Zelda: Ocarina of Time Replay

When I was a kid, I didn’t own any consoles. I was always that one kid who had to go over to her friends’ houses in order to get her fix. So when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out in ’98, I remember being incredibly disgruntled that my best friend’s older sister owned the N64 and had gotten the game as a Christmas present.

Of course, in the typical ‘It’s my sister’s game and you’ll break it’ fashion, I ended up being the “manual buddy”… Which is exactly what it sounds like. While my friend got to play and save the world, I was stuck reading the manual to her.

What fun.

I still remember the shocked and surprised gasps we emitted as we discovered that (spoiler!) Sheik was Zelda.

Earlier this year, I decided to avenge my childhood self and go through Ocarina of Time myself. I was instantly overwhelmed by nostalgia–the music and cut scenes I’d watched as kid came flooding back, leaving me bouncing eagerly in my chair as Navi urged Link to “wake up!“

After familiarizing myself with the controls, I set out on my journey as Link with Navi at my side and my instructions to save the world from that weird looking Deku Tree. My boyfriend and roommate watched me play with some interest, and we all sang along to Saria’s song as I ran around Lost Woods.

As an adult, this game was still very engaging (although that may be because it was like I was playing it for the first time given my manual-buddy status). I currently am sitting on my save point just after Zelda rides off with Impa and haven’t been able to get past that point due to having an actual adult job (and my everlasting quest for pants in TERA), but I plan on beating the game in the non-too-distance future and moving on to the next installment in the series.

However, I just want to emphasize how much I love the puzzle aspect of this game. It’s by far my favorite in the sense that the puzzles are fun without being frustrating or impossible. The hints are helpful without being obvious, and the story intertwines well with the objectives without becoming monotonous. All in all, this game is one I will probably always enjoy. Especially once I can get to playing them in HD quality on the newer versions.