I don’t think there’s a place online where you don’t find some kind of reference to “The Legend of Zelda” and all of it’s side missions. Everywhere you turn there’s something relating to the little guy in the green cap brandishing that drool inducing master sword and shield. Love the master sword. I want to get one. Anyway, that’s beside the point. But Link, our hero, is so popular and I don’t even know why. The guy doesn’t speak, he finds himself constantly in trouble and needing to single handedly save the world. One little guy who looks like an elf who has the help of faries is our ultimate hero, and he’s AWESOME! I guess, I just don’t get it.
Right now I’m beginning to play “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” For many this is considered THE game in the series. Of course, I have no flippin’ clue because I’ve never played it, so it’s new to me. But for those of you, like me, who grew up with the series, it’s cool to see how things like the triforce and the characters become so iconic. And it’s not like the game was all that deep or complex. Hell, the first game made little if any sense other than you had to beat this bad guy and save the princess, which was kind of typical for games of that time.
So why is it that out of all the video game characters out there, Link Zelda Ganondorf even Navi become so memorable and so popular? Has everyone here played these games? I mean, they’re basically a dungeon crawler where for some reason each item you find just helps you find another item that inevitably does not get used against the main boss guy. As a matter of fact, the tools you start off with in the game, a sword and shield, are all you need to defeat the main villain. So what makes it fun?
Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t exprees how much I really like these games. As a matter of fact, I’ve played every game in the series except for the ones on the original Gameboy Gamecube. Which, if you think about it, is still a lot of games. I’ve even played the games not in the Zelda universe, like “Super Smash Bros” …Soul Caliber? And everywhere you look there are clothes and accessories dedicated to these characters and game and it is amazing.
Awhile back, I had a “Legend of Zelda” shirt with the art of Link from the very first game. He was on my green shirt, brandishing the sword and shield with the logo underneath. I looked like a walking Nintendo Power cover. But people like the shirt. I was often complimented by people of all ages who admired and appreciated my pimping out of this article of clothing. I don’t know why, and honsetly, I don’t know how, but I even got a pretty girl to talk to me out of nowhere. And she didn’t have to say anything, and my friends have even teased me about it as they were there to witness my fail. I never asked the girl out or even tried. Honestly, I was oblivious to what my friends said, was interest.
So people far and wide recognize this whole universe and even in the fabled imageboard sites, they attempt to replicate the triforce with well…it’s kind of an alt and digit combination to create symbols and…never mind. Man, I actually remember stumbling on that when I was a kid and just discovering the computer for the first time. My sturdy little 386 running Windows 3.1…I had wordpad (I think) open and I was just screwing around with the alt and numbers and…and…memories. Wow was I a loner back then.
Anyway, just surpsied by the popularity, remembering fond moments from all the games I’ve played from entering the harder mode in the original game, to traveling between worlds in Link to the Past, to roaming the seas in Windwaker, from wolf and man in Twilight Princess. But overall, my fondest memory of the game, was playing “The Adventures of Link” on the NES, the second Zelda game, and being stuck on the last level because I wasn’t high enough in level to defeat the monsters and I think I was missing an item that I needed to proceed into the final dungeon. I was so pissed, and I kept trying and trying and wasting my time and it’s kind of weird that my fondest memory was my most frustrating one. Either way, nothing beat the overall game of A Link to the Past on the SNES and it will always be my favorite. Such a good game…
What is your fondest memory of the Legend of Zelda series and your favorite game? Why do you think it’s so popular? Do you have any of the merchandise? And what do you love or hate about the games?
