This week we talked in the Ladies & Gaming chat group about the first ever game we played. I remembered that even before I started gaming alone on the DS, I had done some gaming together with my husband.
I think it was 1993 when we bought ourselves a CDi, and played Link, the Faces of Evil and Zelda, the Wand of Gamelon. I know now, with all that I’ve read up on since then about Nintendo, that those games are considered some of the worst ever, a parody on real Zelda games.They are generally known as the failure that resulted in the compromise between Nintendo and Philips after the two companies failed to release a CD-based add-on for the SNES. But at the time, we spent night after night, till the wee hours of the morning, trying to solve all the levels. You know, the game music is still in my mind! It made us buy the GameCube, so good came of it.
The first Nintendo games we played on the GameCube where the Harry Potter games, based on the movies. The Philosophers Stone and The Chamber of Secrets where exceptionally good, long quests and lots of side quests, we had such a lot of fun with them. Funny how very few people seem to know them, while to us they meant hours and hours of good fun. They are adventure games with a strong puzzle streak.
Of course by then, after Harry Potter, we bought our first real Zelda, The Windwaker, but can you believe that we put it aside for months! It just didn’t seem right after Harry Potter. Once we got into it however, we were hooked. I know a lot of people will wholeheartedly disagree, but I like the cell-shaded style of the Windwaker. And we loved sailing the oceans to yet another adventure! Having the Windwaker back on the WIiU was what made us buy that system again, though we haven’t played much yet. But no matter, I’m sure the time will come again.
Well said, Yvonne. 😀 The CD-i games may be the skeletons in Zelda’s closet, but if they brought you to Nintendo, it was most definitely worth it. Our most treasured gaming moments can’t be taken away – often they exist as a freeze-frame that only could have occurred at that given time! For example, I came into the world of Zelda by way of the original: NES’s The Legend of Zelda (’87), and for me, there was nothing else like it. It was 8-bit, of course, but ground-breaking for the time. It was the first Nintendo game (and I believe, *video* game) to feature a save file. There was discovery around every corner (burn a random bush & suddenly there was a hidden passageway), and such adventure! The music pulled you in and the landscape of Hyrule seemed like a magical place with endless questing..
Flash forward to now, and I wouldn’t be able to continue the game much further than the 1st dungeon. Not only are the pixel-y graphics an oddity in comparison to today’s smooth, HD quality — those retro games are just plain HARD! 😛 I realize I don’t have the stamina to keep with it, the difficulty lvl was that high lol. — But I’ll never forget my early gaming experiences, and this game will forever hold a place of fondness in my heart, for introducing me to my beloved Link!
My first Zelda game was on the 3DS – Link between Worlds. I fell in LOVE! I just started Ocarina of Time today! I am very much looking forward to Majora’s Mask. I have not yet purchased a Wii U, but I hope to get one within the next year or so and that Windwaker is definitely on my list.
Last year I finally got my boyfriend to play Wii games with me. We had a blast playing Lego Star Wars the Complete Saga. It was great to share my excitement with him. He is still not addicted to games like I am but it is nice to have him play with me on occasion. 🙂
Playing together is the best! My husband does play spider solitaire and candy crush and such, but we don’t often game together anymore. Pity!