Number 2 [Most Memorable NES Games]

2.  The Legend of Zelda

This list was fun, but incredibly hard to make.  The top five was especially challenging.  The top two?  Yikes.

Where do I even start with this one?  This was the first game I wanted.  I mean really wanted.  I wrote in an earlier post that my Nintendo life came in two phases- the second phase in high school, and the first phase when I was nine to twelve-years-old.  I could even divide that up into smaller pieces.  This game was at the front end of my Nintendo days.

I wanted The Legend of Zelda before I even had a Nintendo.  It was the game that sank its teeth into me more than Mario.  The first time I laid my young eyes on this beauty was a magical moment.  It was epic.  It was mesmerizing.  It was The Legend of Zelda! Cue the medieval blasting trumpets...

The Prequel to Gaming

My first adventure with this game happened when I was eight.  My mom and dad's friends, Don and Margaret, were having a party.  The whole family was invited.  They lived in a country neighborhood on a country road a few miles out of town.  Their home was on a long gravel street with several other tract houses.  It was the kind of neighborhood where all the kids knew each other and ran around outside all day in their bare feet.

Don and Margaret would have get-togethers sometimes with lots of families.  All the grown-ups would sit around cussing, listening to music, and drinking beer.  The kids would go buck wild and run all over the neighborhood without the shackles of adult supervision.

All of us kids would have to check in with them every once in a while.  As the evening got later, we could talk our dads into giving us a sip of beer.  It was very important to make sure no one saw you gag.  Then you could go back and tell all the other kids how great it was.

We went indoors once it got too dark to play outside.  Don and Margaret had a son named Roger.  We would go hang out in his room while the adults took the music, brew, and bad words into the living room.  Roger was pretty much one of the coolest guys I knew when I was eight.  He was just a year older than me, but seemed on the verge of growing a bad teenage mustache.  The walls of his room were littered with Guns 'N Roses posters and a rack for his pellet gun.

Of course he also had a Nintendo.  I watched him play The Legend of Zelda for hours one night.  It was about the most incredible thing I'd seen in my eight years on earth.  I was entranced.  I remember bugging Roger, and Roger was not the kind of guy you'd bug, about the story, characters, and different locations in the game.  I about had to find a change of underwear when he actually let me play it for a few minutes.  I'm convinced my experience with this game on that night is what got me into video games.

Joby and I begged my mom and dad for a Nintendo that Christmas.  Our hopes and dreams rose like steam from a smoke stack.  But, alas, it was not meant to be.  Instead we got an Atari 7800.  My dad said it was "just as good."  Unfortunately my dad did not understand that The Legend of Zelda couldn't be played on an Atari.  Parents...

We finally did get our Nintendo- a whole Christmas later.  Joby and I tore down the stairs like mad men, because we just knew.  My mom had taken it out of the box and set it up like a store display.  She didn't know how to hook it up to the TV, or I'm sure she would have.  It was like Ralphie finding his BB gun behind the desk.

I didn't get Zelda for a few more years, but it stayed heavy in the renting rotation.  I've gone through this game many times and loved every minute of it.  It's an incredibly memorable game for me that is a lot like having your first kiss.  Better things may come along, but you'll never forget it.

Come back tomorrow for my last game.  And be sure to check out all the posts in my Most Memorable NES Games list.

[Box art courtesy of GameFAQs]