That’s exactly how I felt, but with Link to the Past.
I got the master sword in TotK around release and wasn’t spoiled on the context of it. It was really cool.
For me it was playing Dungeon Master on Atari 520st in 1987. Well past midnight, deep inside the dungeon, I step past a corner and stand face to face with a giant scorpion and almost shit my pants.
I know this probably won’t get seen much now, but man that game has a special place in my heart.
Starting with the original Zelda game, my mother and I always beat them together.
We were very poor, but she always did what she had to do to get us the latest Nintendo console. She worked as a dog groomer leading up to the release of the Nintendo 64. She would be gone for 12 hours at a time, working for below minimum wage (under the table) just to get us that console.
She got Ocarina of Time for my brother and I for Christmas. She was just as excited to play it as we were, but there was no way my dad was going to let us open a Christmas present early. We only got one big present to share, and two small presents. Sometimes if my dad had saved a decent amount, we’d get the large present (usually a game), and then we’d get something that we really wanted that we didn’t have to share.
I begged my mom, she begged my dad. He wouldn’t budge. In the weeks leading up to Christmas though, she broke. She came to me with her plan. We were going to open it every day when he went to work and play it until an hour before he got home.
By the time Christmas rolled around, we were in the forest temple. He didn’t play games so he didn’t have a clue.
It was so much fun sneaking that game out with my mom and my brother. It was so much fun. Seeing how big it was for the time, we literally couldn’t believe our eyes.
Is OoT my favorite game of all time? Not anymore. It is my favorite memory of a game though, and by a long shot.
Edit, for fun.
It meant so much to me that the only boxes I still have from my childhood are my Zelda and N64 boxes.
As a kid with controlling parents? Fantasy and science fiction were always my escapes. When we finally got this game it was my everything. Little did I know the sequel had already been out for a while. I still have so much of the game memorized. Every few years I pull out the n64 and play it again…
What a wholesome memory. “Making do” can be really hard, but it also makes things like this feel that much more meaningful.
Haha I didn’t even notice that it was you again. Man.
Keep rocking, bro. Thank you.
god getting to the light world forest for the first time in link to the past was a dream. the way the shadows hit everything
then going up to the master sword area and seeing all the animals go across while it was eerily quiet <3
