What is the Legend of Zelda to you? Is it simply a game that you enjoy to pass the time with, or is it something more meaningful? Have you been enjoying journeys through Hyrule for most of your life, or have you only recently tried you hand at your first adventure as Link, the hero in green? We all have our stories, playing these games, finding inspiration from them and always wishing for more adventures to enjoy on the latest Nintendo hardware.

The Legend of Zelda series is such a staple in Nintendo’s history and has had a long run of unique games across all of Nintendo’s consoles. Everyone who has played a Zelda game has a different opinion, whether they enjoy 3D or 2D, handheld or console. These reflective articles aim to offer gamers from different paths, ages and backgrounds opinions on the series and their own memories with the series. My Zelda career started with Ocarina of Time and before the dawn of the Internet as we know it. My Zelda Story transforms from a player with minimal investment into one of the casual speedrunners for the Zelda Dungeon Marathon team.

The Original

Starting off with the original game on NES seems like a great place to start. To put things into perspective I never owned an original Nintendo Entertainment System until 2010 so I missed out on classic games from the system unless they were released on Virtual Console. The Legend of Zelda was one of these instances. My first Zelda experience was on Nintendo 64 with Ocarina of Time, and shortly after A Link to the Past on SNES. Since I have picked up an NES I have still yet to track down a copy of The Legend of Zelda and opted to play it on the Wii Virtual Console. I’ve tried on multiple occasions to sit down and complete The Legend of Zelda but I have still not completed the game to this date. The magic of the game isn’t there for me because the nostalgia factor isn’t there. It’s a very challenging game without a doubt but there are other Zelda games that I hold dearer to my heart and the original is not on that list.

Zelda II

My experience with The Adventure of Link is similar to the original with some exceptions. I actually own The Adventure of Link on the NES and have gotten up to Death Mountain. From there I lost patience and the game ramped up in difficulty and I’ve yet to come back to the game. Zelda II seems to be the black sheep of the series because of it’s gameplay and difficulty associated with it. Zelda II has no other Zelda games to compare to; in that regard it’s very unique. My personal recollection is a little more fresh in my mind because my time with the game is a lot more recent than some other games. It’s great to have The Adventure of Link in my collection but it’s not a game that I dust off for rainy days. I’ll stick to other classics on NES.

SNES Era

A Link to the Past was a game that I owned on the SNES… that’s pretty much all I can say about my first experience with it. A friend was getting rid of some Super Nintendo games and it was gifted to me. When I first played the game I quickly lost my patience and put it down only to play it many years later. Finding my way around the game was tough and when I first had this game Ocarina of Time was already out on Nintendo 64. I’ve since gone back and played A Link to the Past to completion several times. I have played A Link to the Past twice in the Zelda Dungeon Marathon in 2013 and 2015. Playing with a large group of people on a live stream makes the game a crazy amount of fun. A Link to the Past is my personal favorite 2D Zelda game that follows from the top-down perspective. I look forward to playing it in the Zelda Dungeon Marathon in many years to come. Going back through the game makes me appreciate the difficulty and challenge that A Link to the Past offers.

The Favorite

Here’s everyone’s favorite game. Ocarina of Time is the pinnacle of the series and not only sets the trend for the entire series, it has been a huge influence in the RPG genre and was one of the best examples of games that made a successful jump from 2D to 3D. The first time I played this game was with a good friend who introduced me to the Zelda series. The N64’s graphics made this game for me and staying up late with my friend trying to solve puzzles and searching every room for secrets was endless fun. The Internet was not the juggernaut that it is today so we stuck to the Prima Guide to find our way through the game if we got stuck. My first temple that I played was the Shadow Temple which had me hooked. Beating the temple and facing Bongo Bongo was the highlight for me and solidified my love for Ocarina of Time. I asked for this game for my birthday and got to experience the game on my own from start to finish. It took a long time to complete and from what I remember the puzzles were a lot harder back in 1999. At the age of seven my attention span for these games wasn’t too high but Ocarina of Time held my patience. This was my first true introduction to the Zelda series and it’s a great place for anyone to start with.

After practicing the game for the 2015 Zelda Dungeon Marathon I realized how the game has not aged as well as I thought. The graphics don’t capture what I saw back in 1999 and the controls on the N64 controller don’t feel as satisfying. Thankfully Ocarina of Time 3D solves every issue I have with playing the original version. If you have a 3DS then Ocarina of Time 3D is a must-own title. Even though I hold onto the old memories of playing Ocarina of Time, I enjoy playing the game for the marathon because of the nature of how we play it. In 2013 I played in the four way race of Ocarina of Time and just like playing A Link to the Past with other people in the room, Ocarina of Time is the same case. Comparing tricks and ways to optimize your gameplay route is a lot of fun to do. Aside from the nine player Twilight Princess race the Ocarina of Time four way race was my favorite moment from the 2015 Zelda Dungeon Marathon. It’s a great place to start but even gets better when you realize what came after Ocarina of Time.

Majora’s Mask

Majora’s Mask seems to be a bit controversial because of its three day system. By the time Majora’s Mask had come out I hadn’t even completed Ocarina of Time yet. To put things into perspective getting a new game wasn’t like how it is today. Review systems weren’t in place so you could see that the best games were. Everything was word of mouth or you would rent the game and try it for a weekend and if you really loved it you could save up the cash for the game or buy it on clearance. The prices for Nintendo 64 games varied as well because of the cost of making the cartridges so retailers would price some games higher than others. When games came out I didn’t have the money to buy anything on day one and my major source of income was birthday money or doing odd jobs around the house. The logical assumption would be that I would love Majora’s Mask unconditionally because it was a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time that HAD to be great right? For whatever reason Majora’s Mask didn’t click with me until I revisited it many years later. My initial run with the game was fair and I did put a lot of time into the game, but I would always end up putting it down in favor of other games like Banjo-Kazooie, Super Smash Bros., F-Zero X and Super Mario 64. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the game cartridge which was gold and had a holographic label on it which set it apart from every other Nintendo 64 game I had. I lost interest in Majora’s Mask and always referred to it as ‘that Zelda game’ that wasn’t as awesome as Ocarina of Time. It wouldn’t be until around 2008 that I would gain the appreciation for Majora’s Mask and respect for the game. Now it’s my favorite in the series and I love all of the temples especially Stone Tower Temple. Since my new-found appreciation I’ve run through the game several times and even played it in the 2013 Zelda Dungeon Marathon in a losing effort to Caleb. My game ended up crashing right before Stone Tower Temple which put a huge damper on the run.

The next experience I had with Majora’s Mask was with Majora’s Mask 3D on 3DS. Majora’s Mask, much like Ocarina of Time did not age too well in the graphics department. The 3DS remake of the game fixes all of the issues that have not aged well with the game and the re-tooled bosses and some other little changes make the game perfect. Making the jump to the 3DS had a major overhaul to the controls like the case with Ocarina of Time 3D but Majora’s Mask 3D made a lot more subtle changes that were untouched in Ocarina of Time. Some notable examples are the inclusion of an extra bottle, a new fishing zone, and changes to how the Zora form controls underwater and how the Goron moves while rolling around.

The GCN Era

The cel-shaded art style, boat sequences, and general gameplay shown from videos that I had seen around its launch didn’t matter to me. It was a new Zelda game. At the time, I had only known of three Zelda games, and that each one was very different from the next. The Wind Waker was a new adventure… but one that looking back, was not that exciting – or even particular good for that matter. I think that the boat is boring and just winds up prolonging the game. Having to go from place to place for a majority of the game was obnoxious but it was all rectified with the Ballad of Gales which warped you to several islands. I could never quite understand why it wouldn’t allow you to warp to any island but that’s not too important. The real kicker with The Wind Waker was the Triforce piece hunt. Having to search for maps to find Triforce pieces and paying a lot of money to Tingle for him to read the maps is what makes it hard to enjoy a replay. It seems like everyone has the same few issues with this game, but rather than focus solely on the negatives, let’s look at the positives. The game was new, but stuck to the Zelda formula. There were some very unique islands, funny characters, rewarding side-quests, and a whole world to explore just like in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Sure, you had to use a boat to get everywhere, but reflecting on it I remember enjoying racing my friends through that game when it came out. Another plus for The Wind Waker is that it came with a GameCube version of Ocarina of Time, and the all-new Master Quest which was another bonus on top of having a new Zelda game. Of course this was only available with a The Wind Waker pre-order, but it was the reason I started pre-ordering Zelda games.

The Wait for Twilight Princess

After The Wind Waker I waited for the next Zelda game to come out on the purple little box I grew to love. The GameCube had a bunch of great games like Sonic Adventure 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Medal of Honor: Frontline, and 007 Nightfire, to name a few. Since Ocarina of Time was followed by Majora’s Mask on Nintendo 64, logically I the next Zelda game was obviously going to come out on the GameCube. But no, I had to wait years before I could play what became The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

The Split Timeline: GenGAME’s Zelda Marathon

Here’s where the timeline of my reflection splits and follows a different tack. Rather than moving on to the logical purchase of Skyward Sword, this story takes on a different path into some GenGAME history.

Before I joined Zelda Dungeon I was not terribly invested in the Legend of Zelda series. It wasn’t until I watched something which at the time in 2010 was a pretty new concept. I watched a live stream of Trevor and the beginning of the GenGAME team playing The Legend of Zelda in a marathon through UStream TV. Not only was live streaming new to me, but sitting down and playing through games in a marathon was a foreign concept to me. So naturally I wandered over to Trevor’s house uninvited and starting playing half of the Legend of Zelda series including The Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Hourglass, A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess and The Minish Cap. Honestly none of these games are real standout favorites of mine but I essentially filled the gap left open by friends who bailed out on Trevor’s brand new website’s first big live streaming charity venture. The marathon was not planned out too well and we changed venues a few times but we made it through the series somehow.

In August 2010 GenGAME launched officially as a true-blue website – but that wasn’t the true start of GenGAME. The original GenGAME, known then as Generation:GAME, was a Zelda Marathon that started in GenGAME founder Trevor Magnani’s basement. This is where my role as a GenGAME writer came into being. I quite literally drove over to Trevor’s house, even though at the time I didn’t know him too well, and hung out with him, Brad, Christina, Stephen and later on that week Joe to play some Zelda in a basement one sunny week in July.

During that Zelda Marathon I managed to play a few games for large periods of time, and some games for short periods of time to cover people’s sleep breaks or work shifts. I played A Link to the Past very briefly, then some of Twilight Princess the next day. The extent of my playthrough was the Water Temple and the Arbiter Grounds. After that a day later I did the Triforce piece quest in The Wind Waker and then I delved into unknown territory. As the Zelda Marathon went on, I ran out of games that I had played before and was left with Zelda games that I hadn’t even thought of purchasing.

The first of these was Phantom Hourglass.

I played it for all of 30 minutes before opting out and switching the live stream over to Four Swords Adventures, which was our go-to game for downtime because it was easy to play. Starting from the desert area, I managed to beat it to completion and then journeyed into more uncharted territory with The Minish Cap. The Minish Cap reminded me of A Link to the Past in many ways and I really had fun playing it. By the time I stopped playing it was about 3 a.m. and I tossed the game off to Joe for the final level opting to go home and go get some sleep. That was the last Zelda game I played in the Zelda Marathon and we went on to raise ~$250 for charity. After that, GenGAME launched in August, and I waited for the next Zelda title to hit shelves; Skyward Sword.

The Zelda Dungeon Marathon/GenGAME Zelda Marathon

My experience with playing in Zelda marathons would continue in 2013 with a trip down to Mississippi to play in the second Zelda Dungeon Marathon. It was an unforgettable experience hanging out with the Zelda Dungeon team and playing all of the Zelda games with minimal sleep and some crazy stories. From this point on I started to take Zelda seriously and practiced playing through the games in the series so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself on live stream in front of thousands of people. I played Link to the Past, Majora’s Mask, Ocarina of Time and parts of Skyward Sword. The standouts for me at my first ZD Marathon has to be playing A Link to the Past with five other people and racing against Caleb in Majora’s Mask.

I made my return to the Zelda Dungeon Marathon in 2015 in Chicago and upped the amount of games I played more than double. Along with playing Mario Kart and Smash Bros. with various ZD team members I played, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Tetra’s Trackers, Twilight Princess, Hyrule Warriors, Four Swords, and parts of Four Swords Adventures. There are too many highlights to count but if I were to pick three I would have to say playing Hyrule Warriors against Locke, playing Twilight Princess with eight other players and being in the four player race of Ocarina of Time. It’s amazing the amount of comradery is developed when you share a house with a few people for a week out of the year. Making wrestling references, playing Zelda and having a good time is the reason why I will never miss a Zelda Dungeon Marathon again.

If you want to keep up with my Zelda story you can catch me at the Zelda Dungeon Marathon and in these editorials which come few and far between. My input on the Zelda series is also on display in the ZD Tops and ZD Talks article series.

The Zelda games I have played:
The Legend of Zelda
The Adventure of Link
ALink to the Past
ThOcarina of Time
Ocarina of Time Master Quest (GCN)
Ocarina of Time 3D
Majora’s Mask
Majora’s Mask 3D
The Wind Waker
The Wind Waker HD
Four Swords Adventure
The Minish Cap
Twilight Princess
Phantom Hourglass
Skyward Sword
Four Swords
Link’s Awakening DX
Hyrule Warriors
Link’s Crossbow Training
Tri Force Heroes
Tetra’s Trackers
Faces of Evil