never really started, when the credits finally rolled over the screen. There was simply not enough to explore...
Still, I got a Nintendo DS with Phantom Hourglass in 2007 and at the time I liked it quite a lot, where in the next year I would start to write this blog about Zelda. From there you can follow my journey here in great detail. And by now we finally have arrived at the next big milestone for the series with Breath of the Wild, where it will be very interesting to see how the series will evolve from now on.
What hasn't changed in all this time is this special thrill of anticipation, the excitement when a new Zelda game is coming, much like when I was awaiting Link's Awakening for Christmas in 1997. Only the Zelda series is really able to create this feeling for me and it's the reason why I keep writing this blog, speculating about future Zelda games and sharing my experiences with playing the new and the old ones. It's the Zelda magic.
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