The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Hype

With Breath of the Wild out in the…um, wild, I found myself inspired to write about how I got introduced into this series. I am a fairly big fan, not as big as the ones you see that own all the collectible items, but I do love the games, I have finished Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and the original one on the NES. I have come to love the feeling of nostalgia and adventure I get from playing this monumental series.

My initial relationship with Zelda was, however, cold. As a young gamer, I was mainly into my platformers and shooters, and was uninterested in games with a general fantasy setting. In a world where guns offered a point-and-click to defeat enemies in gaming, why on earth would I regress to using a sword of all things?

That was before I played Skyrim. I still have a special place in my heart for the game. I loved the wintry setting and the sense of adventure just felt so enthralling. Needless to say, I loved my first visit to the fantasy realm, and found myself open to a whole new world of gaming that I had, up to that point, ignored.

What earned a place in my heart more than most, however, was The Legend of Zelda. Having played the N64 as a kid and originally dismissing Ocarina of Time because of my dislike of fantasy, I discovered later that I had missed out on what many had considered the greatest game of all time. Since I had started to like fantasy games, I felt that now, more than ever, was the time to experience this for myself.

With that, I picked up Ocarina of Time on the 3DS. I settled in for a fantastical escape to a beautiful land, filled with amazing and interesting creatures and a sense of heroism and legend that I hadn’t felt before. Something about the game was like a hit of instant nostalgia; although I hadn’t played Zelda ever before I played the 3DS game, instantly I felt like I was a kid again. Thanks to the graphical touch-ups and the quality-of-life improvements that especially helped with the notorious Water Temple, the spell was cast and I had been thoroughly enchanted.

Fast-forward a few years later, and the Wii U had been out for about a year. The PS4 and Xbox One were out, and while I was on the lookout for the next-gen, the sincere lack of any interesting games out on the two meant that I didn’t feel compelled. Then came a big set of Nintendo announcements; Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, Yoshi’s Woolly World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and, most importantly, The Legend of Zelda game that we now know of as Breath of the Wild. I did the research on the Wii U’s games library, and the only thing that came into my mind was ‘why the hell haven’t I got this system already?’

So my room-mate and I went out and bought a Wii U to share, and bought Wind Waker HD with it. I soon found myself mesmerised by the colourful, cel-shaded presentation that looked sublime in all its HD glory, and I spent hours exploring every nook and cranny of a flooded Hyrule. If Ocarina of Time was the first hit of an intoxicating drug, then Wind Waker brought the addiction to life. I soon found myself simply in love with the Zelda franchise. I would even listen to the soundtracks of the games (which are just wonderful) in my spare time or to de-stress from exam studies.

I eventually picked up new games in the series, including Majora’s Mask 3D (which, unfortunately, still lies in my backlog of ‘must-play’ titles, Skyward Sword, and dusted off an old copy of Twilight Princess for the Wii that I had been forced on as a pack-in title for the console and largely ignored in favour of Wii Sports and Rayman Raving Rabbids (by the way, for that decision, I would love the chance to go back and retroactively punch myself in the face). I played and loved Hyrule Warriors, although I still haven’t finished it to this day (as I write this I can feel my backlog guilt expanding to uncontrollable levels). The world of Zelda had become an enchanting place that I simply loved to visit.

Breath of the Wild, for me, couldn’t come soon enough, but sadly, due to being an adult and in the middle of moving items from my old home, I still haven’t managed to pick out my Wii U gamepad, so I sit here, paralysed, avoiding spoilers like I would a giant poisonous spider holding a knife, wishing wistfully that I could return to Hyrule once more to appreciate what many critics are calling the best Zelda since Ocarina of Time (and, for many, the best game ever made).

With that in mind, I am returning to Hyrule in the only ways I can; by linking to the past. In the last week, spurred on by my compulsion to play Zelda again, I finally finished the original NES classic. Having fully played the game, I can totally see where Egoraptor, in his sequelitis video, critiqued certain points of Ocarina of Time, but given that right now the Game Grumps are playing Breath of the Wild and loving it, it only makes me more regretful that I can’t experience the newest adventure.

So, with that said, I am going to boot up my Wii U anyway, because I heard that through a patch you can navigate the menus without needing the gamepad, and I’m going to buy A Link To The Past, and hopefully before I have finished that game, I will have found my gamepad and bought a copy of Breath of the Wild to enjoy the masterpiece myself.