I’d relax into the familiar koan of Link gradually realizing that he is asleep in the dream of a greater, ancient being that dreamed an entire island into existence on the open sea. I always said that one of the reasons why it’s my favourite Zelda game is that the game’s not about Princess Zelda at all … if any of them ever really have been.
But just like I don’t wear baseball caps nowadays, I don’t play that game anymore, at least not as often these days. The Hyrule Historia is a beautiful clusterfuck that tried to take iterations of a legend and a myth, and impose a linear-chronology onto the experiences: or a least a heroic test of multiple choice.Īnd every time, when left to my own devices, I’d return to Link’s Awakening. And yeah, I’ve played Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask that both tried to be all third dimensional, and all the games that became part of a timeline. When I played A Link to the Past, for example, it was new and exciting and tapped into a mythic place that even when you were directed to where you needed to go, there was still something new to discover in that colourful, dark world between worlds. Playing those games reminds me of a place that doesn’t exist: that never did. They don’t remind me of something that happened to me, of my childhood, or what I used to be. You never knew what you were going to find in that 8-bit world.īut to me, the music and pixels aren’t nostalgic. A lot of players like the original Zelda because of a similar feeling, you know? The Legend of Zelda was all cryptic and obscure on the NES, but it was really all about weird symbols, fighting monsters, and exploring. You know the kind: the type that reminds you of being kids, not having to pay taxes, not working a dead-end job, not being on welfare or disability, always having energy - being so damned restless, vibrating with it - and going over to your best friend’s house after school. Some retro players I know say that they like the 8-bit tunes: that it brings them nostalgia.
One of my friends might have told you about that already so I guess you’re not hearing anything particularly new. Don’t get me wrong, I did play it once and while when I got a GBC, but more often than not it’d be my old Gameboy with its chartreuse, grey-white casing, and faded grey yellow screen where I’d play the original.
It wasn’t even the DX version, which might date me a bit. I’d play it every day before school, during lunch time, or on one of my breaks, during the downtime waiting for food runs between the table-top role-playing games I’ve always had with my friends, and before bed when I really needed to sleep. A long time ago, now, I used to play Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.