The 20th Anniversary of The Legend of Zelda
by Taylor Carik
Goddamn, we're getting old.
If you're a twenty- or thirty-something who has yet to feel any anxiety
about the onset of old age, here's a fact that might do it for you: on Feb.
21st, 1986, the first version of Nintendo's the Legend of Zelda was
released.
That was 20 years ago.
For those folks who neither predated nor partook in the home gaming console
revolution (1974-present), Zelda's anniversary may not seem all that
significant. And really, the holiday is as much about Nintendo's
salesmanship as nostalgia, since Nintendo and the King of Games are
celebrating by releasing commemorative 8-bit figures of Link and the
monsters, back when they were just a squat little guys.
Such salesmanship is of course to be expected - it's a large part of what so
deeply ingrained video games into our upbringing. Along with other
successful Nintendo games, Zelda is no stranger to cartoon crossovers.There
were Zelda sheets and Zelda garbage cans. There was the Zelda cereal (it was
actually pretty gross). And on Fridays, "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show"
that had Captain Lou Albano as Mario would change it up with Zelda cartoon
instead of the Mario Twins
In video game terms, however, Zelda is... well, legendary. It was really the
first game to pioneer locating, either through discovering or purchasing,
objects for strategic use in the course of game play. G4 magazine even went
so far as to declared it the best video game of all time. And although
all-time lists always draw dissention, Zelda inarguably sits among the other
greats in the pantheon of early NES games, an assembly that includes such
well-known and well-loved games as Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, Megaman,
Tetris, Contra, Super Tecmo Bowl and on and on.
And with these memorable games, the Nintendo console saw such success that
Nintendo also started its own monthly promotional and informational
magazine, Nintendo Power which this month celebrates its 200th issue.
Although Zelda was first played two decades ago, it's only been a few years
since my last quest through Hyrule to capture and assemble the sacred
Triforce. My roommate at the time borrowed an "old school" Nintendo and a
few games from his then girlfriend, and we spent most of our free time
revisting the avocations of our youth.
But as we fell back in love with the game console, his relationship fell to
the wayside. And before we knew it, the relationship was on the rocks.
Unfortunately, we had - for several weeks - been trying in vain to defeat
the last dungeon. Only we couldn't. So we asked around and were shocked at
how many people remembered that we needed to find the flute in order to
drain the lake and get the extra armor, "otherwise it's going to be
impossible." So that meant that even though he and the girlfriend wanted to
part ways, we needed the relationship to go on for at least another week.
Did my buddy put off breaking up with a girl just so we could finish Zelda?
Yep. That's how good of a game the first Zelda is. And that's why, even if
you don't get into video games, you should celebrate Zelda's legacy. That
is, of course, unless you feel too old.
source: www.flakmag.com/opinion/zelda20.html