You Always Remember Your First Zelda

I started at Game Informer just as the Skyward Sword issue was going out to all the subscribers, so I missed the opportunity to share my personal experience with the series in the printed magazine. If I had started a little earlier though, I would have wanted to write about Ocarina of Time.

I was late to the Zelda party, as Ocarina was my first experience with the series. It has defined me in ways well beyond that of simple fandom. Without Ocarina of Time, I can confidently say that there is no way I would be writing for Game Informer, nor would I have even pursued such a career. Ocarina showed me what kind of experiences video games could deliver. I have always had a crush on video games, but Ocarina made me fall in love.

I had no experience with the series so everything was an epiphany of discovery. I thought I had beaten the game after Saving Ruto from Jaby Jabu’s belly. I was on my way to the castle to confront Ganon, only to discover I was not even close. I was off by about seven years. I remember slowly walking out of the temple of time, pushing the control stick forward about halfway, not to create a cinematic exit, but rather because I was genuinely in awe of what just happened. I had slept for seven years, and the world had changed.



Even Zelda staples like the hookshot were entirely new to me. When I finally understood the function of the hookshot, and how it could pull me to distant inaccessible areas, I became incredibly excited. All those places that I thought were unreachable were suddenly within my grasp, and the world opened up in a big way.

My brother and I were playing the game at the same time, each on a separate save file, and we would have lengthy discussions about finding new items and hidden locations. He discovered how to get Epona before I did, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw him riding outside of the confines of the Lon Lon Ranch. The world opened up all over again.

Every single dungeon, every single exploratory trek across Hyrule field felt like a separate adventure in itself. I have never so ravenously consumed every bit of dialogue, explored every nook and cranny of every environment, or gotten so lost in the lore of a fictional world.

It took me a full month to get through Ocarina of Time, and that was with me playing for at least a few hours a day. I refused to use a strategy guide and it made the experience tremendously rewarding. My entire gaming career post-Ocarina has really been me just trying to recapture the experience I had with Ocarina during my first play-through. I love playing video games, and I have had some incredibly emotionally engaging experiences, witnessed amazing stories, and performed impossible tasks in virtual worlds, but nothing will ever best the first time I played Ocarina of Time.