The Legend of Zelda: A Look Back Part I

Most video games these days have become annualized. That means that we get a new one every year. For some of the larger games there is a two year break in between each one. There is one franchise though that has yet to follow this pattern. The Legend of Zelda. I’ve played each major home console installment of the series, starting with the 1986 original. I haven’t had the chance to play the portable ones, but that is just because I’m not really a portable gaming guy. It’s been 5 years since the last installment “Twilight Princess” was released and now I am 10 hours into “Skyward Sword.” Being the 25th anniversary I thought it would be best to put down some of my memories over the next few weeks about this great series.

I don’t remember the exact year that I played “The Legend of Zelda” (TLOZ) for the first time. What I remember most was the gold cartridge and just getting completely lost in the world. From a story standpoint the game was simple. Save the princess, beat the bad guy. But the world itself was full of puzzles. I remember burning a bush to find a dungeon entrance and wondering why I just stabbed a guy after he gave me his sword. It was a game that I kept going back to and beating over and over again. It even had a second quest that I didn’t enjoy as much as the first quest but I played through it multiple times just the same.

I was really excited for “The Legend of Zelda II” when it came out a few years later. But I was disappointed. Instead of the top down action I loved. I got a side scrolling adventure RPG. I was turned off by it and barely played it at all until a few years later when I returned to the game and got lost in what Nintendo was trying to do. Here was a new take on Zelda, full of the puzzles and action that I loved but presented in a new format that while different was still fun. After much hard work I eventually got through the game and beat the shadow version of Link. It still remains the most difficult Zelda game to be released.

Next week I’ll cover the Super Nintendo game and the cartoon. But first at the end of each of these I’ll describe my thoughts on Twilight Princess so far. I’m 10 hours in and I’ve beaten the 2nd dungeon. I’m loving the uses for the wii-mote when it comes to accessories. The golden beetle, bombs and slingshot all work great. The sword fighting is still a little waggle to win for most basic enemies, but for larger ones it takes quite a bit of patience and some skill. I’m enjoying the story so far, there are a lot of interesting characters being set up and I can’t wait for the pay off.