Hey, Infinite here. Now as an avid Zelda Fan, I have a lot of memories of the times I've played Zelda over the years, because I cherish them. Some of them were great memories, some were disturbing memories, some were memories of being confused, but in all, they were all the best experiences one is to have playing any game. So to celebrate the Zelda series' long 25 year history, I'm going to list all my memories I had when I played any game in the series. Please comment, maybe recounting your experiences or relating them to mine. So without further ado, here we go:
The first Zelda game I played:
Now technically the first Zelda game I played was a demo for Oracle of Ages when I was in CompUSA (now out of business and replaced, at least in my area, with Microcenter). I remember escorting Impa (spoiler she was possessed by Veran), and liked the idea of characters following the main one....WHAT? I was very young (I think around 6-10). I didn't have much experience with video games and I didn't know about some certain rpgs like Chrono Trigger. But even with that naive idea, what I got was better than I hoped.
The first Zelda game I owned:
It was Oracle of the Seasons. Yes, I know that if I liked Ages so much why didn't I get it first. But the point is, I had no idea which version was the version with what I saw in the demo. Also I thought at the time that Ages and Seasons were pretty much the same game except with some slight differences (again early childhood naivety) like it was for the 3 versions of the Pokemon games. But anyway back to the main topic. I remember having a lot of difficulty with the puzzles in the game and being stuck at a Lost Woods-like area where I had to go in a specific direction in a specific season. At that part, I actually had help from a fellow camper when I was going to summer camp to bypass that part. I remember having difficulty with some of the bosses's weaknesses, as something of them were against common sense. I remember this One Eye boss (...One sec let me look it up.... Its name was Digdogger
www.zeldawiki.org/Digdogger ) I had particular difficulty with. Basically what you had to do was use the magnetic gloves (God damn I hated the magnetic glove puzzles) to move an enormous spike ball into the boss. The problem being if you weren't careful you can have the giant spiked ball hit you (If it was attracted)...which is why I kept losing. I also remember discovering how to make a Giant Cucco in the game. I explain it quite well in this demotivational I made (with a link included to a video of it)
dbgtinfinite.deviantart.com/ar… .
The second Zelda game I owned:
It was Oracle of the Ages. That's right I started off my foray into the Zelda series from the Oracle series which by the way were made by Capcom. Now Ages....THANK THE 3 GODDESSES OF HYRULE IT WAS EASIER THAN SEASONS! Yes, it was easier (to me at least), and as such I completed the game, I believe around 5 times or more whereas I finished Seasons, 2 or 3 or maybe 4 times. But you know what I hated about both games? The FREAKIN' DANCING MINIGAMES WHICH YOU WERE REQUIRED TO DO IN ORDER TO ADVANCE! Whereas Seasons had only one dancing minigame, the Subrosians dance (and it was pretty easy after you got the hang of it), Ages had 2 FREAKIN' DANCING MINIGAMES for the Gorons. Not only did you have to complete the goron's tougher than subrosian's version, version twice (in the present and in the past), but it also was far more difficult than the subrosian version. I also hated fighting the final boss Veran...simply because she had A LOT OF FORMS. Like around 4 to 6 forms, which you were expected to survive, with each one having less pickups appearing. Lets just say that the Potion (like using fairies in bottles but you can only carry one at a time, and either had to buy it from the witch Syrup for a large chunk of rupees, or her student Maple my drop one when you bump into her, and VERY RARELY find in chests) was a godsend....if you don't lose all the recovered hearts after using it. Another memory I had with Ages is abusing the pieces of heart containers that Maple sometimes dropped when you bumped into her to get another heart container when I already had max heart containers.
....I lost one heart container from the max because of this.
The third Zelda game I've played:
The GBA version of A Link to the Past (Which is supposed to be called Triforce of the Gods if Nintendo of America didn't decide to censor it) which came with 4 Swords. No I have never played 4Swords on it. Anyway, Triforce of the Gods (no I'm not gonna refer to the censored name if you want to see why just check out the journal log I did about zelda theories), I have several memories of being stuck in the game. The first one is the flute. Yeah, I didn't know for a long time what to do next to get to the next dungeon (which was blocked off in Dark World), so I tried several things. I thing I tried is to beat the archery minigame in Dark World. Good, old Zelda confusion being stumped about what to do next when the answer is right in front of you, and yet you do something else. Only later, when you figure out the answer, you realize how stupid you've been... and yet that makes you want to play more. The other place I was stuck at was the last dark world dungeon before going to Ganon's Temple. An area somewhat far to the north of the entrance of the dungeon where you had to push a block to move to the next room. Yeah, I tried pushing the blocks the first time but apparently I either forgot that block or just did it the wrong direction. Needless to say, I tried literally everything.
The fourth Zelda game I've played:
Minish Cap...getting the game itself was a problem. I had wanted for a long time to get the game, but the time I could actually wanted to get the game....it was very hard to find. By the time, I finally found and bought a copy....it was already faultly before I even got it. Basically, I couldn't turn off the game if I wanted to keep my data, because the moment I turned it back on I lost everything I work so hard for, all the data, everything saved, gone. So how did I ever succeed in playing a majority of the game? On a emulator. Yeah, emulators. I should talk in a little side note about my opinion with emulators are (you could skip this section if you choose to)
Now, I believe game companies should be supported by buying their games. But if its a game that they no longer sell and thus don't receive much a profit from it anymore, it is somewhat okay.
I have a problem with my own idealogy of emulators though. The problem is I had to beg my parents (not my grandparents since they're so nice...though nowadays I don't want them to do so since they are so sick, they could instead use that money to take care of themselves but especially since my grandfather has Lou Gehrig's disease, [what Stephen Hawking has that paralyzed him] my grandfather can barely move on his own) to buy the game, but especially my mom (my dad, hated video games both because he didn't like them himself and because of a bias from the fact when I was younger I abused playing the gameboy). And even then its very unlikely that I can even get what I want. Getting the Wii, was slightly easier do to its exercising games. As such, I never owned a DS, or even currently a 3DS and have to emulate the games. I hate myself every time I do so.
Okay back to talking about Zelda
Minish Cap was fun, though I don't have a lot of memories of it aside from being stuck on fighting the final form of the final boss (thus I never completed the game).
My fifth Zelda game:
the original The Legend of Zelda played on emulator. Though I remember when I was a couple years younger and before I even heard of emulators, I was searching for a downloadable version of the game that didn't give my computer viruses or useless applications. I didn't get very far in the game. I think I only finished 1 dungeon... yeah the game is harder than its later games.
My sixth Zelda game:
the sequel to the last game I've played, Zelda 2: the Adventures of Link. Hard plain and simple. I didn't even defeat the first temple yet.
My seventh Zelda game:
Ocarina of Time on the Wii, bought on the Wii shop channel. The reason why I didn't play Twilight Princess before this on the Wii, is because, I thought it would be hard to get adjusted to a 3D Zelda game seeing how I only ever played the 2D games. So as such, when I saw OoT on the Wii Shop Channel, I bought it and played it. Yes, I was surprised about Sheik-Zelda thing and the time travel and was somewhat annoyed by Navi. Kaepora Gaebora, the owl, I had no difficulties with because of my experience with the Maku Trees in the Oracle games. I also remember the WATER TEMPLE. I don't think it was hard so much as EXTREMELY LONG, which made everything in the game very tedious. I also remember on my first playthrough, I accidentally did the dark temple before the spirit temple.
My eight Zelda game:
Twilight Princess. Oh boy, Twilight Princess, I have a lot of memories of it. So after completing OoT I decide to finally get Twilight Princess. I had thought that there would be full control of the sword and maybe the shield. Yeah, I was wrong for this game but it was correct for the next game Skyward Sword. I never regretted playing the game. I remember Malo, the little kid who look like a baby. I remember how Rusl, even when injured attacked you if you bothered his wife or attacked him while you a wolf. I remember how riding on Epona, felt a lot better than Epona in OoT. I remember how in order to get Poe Souls, you brutally ripped them out of the Poe's complete with them screaming in agony. I remember being turned into a wolf the first time. I remember the fun of using the the iron boots in the Goron Mines to walk on the walls and ceilings and cheating in sumo wrestling Gorons by using them. I remember the fun of using not just one clawshot but 2. I remember the awesomeness of using a ball and chain. Am I forgetting someone? Oh yes how could I forget Midna. Midna, Midna, Midna, how I loved your character. I loved her many powers, her attitude, her real form, and the connection I actually felt emotionally to her as the game progressed. I grew to love her so much, I....I...I cried at the end........I WANT HER BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!....*ahem*....sorry I just really miss her. Anyway more memories. I remember the ghost of the Zora Queen. I remember how fishing was fun with either the pole (which I actually fished with in real life) and with the reel were fun. How you could catch "illegal" fish that were enemies. Helping Malo buy the store in Hyrule castle town, so that it could not only serve rich people, but you could afford the magic armor...and how weirded out I was when I saw everyone dancing in the store. Scaring people as wolf link, its strangely so much fun. Zant was badass...until he took off his helmet, which then he became insane. FUCKING GANONDORF!!!! My god, he was especially badass in this game. His badassitude just from his revamped appearance completely wiped out any agtitation that Zant was Hijacked by Ganon. He even supposedly kills Midna....THAT BASTARD....THAT BADASS BASTARD!!!...*ahem*...wow I really get off on tangents. I remember the Hyrulian Bazooka from the resistance's Big Damn Heroes Moment. Jousting with King Bulbin was very fun. The now completely naked save for lady godiva hair more awkward to play around friends and family Twilight Princess version of the Great Fairy. Bomb arrows and the mingame with them. You're probably bored now from any this I'm listing right. Well there are more memories of this game but lets cut it short. This is why I want to abridged this game and have been working on the series for 3 years.
My ninth Zelda game:
Majora's Mask on emulator though, I'm thinking about buying the game on the Wii Shop Channel. Depressing game isn't it? Well, even though I never completed the game (well that's a lie I did but with cheats missing the last dungeon and the mini ones with the moon children) I still have memories. Killing aliens at Romani ranch. Putting the Deku Princess in a bottle...when she happens to be the same size as link. The cucco sidequest. FREAKIN" SCARY ASS HAPPY MASK SALESMAN. The MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Fierce Diety Link, Majora, Guru-Guru being nearly as scary as the happy mask salesman compared to his Seasons and Ocarina versions.
Other zelda games to be placed that I've only played some of:
Phantom Hourglass...only ten minutes....Yeah, I didn't like the touch screen controls
Link's Awakening: Played a fellow camper's game, and I think I emulated it and played it some.
Zelda games I haven't played yet:
Wind Waker, Spirit tracks...why would I include the HORRIBLE CDI games?
Anyway I'm hoping to get these games so I can get more memories of the Zelda series.
Miscellaneous other memories:
To be imputed when I remember them and they don't fit in any of the above categories.
Well, that the end of my retrospective. Hopefully, once I complete Skyward Sword I'll have more memories to add to this. So what do you think? How does it relate to you? Any memorable experiences you've had with the Zelda series? Or anything else. Just comment on this please.