I'm a lazy fuck, so I'm going to copypasta a long-ass blog I did awhile back that fits the guidelines of this month's Monthly Musings. It's about my first time playing Zelda, how it got me hooked on video games, and how it got me started on art, which lead to the career path I'd end up taking later down the line.



It's a raw New England night (aren't they all?) and I'm sitting with 40 other people in a rather large building on campus. It's the night before Valentine's and one of the student organizations is hosting a speed dating something or other. I'm sitting with a girl who would later be described as "teh hawtest one there". She was amazing; really pretty, really nice, and seemed generally interested in what I had to say.

"So why did you become an art major?" she asks me.

I can never answer this question in public. Answering honestly always fills me with shame, and bullshitting a worthy answer is pretty hard.

"I just always loved art ever since I was a kid," I respond. Our time is up, I ask her if I can get her number at the end of the night, and she agrees. Sweet.

But that's not the right answer. The reason I am an art major, the reason I'm an enthusiast gamer ("hardcore" sounds stupid), the reason I browse this site and post on my blog is because of The Legend of Zelda. I'd go so far as to say that it literally made me who I am, or at least knocked over the first domino in the long long domino track that is my life.

When I tell this to people, they usually sneer and tell me, verbatim, "that's pretty sad" and go back to ignoring me while I try to get their attention so I can tell them why that's not sad at all. That just makes me look sadder, so I usually stop and sulk in a corner whilst crying myself to sleep.

Losing my Zelda Virginity

I remember the night I played my first Zelda. My dad brought home a game that someone from work told him about. I looked at the box, which I couldn't read because I was just in Kindergarten. I opened the manual, where I saw some elves and a boy with really long sideburns. Holy fuck were they long.

"It's called The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past". I'm five, and the only videogame titles I can remember are short ones. Mario 3, Double Dribble, Duck Hunt. Those are easy to remember for a 5 year old. I shrug the game off and figure I'll never play it.

That night, my dad and I sat down with the SNES like we did every weeknight. Videogames were always a bonding experience for us, and getting a new game was pretty ritualistic for the father-son duo. He removed that plastic over from the cartridge (remember those???) and popped the game in. I opened a large piece of paper, which turned out to be a fucking MAP. A map! For a videogame? Along the sides were pictures of the hero running around and throwing shit. I give the manual another once over and find shitloads of art. Holy shit a sand monster! Link's totally climbing on it and stabbing it's face! Oh wow a mountainside tower! This is huge!

I watched my dad wander around in the storm as he got used to the controls. I'm ashamed to admit that he died before ever getting a sword: a bee came out of one of the bushes and slaughtered my poor father. Not relevant to the story at hand, but it's a cute little anecdote.

Absorbing the Zelda Lore

I couldn't read, so I was out of the loop as to what was happening. I was one of those kids who called Link "Zelda" until my mom and dad explained that I was an idiot and the guy's name is Link. "Why isn't it called the Legend of Link then?" I asked, not confused. "I dunno. Shut up. I'm trying to beat the boss," my father tells me.

I began asking my dad about the story and the characters, why the Triforce was called the Triforce (again, I'm only 5) and stuff. Every night I watched him explore Hyrule, too afraid to play it myself for fear of dying. I'd eventually play it once I got a little older, and I'd read the Nintendo Power Player's Guide from cover to cover. I'd notice little things like how Link's shield always points North when he's looking left or right, or I'd read about the Imprisoning War or about the broken Triforce pieces. There was so much in such a little game.

Zelda Invades my Personal Life

That Halloween, I dressed up as Link. My mom always made me the COOLEST Halloween costumes; I still have my polygonal Star Fox mask from 4th Grade. This time, she made me a Link outfit. We went out and bought fabrics and sewing kits and she made me a tunic and a hat. My dad cut out a piece of wood and painted it to match Link's sword in the art because it just HAD to match. My grandma let me borrow her box cover which I painted to look like a shield. I was the coolest 5 year old ever.

Sadly, no one else ever heard of Zelda. Ever. So they had no idea who I was. "I'm Link!" I'd tell them.

"Who's that?" they asked.
"Ugh...I'm a knight, okay?"
"You don't LOOK like a Knight" said this girl in a princess outfit. That stung.

What's worse is that I couldn't bring my sword to the school's parade because they didn't want me bringing a wooden sword and poke someone's eye or something. Lame.


I remember once, I had a worksheet to fill out. It wasn't anything hard, just stupid shit like "name something tasty" (spaghetti is what I put down, albeit horribly spelled) and stuff. One of them was "name something smooth." I shit you not, I put down "pendant" because my dad saved one of the maidens in Zelda the last night, and I drew a blue pendant with a person in it. That's how much of a dork I was. My parents were pretty embarrassed.


In first grade, I got into drawing. I was trying so fucking hard to draw Sonic the hedgehog, but because I was some little pissant, it looked like shit. I'd throw hissy fits every time I drew my horribly disfigured Sonic and Link and Zelda. But I'm a stubborn little fuck, so I keep drawing until I can draw them perfectly. The problem is that now I can only draw three things; everything else still looks like shit. This spirals out of control until I start taking art much more seriously over the course of my time in grade school.

Eventually, in High School, I came to a cross roads. Gaming had given me so much that I wanted to get involved as a career and give back. Torn between being a programmer and an artist, I remembered my roots and settled for being an Art Major. I had taken plenty of programming courses, and I was good at it, but my heart lied in the pencil I so feverishly clutched in my left hand. Oh yea, I'm a lefty, and I like to parade about announcing it.

My Views on Gaming After Zelda

After Zelda, I really saw the potential videogames had back then. Story, art, characters, music...there was just so much for the industry to do. Zelda was the game that made me an enthusiast. From that point on, I'd eat, sleep, and breathe videogames. It's uncanny when I play the Coin Launcher game in Smash Bros. Brawl and I can identify every trophy before I even collect it. I've played so many amazing games, like Portal, Shadow of the Colossus, Persona 3, numerous indie games, and other Zeldas. All of those experiences are all owed to that one game I played as a kid. My artistic talent that I plan on honing for the rest of my life is because of that game. The voice that I use to speak to you through this blog was born from that game.

I know not everyone loves Zelda, but it's something that, quite literally, changed my life, and for the better. Had I gone down another path, I don't know where I'd be right now. I'd probably still be floating about looking for a purpose.

I grew up in Miyamoto's world, and I owe a lot to the guy. I only hope that I can repay him someday.