I know this probably won’t get seen much now, but man that game has a special place in my heart.
Starting with the original Zelda game, my mother and I always beat them together.
We were very poor, but she always did what she had to do to get us the latest Nintendo console. She worked as a dog groomer leading up to the release of the Nintendo 64. She would be gone for 12 hours at a time, working for below minimum wage (under the table) just to get us that console.
She got Ocarina of Time for my brother and I for Christmas. She was just as excited to play it as we were, but there was no way my dad was going to let us open a Christmas present early. We only got one big present to share, and two small presents. Sometimes if my dad had saved a decent amount, we’d get the large present (usually a game), and then we’d get something that we really wanted that we didn’t have to share.
I begged my mom, she begged my dad. He wouldn’t budge. In the weeks leading up to Christmas though, she broke. She came to me with her plan. We were going to open it every day when he went to work and play it until an hour before he got home.
By the time Christmas rolled around, we were in the forest temple. He didn’t play games so he didn’t have a clue.
It was so much fun sneaking that game out with my mom and my brother. It was so much fun. Seeing how big it was for the time, we literally couldn’t believe our eyes.
Is OoT my favorite game of all time? Not anymore. It is my favorite memory of a game though, and by a long shot.
Edit, for fun.
It meant so much to me that the only boxes I still have from my childhood are my Zelda and N64 boxes.
As a kid with controlling parents? Fantasy and science fiction were always my escapes. When we finally got this game it was my everything. Little did I know the sequel had already been out for a while. I still have so much of the game memorized. Every few years I pull out the n64 and play it again…
Goated mom
What a wholesome memory. “Making do” can be really hard, but it also makes things like this feel that much more meaningful.
Haha I didn’t even notice that it was you again. Man.
Keep rocking, bro. Thank you.
<3
hey i just did this for the first time last week!
Sweet! I’m glad people are still getting to experience it for the first time.
I wonder if there’s a timeline where Link is wearing flood pants when he first meets Rauru on that weird fountain platform in the Chamber of Sages
god getting to the light world forest for the first time in link to the past was a dream. the way the shadows hit everything
then going up to the master sword area and seeing all the animals go across while it was eerily quiet <3
Lucky you. I only had Lee Carvello’s Putting Challenge. I kept hitting the ball in the parking lot.
Would you like to play again?
I have selected no
should have picked putter instead of power drive
I died sooooo many times to the zombies in the castle town.
Thrillho
I remember a friend of mine got an N64 with Super Mario near release date and I hadn’t seen anything like it at the time. First time playing that and jumping through paintings and just playing a game in 3D
Me seeing the starting screen “These are the end-times… There was no hope of survival… This is how you died.” For Project Zomboid the first time. The one and only Zombie-Survival-Game that absolutely hit the nail on the head in relation to an atmosphere of despair and gritty survival.
I’m surprised that game is over ten years old already. I’ve always thought it looked really cool but I’ve never been able to bring myself to spend the money on it. Maybe I’ll catch a good sale someday. Patientgamer syndrome here
There’s Survival Crisis Z, it’s free but old. https://ska-studios.com/2007/09/07/just-a-friendly-reminder/
I think it would be been more popular today, with it’s atmosphere and horror.
And then you got outside, there’s a fiery volcano and zombies that make Link shit himself.
Those zombies terrified me! They really slowed my progress because I avoided all the places with them.
The falling hands were also scary, but I had no idea when or where they would appear so I just had to deal with them.
That hand and the zombies gave me anxiety. I think I was scared of that dumb tall ghost thing with the extra arms all around. The one in the well. Also that gross blob that eats you and steals your equipment.
I got the master sword in TotK around release and wasn’t spoiled on the context of it. It was really cool.
Meanwhile 8year old me with a ps1 seeing this for the first time and thinking I can never be happy again
well, did you ever be happy again?
Yes, but only after I collected the Knights of the Round materia just to watch the minute and an half animation of them beating sephiroth’s ass.
Too soon
Obligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/299/
Why didn’t you just use a Phoenix Down on her? Are you a monster?
i used the last one to one shot the cave of the gi :(
playing aerith’s theme during jenova life T__T
Same but the 80’s and you picked up the first Triforce.
6 days after Christmas to find and beat the first dungeon without the internet? Sounds about right.
For me it was playing Dungeon Master on Atari 520st in 1987. Well past midnight, deep inside the dungeon, I step past a corner and stand face to face with a giant scorpion and almost shit my pants.
I’m not entirely sure what scene I would’ve said had me similar when I could still more surely remember those first years. Possibly a game I’ve forgotten since. Maybe one of the Bionicle Mata Nui Games or some other big online game. Or Imperium Galactica 2.
But a moment that will always stick with me is from the first Homeworld game: when you return from your first hyperspace voyage. That entire game was epic, including the intro sequence, but it’s that sequence that I think can stand forever as a masterpiece.
