With Christmas just around the corner, I asked the question…”What is that ONE gift you got for Christmas as a kid that just redefined your life or you just remember the most?” Think like a Red Ryder BB Gun to Ralphie kinda thing. For me, it was back in 1998.
I had never been hyped for a video game as much as I was for Zelda 64 (which is what it was known as at the time.) But it wasn’t because of the internet…this was during the time of 56k Modems, so seeing anything on the internet was pretty much a chore. I got hyped about a new Zelda game thanks to magazines like Nintendo Power.
Being an 11 year old kid, seeing this massive adventure in pages of a magazine…you couldn’t help but get pretty hyped! Even seeing this epic commercial on TV which I still remember seeing to this day.
Just damn son! How could you not want to be part of the adventure!?! But you know what was pretty hard during the Christmas of 1998? Finding this game on shelves.
From what I understand, my parents were searching for this game pretty hard in stores and had a hard time finding it! Until one day where we were stumbling around Target and I went to my usual spot of the Video Game section where the games were behind the glass cases….and….there it was! My Mother led me over to the fishing pole section for some reason, but now I know it was cause my Dad was talking to the Target clerk and getting that glorious game out of the case.
If you celebrate Christmas, sometimes you remember that defining gift that just…hits that spot? Zelda Ocarina of Time was that for me. I still remember unboxing and everything that morning. I know, it’s just a video game…but it has been my favorite video game since 1998. I know it front to back and have collected everything in the game. It’s a fun go through and I still play it to this day. Oddly enough that same year, I also received Pokemon Blue….dude….2 video games on ONE Christmas? Jeez I must have been good that year or something, but….it was all about Zelda.
I oddly get crap for liking that game so much, OHHH there is better Zelda games and whatever….but as an 11 year old kid playing that game for the first time? It was magical.
