The Greatest Video Game of All Time Is Now a Middle Manager

It’s my fault. I missed it. The anniversary of an actual game changer. February 21st, 1986. What were you doing? I probably had basketball practice. I was 7. I had a bowl cut. I am just sharing information. A world away, in Japan, the greatest video game of all time was released. I didn’t know at that moment but 18 months later, my life would change.

Rewind a bit. A year before, I went over to my friend Ben’s house. He had a Nintendo Entertainment System. I had never once played a video game. We were in his room on the 3rd floor of his home in Bethesda, MD. After staging a war with our Transformers (the Autobots won), he turned the console on and we sat down and played Super Mario Brothers. It was an absolutely magical experience. I was in awe. After he got bored and wanted to move on, I couldn’t. I was in love. I was obsessed. He left the room and I started World 1–1 again. The music. Bouncing on the Goomba. The 1UP! Coins. Breaking bricks. Koopa Troopas and their shells. I got a star! Ben got annoyed. I knew I was being a terrible guest. I couldn’t stop. Ben complained to his mom. She politely asked if I would like to go outside or wanted to come down for a snack. I grunted something and kept playing. That session cost me a couple months of invites and rejection of my offers for hang outs. Ben was incredibly cool and well-liked and this was devastating to my social life as a 2nd grader. It wasn’t until Peter Gleason allowed me to come to his birthday party that I had any kind of recovery. I played well during the soccer portion of the party and that was huge. I was back in.

Back to games. In the car on the way home from Ben’s house, my full court press began. I hounded my parents every day. Literally. Every day I asked and begged for a Nintendo. I had never done this before. I pointed that out. I loved and appreciated all my toys. I used that argument too. I built my case like the greatest trial attorney of all time. I inherited the wind. I was Atticus Finch & Perry Mason. I caught my parents in verbal traps. I wore them down during cross examination. I earned concessions. Finally, during a trip to Toys R Us under the premise of buying a birthday present (always under $20!) for Becca Carr’s gymnastics birthday party, I was able to drag my mom over to the special glass case where the Nintendo lived. Closing arguments began. My younger sister was screaming crying. A scene. This was it. She relented. She grabbed that little ticket, we paid, then went over to that little fortress in the corner where they kept all the Nintendo stuff to prevent shoplifting and that one lonely employee was locked in there, all salty. I had it. The box. THE NES BOX. I sprinted to the car and almost got hit by a station wagon. I danced like I had to pee waiting for mom and sister to meander to the car. Hurry. Oh my God hurry.

Super Mario Brothers. Duck Hunt. Baseball (literally just called ‘Baseball’). Kung Fu. Hogan’s Alley. Soccer (see ‘Baseball’). Excitebike. Ice Hockey (see ‘Baseball’ & ‘Soccer’). 10 Yard Fight. Shortly thereafter: Kid Icarus, Legend of Kage, Rygar, 1942, Mario Bros, M.U.S.C.L.E., Ice Climber, Gradius, Trojan, Ikari Warriors, Pro Wrestling, Castlevania, Metroid, Spy Hunter, Rush ‘N Attack (Russian? Rush AND? No one knows). Life was good. I had the games. I was the kid who’s house you went to if you wanted to play Nintendo. I was moderately popular and accepted, if not tolerated. Then I saw it. This ad with this goofy guy all in black with quick shots of gameplay. The Legend of Zelda. They made the cartridge gold. Do you understand how ballsy that is? Like, what if that game is not great? Now you’ve got that golden cartridge and you’re a punchline. No one will ever believe in you again and you’re not invited to social gatherings. But it was. Oh my God it was. The Legend of Zelda is the greatest video game of all time. After its initial release in Japan in February of ’86, it wasn’t until August of ’87 that the game made it to North America. It featured a revolutionary built in memory system that just didn’t exist at that point. Previously, if you wanted to pick up where you left off, you either needed to leave the screen paused for 12 hours or deal with a clunky password system. Is that an 0 or an O? And why does this password have 17 of them?

The game asks you your name. You got to tell the game your name and the game would remember it. That was your game. Your brother had one, your dad maybe? Your sister when she felt left out but she never played and do we have to keep this save file? Then the game starts. You are alone. Your character just standing in a room. The movement is intuitive. At first glance, you’ve got 3 choices. 3 different ways to go. Wait. There’s a little hole. Do I got there? I went there. Holy farts I got a sword and some advice! What’s in the next room? Holy hell they’re everywhere. I’ve been hit! Get out! Whoa. But then you get used to it. Then you get comfortable. You shoot your sword. You explore. Can I bomb that? I have bombs by the way. I love my boomerang. You explore more. You found a level. Why the hell are there hands coming out of the wall? The game is perfect. If you can’t reach an area, remember where it is, because you might get something that lets you reach it soon. You learn your menu, you earn pieces of the Triforce, you ask friends and they ask you if they’ve found the next level. It was intense. No internet. No cheating. Just you vs the game. It was amazing and nothing can ever top that experience.

The Legend of Zelda had absolutely everything. It was so innovative. Elements of role playing as you improved your character from vulnerable 3 hearted noob to 16 hearted juggernaut. Action, adventure, puzzle solving and more. No game had ever done this before, not to this level. It was an absolute achievement. LOZ was maddening at times too. Without help, you sometimes would wander forever, not knowing where to go next. You got to know the different regions of the rectangle map intuitively. The game rewarded trying things. It was marvelous. Then, and I cannot stress this enough, the makers of The Legend of Zelda decided that was not enough. They would do something that changed gaming and raised the bar forever. They added a 2nd Quest. A completely different world, with different levels, locations, order and challenges. Previously, you would just run through the same game again. It was fine. A comfortable formula that didn’t require much imagination. The Legend of Zelda changed all that. The mechanics were the same but it was basically like having a sequel built right into the original game. Amazing.

I talk about this all the time, but gaming has come further than most ever thought possible. The budgets are like movies. Games are immersive. Actors give stirring performances, cut scenes deliver emotional responses and so on. We might have gotten to this point eventually. It is really hard to say. Post Zelda, there have been plenty of groundbreaking titles. Everything from Metroid to Goldeneye is responsible in some way for the the creativity that has allowed the industry to thrive. So it’s impossible to say with any certainty the exact impact The Legend of Zelda had on games and developers. I do believe it is readily apparent that the open world, sandbox style games that we enjoy today have Zelda roots. You’re allowed to go anywhere that you can reach, but that doesn’t mean you should. If in the first 30 minutes of gameplay, you somehow make it through the Lost Woods, you’re facing Lynels who can shoot swords of their own or ghosts in a graveyard that will pummel you. It does not forgive your transgression. You learn by struggling. Linear games cannot provide that same laissez-faire correction. In Hyrule, exploration is often punished but occasionally rewarded and it is that rare find that buoys the player’s spirits, keeping him engaged for the next find, the next ‘you figured out a secret’ sound effect. The masterful design, playability, replay-ability, controls, challenge, character development and scope of the world were all ahead of their time. The Legend of Zelda rocketed gaming forward in a way that few other games have and in a positive direction (crusty old gamer view here) as opposed to some of the 0 campaign, PVP developments of recent years. LOZ was the base layer for narratives and immersive games that gave us some of our greatest titles in history. To me, and every reasonable person on the planet, The Legend of Zelda remains the greatest video game of all time and one of the seminal pieces of entertainment in history.