It’s Dangerous To Go Alone: My Time In Hyrule

5

It all started here.

Sitting on the floor begging my mom for help when I couldn’t quite make the jump or get passed the goomba. I’d pay anything to know what I was saying to her in this moment.

My first video game memories come from my mother. She was an avid gamer, who loved the Super Mario Bros, but most of all, she loved ‘The Legend of Zelda.’ I’ll never forget her waking me up in the middle of the night to beat Ganon, the game’s villianous final boss. It’s a core memory for me. One I cling to as a reminder of being small, vulnerable, and needing my mom.

WATCH MORE: Heading Back to Hyrule! ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time’ Is Getting A Remake!

Of course, from time to time I still need her, my father as well, but I never forget the lessons that I learned in those moments. As console generations moved on, she picked up ‘The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.’ Book in hand, she beat that too, instilling in me a love for the world of Hyrule along the way.

Then something changed.

In 1998, Nintendo released the groundbreaking new entry, ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time,’ and all of a sudden it was my time in the tunic. The new graphics and 3D world had advanced beyond her, giving her motion sickness as she tried to quest through the countryside.

It was my time in Hyrule.

A Link to the Past

As gamers who were born in the 80’s and 90’s look forward to the release of ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time Remake,’ we’re all taking in something we’ve all attached ourselves to as times have gotten hard: nostalgia. ‘Ocarina’ was the first game that I beat entirely on on my own. It’s the first game I remember loving in a way that made me think: “wow! this is my favorite game!” This was THE game for a generation. Many of us remember where we were when we beat it and the feeling of relief when Ganon’s Final Form received that final blow.

As a new generation of gamers are heading into Kokiri Forrest, setting off on their own adventure, it’s time for the cycle to start anew. Those of us wish that we could play this game again for the first time will begin to realize that that is not some insurmmountable feat as many would imagine. Many of us have become parents in our own right, raising little gamers of our own. Gamers that hand us the controller and ask to beat a level or set up a new game. Gamers that ask what our favorite game is. This year we get to show them.

This Thursday, November 5th, means more to a generation than just a simple video game release. It means a return to a time when the outside world meant nothing and Hyrule meant everything. I was 12 turning 13 when the game was originally released and I’m 40 turning 41 when the remake hits. One thing can be known for sure: when I roll those end credits, I’m going to drop my controller and run to call my mom and let her know that I saved Hyrule, just like I had those many years ago.