The Legend of Zelda

Friends, I've been negligent to my favorite game series of all time. It started back in 1986 with the original Nintendo platform. The Legend of Zelda features a constant overhead view of the hero, Link, as he searches for the Triforce in order to rescue Princess Zelda from Ganon. Simple, really, and nothing really overly original to the story, but amazing and hypnotizing.

I've been playing Zelda games since I was a wee lad, and I've always enjoyed them. In particular, I loved the complex puzzles that had to be solved in order to progress the game. In fact, I remember when I first played The Legend of Zelda and was looking for Ganon that I had to find Spectacle Rock; I didn't know what spectacle meant at the time, and so I looked it up and grew my vocabulary. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was dreadfully difficult, and I honestly cannot remember beating this game, though I know I must have. The advent of the SNES brought A Link to the Past, which is one of the greatest games ever made. The story grew more complicated and the puzzles a bit more challenging, as well as enhanced graphics and a larger weapons inventory made this game remarkable. Plus, being able to travel to the Dark World was pretty sweet, too.

And then 64bit graphics hit the media and the best game of all time was out: Ocarina of Time. There are so many things I enjoyed from OoT that I can't think to list them all. The soundtrack was beautiful. The deeper storyline was emotional and passionate. The graphics was astounding. This game frequently tops lists of best games ever, and I wholeheartedly agree. Ocarina's sequel, Majora's Mask, was not as interesting as its predecessor, but still a fun and cool game. The idea of collecting masks and stopping the destruction of the world was interesting.

Wind Waker is a beautiful game. The cell shading concept is visually appealing and makes for an interesting point of view playing. Also, "Link" was a small boy in this game and the legend of the Hero of Time were intriguing, and the explorable world was huge.

Then came Twilight Princess. This game was enormous and the expectation for it huge. The new controls offered by the Wii were exciting and testing the capabilities of the Wii would be interesting. The storyline was now deep and the familiar characters were legends in their own right. The new Twilight Realm was reminiscent of the Dark World from a Link to the Past and the quest was humongous.

I've left off the gameboy games--Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, Four Swords, Minish Cap, and the Phantom Hourglass--but the ones I've played are just as puzzling and fun.

Overall, the Zelda franchise has long been hailed as one of the greatest ever, and I completely agree. I eagerly await the next installment on a major platform, and I'll certainly love it, too. Link will always have a special place in my heart, like Cloud, MegaMan, Luigi, and Sephiroth.