Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Introductions

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my journey through time and the land of Hyrule (hopefully many times) as I tackle the entire series of the legendary game franchise The Legend of Zelda. This is truly one of the most memorable and popular series in the history of video games, and one that truly influenced me. I still remember that glorious Christmas day when I opened my very first video game platform, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and how happy it made me. My parents were also kind enough to get me the Legend of Zelda (the original gold cartridge) to go along with my new pride and joy. I spent hours tackling the forces of evil in Hyrule, completing both the first and second quests over and over. I would revisit the game from time to time, just to enjoy the journey all over again.

Further entries into the series followed, and I played many of them with relish. I must admit that I fell away from the series during college and the start of 'real life,' and that's something I truly regret. I have only scratched the surface of The Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, and have no experience whatsoever with The Four Swords and The Minnish Cap, just to name a few. Having not owned a Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance (until recently), I have also not partaken of Link's Awakening or either of the Oracle titles, Seasons and Ages. As you can see, while the early entries in the series had a profound effect on me, I have not given the later games their just due.

While on a long car ride this weekend, an idea came to me. The entire premise of this blog can be found in a post on my other blog (a link to that post can be found here), so I won't reiterate what I said there. The gist of that entry was such: I will endeavor (as my life and schedule allow) to start from the beginning of this venerable franchise, and experience the journey in the chronological order of the games' releases. The challenge I undertake for myself here is just as much a journey of discovery (for the games I have yet to play and/or complete) as it is a journey of nostalgia (a chance to go back to my favorite moments in the older games), and I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy this undertaking as much as I will.

I'll do my best to insert pictures as I have them, but since I'm not really much of a whiz when it comes to coding or even screen capturing (you may find more screen caps in the beginning of my journey, as I'm going to start with at least the first couple of NES titles on an emulator, due to lack of a TV to connect the NES to in the house), you'll have to put up with me and probably some relatively sparse illustrations and pictures.

The Start of the Journey

As I mentioned in passing above, at least the first two entries in the series (the original Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link) will be played on an emulator with ROMs. I know, I know, there are legal issues to consider with this method, but in all fairness I do own both cartridges, and I'm only going this route out of necessity. As the technology in today's TVs have improved, the connection methods have as well, and the TV I have available for game playing doesn't have a coaxial input! The use of the emulator (Nestopia in this case) and a Super Smart Joy SNES controller-to-USB converter module will allow me to recreate, to an extent, the atmosphere of the original game.

Setting up the controller took longer than expected, because the first SNES controller I connected to the PC in this method had a faulty Start button. There were several frustrating minutes, as I attempted to figure out the problem, and finally resorting to switching out that controller in favor of a fully functioning one. With that minor setback out of the way, I was ready to launch into the journey...

Please check back as I update you as regularly as possible on my progress, and post screenshots of my accomplishments. Many people will be able to see the pictures and say, "Hey, I remember that. What a great time that was!" Others may not have experienced the particular game that I'm working on at the moment, and maybe, just maybe I'll inspire others to go back and try some of the really great titles in this series for themselves. No matter what happens, I hope you enjoy my accounts. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, whatever, as I'd love some feedback.

I'll sign off for now, but I'll return soon with updates!

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