As a child, I was pretty fearless. I'd sail off roofs, ascend the tallest trees I could find, eat random bugs for lulz, and generally do the sorts of crazy things associated with carefree prepubescence. But there was one species of creature that terrified me to my very soul (and still does), and those are spiders.

I was seven when I first got my hands on the pure ecstasy that was Ocarina of Time and I played that game so much that the analogue stick on my N64 pad wore out. I loved every second of my time with it, up until I encountered the dreaded Wallmaster.



This SOB encapsulated everything I despised about spiders. Its big trick was that it would invade your personal space with no provocation and snatch you right out of the dungeon, placing you back at the entrance. It wasn't just that annoying element though, it was the look. A disembodied hand, cut from the wrist, dropping on your head with nary a warning aside from a shadow forming under you (which, the first time, you wouldn't have the faintest idea what it meant), crawling around on its unnaturally powerful digits. If you dodged its snatch attack, then you'd have to fight it, mano-a-hando.

The first time it happened, I was (no joke) so scared that I quit playing the game for a solid week. During that time, I purchased the strategy guide and realised that it was shockingly simple to defeat. I cursed my cowardice and returned to the game, owning that MF easily.


Floormaster in Wind Waker, a relative of the Wallmaster.

Despite its straightforward nature, I still would never get over the initial shock I had the first time that bitch occupied my face. They appeared in a lot of other Zeldas and had a close cousin (Floormasters; far less scary ground-dwellers), but I still hold up that first time in Ocarina as the scariest video game moment of my entire life and I'm including Silent Hill 2, Clock Tower 3 and Forbidden Siren 2.

(P.S: I'll probably do a more in-depth Monthly Musing later this month because there's really not a lot you can say about the Wallmaster...)