The power of childhood memories

It feels like just yesterday, when I gripped my purple Nintendo 64 controller; having sore thumbs and wide tired eyes. As I repeatedly tapped A and titled the joystick forward I can recall the peaceful times of when I made the character swing his sword and do little barrel rolls. The game that became my all-time favorite: Zelda.

The Zelda series really started it all for me. I grew up playing this video-game series, and as a result it has become a part of my childhood memories, and a thing I cannot forget. Ocarina of Time. My first Zelda game. I remember that sunny afternoon in the 1st grade where my dad brought me this game and handed it to me and told me to play it on my nice new console. I recall looking it over several times, asking him "what's this? what's this?" and he would reply "Zelda." And I would still question him because his answer didn't make any sense. So he showed me, and he played about the first 5 minutes of it. By then, I was too excited to watch any longer. I yelled, "I wanna play now!" and was able to try out this adventurous journey. Little did I know that the first 5 minutes of this game would keep me hooked on Zelda in the future. And I can honestly say that I am still an avid "gamer" throughout my high school years.

However, the sad part is, I've been brainwashed into playing mindless, violent, videogame shooters. I currently own an Xbox 360, with games such as Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2, and Call of Duty 4. The innocent, adventurous storyline of the Zelda series seemed to have escaped me; as I get ready to headshot an enemy veteran with a sniper rifle, or chainsaw some alien zombies with my highly advanced weapon. No more swords and neat little items when I've got a load of technological guns and explosives now, right?

Eh, wrong. Soon after playing these videogame shooters, a part of me starts to realize what's missing. I think back and remember what made me so into this video game thing, and I came to a conclusion: Zelda. After days of mindlessly searching on Youtube, I come across the Zelda songs. And as soon as I clicked play to hear the theme song, a load of Zelda memories rushes through my mind, and it just makes me sad. It brings back so many memories, I wish I could just play those games again. Zelda's "Majora's Mask," "Wind Waker," and "Ocarina of Time" just fulfills that empty void that was created with the videogame shooters. Honestly; nothing was better than the classics, not even the great shooters of today could ever possess the unique elements that Zelda had that drew me into the series so powerfully.

So, as I sit here and reflect on my childhood memories, there seems to be a simple solution for the absence of Zelda. All I need to do is to just play it again. Simple, right? It would be. If only I could trace the whereabouts of my Nintendo Gamecube or Wii, or even Nintendo 64 for a matter of fact. But all of my Nintendo consoles are nowhere to be found, and whenever I look and see that ol' Xbox 360 collecting dust, I just stare at it and think, "where is my old-school Nintendo?"