Video Game Week

I try my best not to be a snob. I try to accept the opinions of others, and to be generally supportive of those around me.

There is, however, one lapse in taste which I cannot tolerate: Zelda; if you don't like it, we have a problem.

I have, through the years, owned every Nintendo system except the new DS handheld. I used to be an avid fan of all things Nintendo, but age and wisdom have delivered me to a place where I feel no real need for games that are not part of the Zelda series. I bought the GameCube, 4 years ago, knowing that they would eventually release a Zelda game for it. I was not disappointed by the Wind Waker, which is one of my favorites from the series (cast not your stones, cel-hating fiends). Since then, there has been a lapse. The last GC Zelda game will finally come out this November.

My gamecube hasn't been completely idle; when I fall ill, I rent a game and play it for the duration of my quarantine. However, the only other game I ever bought for my GC was Super Smash Brothers Melee, and I still hold that the N64 version was better.

Still, my all-time favorite Zelda game is "The Legend of Zelda : A Link To The Past" for the SNES.



The hordes of purists may cry "Love none so much as you love the original!" and to them I cry "Nay!" Love and respect to The Legend Of Zelda, but the game is only the groundwork for the beautiful tower of games that followed. The graphics in NES Zelda were shitty, as with all NES games, and the music sounded like Teddy Ruxpin after a long night at the karaoke bar, but those were due to limitations of the era. The real downfall of the first game is the lack of story to move the action. The Zelda storylines are part of the magic of the series; without a strong storyline, Link's quest for the triforce and pursuit of Zelda becomes just a glorified Donkey Kong.

Anyone who has played or seen Zelda II : The Adventures Of Link knows that it is not even worth mentioning.

Then came Link To The Past. The graphics were just good enough, the sound was just good enough, and the story existed! I won't make a lengthy argument for this game; I'll only say that I have played this game to completion more times than any other game I own or have ever played. I've played more full games of Link to the Past than I've played full games of Mario Party. Honestly, that many times. The replay value is staggering. I never get tired of kicking Agnahim's ass, then busting Ganon's face in with that golden arrow.

I've played and beaten almost every other game in the series, excluding Majora's Mask and the Four Swords bullshit; the former because I lost interest, even though the story was spooky, and the latter because it forsakes the spirit of the series. I feel that the Zelda franchise has not been capitalized upon, like so many Nintendo staples have, and I thank God every day that you cannot play as Link in Mario Party. I was not bothered by Link's presence in the Super Smash Bros games, nor by his presence in the GC version of Soul Calibur II, because I had always wanted a chance to prove that Link can kick your favorite game's ass. Furthermore, I think it's plausible that Link would catch wind of some big cross-over fight, then decide to show up and take some names. I DO NOT think it is plausible that there could be, at any time, four Links working cooperatively, sporting different colored runics. Link is Link because he is solitary, unconnected and unattached to everyone but Zelda and Ganon, to whom he is linked by fate.

And for a parting shot, The Wind Waker is a work of genius.


May the way of the hero lead to the triforce!

-Alan