Anniversary I Missed

Back in August an anniversary came and went, a 25th anniversary of when a box was opened and things were evacuated from the box. How exciting, you might say. It was in August of 1986 that "The Legend of Zelda" was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Besides the Mario franchise, no other set of characters have come to define a system, a company, and an entire medium like Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Everything good about video games seems to come from this first RPG, well, if you listen to the hoards of now adults who grew up with that original golden cartridge. Like my man Norm.

I'm oversimplifying, but really, the anticipation, the difficulty, the satisfaction, and the entertaining challenge of the original game keep it fresh.

I've read about some of the iterations of the Zelda games over the years, and it sounds like the consensus is that out of the 15 official canon games, there are 15 excellent video game classics of various degrees. Some opinions are mixed, but cases have been made for the quality of each of the canon games, convincing cases.

My own experience has been limited to watching Tony and Norm play both "Majora's Mask" and the cartoony Gamecube "Wind Waker" game. "Wind Waker" turned into one of the more controversial games in the series, but has a devoted following of at least a faction of the brand's fans.

Also, I spent a good amount of time playing one of the best video games in the history of the medium: "The Ocarina of Time". Consistently ranked either Number 1 all time or in the top five all time for video games, "Ocarina of Time" fulfilled all of the promise of the first 3D Zelda game, and even lifted the medium to new heights.

It's one of the few video games I've actually beaten, having done so twice. It's that enjoyable. I even tried hooking my N64 up to my old TV just to see if I could get a game going again in my spare time while we were living in Texas (sadly it didn't work). The game play, graphics, challenge, and ultimate payoff makes it an infinitely re-playable game, and I'm not even a gamer.

The power of "Ocarina of Time" is like the power of Nintendo's Wii: it makes fans out of regularly non-interested folks.

Happy belated birthday Link, Zelda, Ganon, the holders of the Tri-force (respectively courage, wisdom, and power). Looking forward to the watercolor looking Wii's "Skyward Sword" Zelda entry within the next year.