Para ser sincero he de decir que la primera vez que juguĂ© a Ocarina of Time lo hice sin muchas ganas. Mi Ășltima experiencia con un Zelda habĂa sido dos generaciones atrĂĄs, con el (infame) Adventure of Link de NES y, la verdad, no tenĂa una imagen muy buena de la saga. Recuerdo lo poco que, tanto a mĂ como a mi hermano, que era el que se lo habĂa comprado, nos gustaba. Era exageradamente difĂcil, caĂłtico, habĂa momentos en los que no sabĂas quĂ© hacerâŠ
To be honest, I have to say, too, that the first time I played Ocarina of Time I was quite taken aback. I remember that the first thing I did when I took control of Link was looking like crazy for the jump button⊠Was it possible that in a game where you had to jump there was no button to jump? Yes, it was. And that shocked me a lot.
The result of all this was that, between the prejudices I had and the strangeness of my first experience with the title, the cartridge was parked in a corner of my room from Christmas Eve until the flu I got in mid-January.
That flu, like everything that makes you stay in bed without being able to do anything, brought me large doses of boredom and free time. Just what I needed to give a new chance to that game that they had given me for Christmas and that everyone spoke so highly of.
And with that flu, I began to be part of that âeveryoneâ who spoke so well about that game they had given me for Christmas. I began to understand the control system better, I passed the first dungeon and, finally, the moment arrived that will always be etched in my mind: the first time I went out into the countryside of Hyrule.
Most of the good memories I had as a player until then were due more to a ânostalgia factorâ than to the fact that what the game showed me was impressive in itself. Moments like those Saturday mornings when my brother and I were looking for the key to get to the Chocolate Island of Super Mario World, we were trying to beat Super Mario Bros. 3 without using the flutes or we discovered a way to kill the first boss of Kirby without losing a single life bar. They were memories that were there because they were linked to good moments from childhood (by the way, I think that, to a large extent, that ânostalgia factorâ is one of the most powerful weapons that Nintendo has as a company). However, arriving at the Hyrule countryside was different. I was impressed to have a huge world before me to explore. A âlivingâ world so well done that I even had favorite corners that I simply liked to walk through (something that doesnât happen to me with other games like GTA, for example).
From there, everything went up. Ocarina of Time was engaging, entertaining, offering you something new and immersing you in another universe like no other game had ever done before. You lifted a stone and there was a secret cave; You looked out a window and saw a hidden painting of Super Mario; you played Zeldaâs lullaby with the ocarina in front of a broken poster and it was rebuilt; you shot an arrow at the sun and a new weapon appeared; You talked to the characters and you saw that they all had some peculiarity that made them unique; You lit a torch and a secret door opened, a mysterious chest appeared or the room filled with enemies⊠And you grew older. And you were a child again. And you saw how the passage of time affected the world. And you fought colossal monsters. And you solved puzzles that made you feel like the most ingenious person on Earth. And you passed the Water Temple and felt like you had just passed the twelve tests of Hercules. And⊠And⊠AndâŠ
And you came to the conclusion that you were looking at a masterpiece. And the years went by and you still thought the same thing, despite having played many other games. And they announce a remake and you get excited and dying to have it. Because itâs worth it. Because itâs Ocarina of Time.