I told you about my first video game, and about the game that made me love adventure games. But, for me, real gaming started in 1987. That was the year The Legend of Zelda was released in Europe. The Atari console I played when I still lived with my parents was long gone, and I was the owner of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
I think for many people this game was the first real adventure game. I know for sure many LotRO players have played it.
The cartridge itself was special, too. They were usually a boring grey, but the Zelda one was shiny gold! To the left of the key in the shield you could even see through the package.
When I first played it I was totally overwhelmed. This must be the final game, nothing after this will be better (remember… 1987 :)) Friends of mine played it too, and I had a hotline with one of them to discuss the progression in the game.
With the game came a map, but it wasn’t the complete map of Hyrule (the kingdom of Zelda). So what did I do? Every time I progressed to a new screen, I added that to a homemade map (wish I still had that). I took that map with me wherever I went. To show friends, and to add places where they found items.
In those years I owned a caravan on a campsite, for weekends and holidays, and the NES and Zelda went with me. When I finished my workday, I played Zelda. I don’t really recall how long it took until I finished, seemed like months. But when I did I was very happy to finally finish, but days became empty…
I don’t have the console, or cartridges of other games anymore, but The Legend of Zelda has a place in my glass case. Among some other classics 😉
By the way… for the ones who don’t know, Zelda is the princess, the guy is called Link.