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Matthew Tidman
I have so many wonderful memories of the Zelda series. If it wasn’t for the Zelda games, I probably wouldn’t be such a diehard Nintendo fanboy. Every time a competing system came out I’d get really excited, but then I’d remember Zelda would not be releasing for said system and decide I could wait for the next Nintendo console.
As far as favorite Zelda games, A Link to the Past wins that title hands-down. Like many SNES games, A Link to the Past took everything that was great about its series and expanded it to epic proportions. Just as you were finishing exploring the map, you found out there was a whole nother “Dark World” to explore that was similar, yet different. I also think that the second Dark World dungeon is one of the most clever uses of the two-worlds mechanic used up until that point. You came to the dungeon and had no idea how to progress since you couldn’t climb the ladders since the water was off. It was only by jumping to the Light World and flipping a switch to open a dam that you could start the water flowing in the dark world version of the location.
I have friends who refuse to play anything before Ocarina of Time because they can’t stand a non-3D Zelda, and I think that’s really sad. If you’ve never given the older Zelda games a chance, I encourage you to. You can pick up any of the console Zelda games on VC for just a couple of bucks, and each game is worth the price of admission.
Lewis Hampson
My first experience of a Zelda game was the formidable A Link to the Past on SNES. The impact this game had on me was profound. It actively taught me to explore every facet of this dangerous world, and the amazing rewards you achieve from doing so. The reason I smash every pot, create, and of course chicken to this day, in any game, is because of the indelible mark A Link to the Past left on my gaming soul.
Solving those fiendish puzzles when you’re eight years old is no mean feat, and the countless hours me and my friend poured into the game, were repeated when I finally got a SNES for myself some years later. The light shone by A Link to the Past continues to burn brightly today, indeed I still play the title every now and again, just to remind myself how great this game truly is. Each time I am amazed all over again by the scope, design and execution of this monumental release. Now, twenty years later, it is still vying for position as my number one game of all time. Flawless.
Dustin Grissom
My first Legend of Zelda experience was actually with the Wii. I know, many may call me a late adapter, but with Twilight Princess being my first ever Zelda, I still experienced one of my favorite games of all time. It took me a few years to get all the way through the game, but once I did, I couldn’t get enough. I played through some of the DS titles, and they were good, but it wasn’t until I rented The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker from GameFly that I was completely hooked. Wind Waker marks my favorite game in the series, and perhaps my favorite game of all time. It was just a marvelous experience that I absolutely could not set down. After I finished Wind Waker (and spent days trying to get my head to realize that it was actually, finally over), I bought The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS. I’ve yet to finish it, but nonetheless, it is fantastic thus far.
There is something different about playing The Legend of Zelda series than playing any other video game series. You get this feeling that the game you are playing is a historical piece of gaming at it’s pinnacle. This is gaming right here, this is what you anxiously wait for every 5 or so years, all those other games, that’s just filler until the next big console Zelda arrives. I may sound overly ambitious with that statement, but I speak my honest opinion. I’m officially hooked, and time can’t come soon enough for the next big installment to gaming’s greatest series: The Legend of Zelda.
And those are our Zelda memories! We hope you enjoyed reading them as much as we enjoyed sharing them and please, we’d love to hear about your own memories of Link, Zelda and Ganon in the comments’ section below!
My first ever Zelda game was Spirit Tracks, of course I was also a late adopter. But once I played it I was hooked, and I couldn’t imagine how I lived without the series, it was like living without Mario!