The Legend of Zelda series has been my favorite gaming brand ever since I got my hands on the original game at the tender age of six.
My neighbor John’s older sister Bethany had brought it over to show us how awesome the new Nintendo we just got was. She put it in and taught my sister how to play as I sat in the back of the room in awe.
They soon left to listen to NKOTB or whatever it was girls did back then, and i crept towards the gaming system. I had no idea what I was doing, so I powered up the system and began fumbling around the menu.
I promptly erased John’s character without even knowing that I did. I was six. I then made another character and began playing. When my neighbor Bethany returned, she realized I had erased her brothers progress and took the game away, never to bring it back again.
I got the game about a year later for Christmas or my birthday, can’t remember. Almost a year later, I had made it all the way to the final dungeon and was stuck. Luckily I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and in one issue came my godsend—a full map of the maze-like dungeon. My sister Amy navigated me through the final dungeon using the map one bright Saturday morning, and watched from the couch as I sat crossed legged in front of the TV, dealing the final blow to Ganon.
I just recently beat the sequel on the Wii’s Virtual Console, something I thought I would never do (it’s hard!).
To celebrate, I made this video featuring “Zelda Medley,” an awesome chiptunes tribute by Derris-Kharlan.
Patrick once saved a drowning dog from an icey pond, so he is probably better than you. 
Gaming and beverages have a wide and varied history, from 7up mascot Spot’s 16-bit adventures, PlayStation’s Pepsi Man and the Donkey Kong Jungle Juice energy drink. I believe in the business world they call this synergy. In the 90′s SEGA and Coca-Cola took such cross-promotional teamwork to the next level, releasing a complete beverage-branded console bundle. In it, you got [...]
Man, Nintendo certainly had a lot of awesome merchandising back in the day. In game-branded food alone there was Nintendo-themed cereal, mac-and-cheese and fruit snacks. Way better than those shitty mint tins they now sell at FYE and Newbury Comics. But here’s a Nintendo product you definitely should not eat: The Legend of Zelda Model Set. Currently [...]
(NOTE: This was a contribution to a feature that ran @NintendoLife about the 25th Anniversary of the NES. You should go read it.) The first video game I ever saw was Kung-Fu for the NES. My older sister’s friend down the street had just gotten the system, so she kindly escorted me down to their [...]
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As a kid I could never beat zelda II and I figured as an adult it would be easy. Well I downloaded it on the VC and I am ashamed to say that I gave up after dying over and over again. However I downloaded the first Zelda this morning and I can actually remember where all of the secrets are. Its nice to see another old school Zelda fan out there.