Okay, I’m shifting gears for a post. I really have nothing exciting to report for the last couple of days. The second 6th-grade day went much like the first, though my perception of it was better because I really enjoyed working with the kids. 5th and 6th are probably my favorite age group to work with, though sometimes with a class that is a real problem I might let that get in the way and no longer enjoy it. Friday was an ELL primary day. It was a resource class so I worked with groups an hour at a time. All we did was play board games. Educational board games, but still.
So, why not talk about probably my favorite game series of all time? I believe 1986 or 1987 was the year that the first Legend of Zelda was released here in the US. When I received this game (gift I think) I was impressed with both the gold-colored cartridge and the fact that it actually saved games, no need to enter a long password to continue a game. Never mind that later I would find out the consequence of this battery-backed save system was the game periodically being erased, something that couldn’t happen with a password system, though incorrectly writing down one could generate the same frustration. I played and played this game, making my own book of maps which I still have somewhere. When the quest was finished it really wasn’t because now there was another quest to play and map.
About a year later a new game game out- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Though very different than the first, I still played this game a lot though I don’t remember mapping it like I mapped the first. There is an interesting story to this one. The US wasn’t the first to get a release of this game. I was able to get an imported copy of it for a little over $100 at Gamer’s Paradise. This was apparently a European release, or at least it had a multilanguage manual indicative of European releases. The funny part of this story is that our admin here may have provided Gamer’s Paradise with the very copy I purchased, according to him! I hadn’t even met him at this time but now of course we are close friends.
The third and fourth games in the series, for the SNES and Gameboy I had to wait to play as I didn’t own the systems. I think C lent me his SNES to play that Zelda game, but the Gameboy one would have to wait for emulation on the computer before I would play that one, the color version of course. Similarly, I would play the two Oracle games this way as well. I never did try linking the two games with the emulator to get the bonus content that owners of both games would get after completing both.
In 2000 two programmers would make waves in the emulation world, fielding the wrath of Nintendo with their release of an emulator for a system that was still selling in stores- the Nintendo 64. It required a 3DFX card and didn’t play many games, but one of the games it was made to play was none other than Ocarina of Time- the first Zelda in 3D. Nintendo did an excellent job updating this game for 3D which was unlike many older games updated to a first-person 3D perspective and I soon found myself buying a 3D card for my computer to play this game. Why didn’t I just spend my money on the N64 system and Zelda? I don’t know- I guess I am more computer-centric and it must have been cheaper. When the next title came out, Majora’s Mask, and it didn’t play well with emulators, C came to the rescue again and lent me his N64 this time so I could play this. Different than the first N64 title, but still quite fun.
Over the last several years my need to play games, including Zelda, has been waning. I did eventually obtain a Gamecube with Windwaker and eventually Twilight Princess (which I stopped about halfway through over a year and a half ago and haven’t picked up since), but I haven’t played games like the Four Swords adventures, the Minish Cap, or the Phantom Hourglass to name a few. One of these days I may pick up a used DS, but considering how much I actually play games these days my money is probably better spent on other things.
Want to play Zelda-style games for free? I’m not talking about emulation here, and certainly not about theft :o. I’m talking about a program that can make and play games in the style of the original Legend of Zelda. While the games are in the style of the original NES game, the graphics and sound on the adventures many people make are more in the line of later systems. Some even use custom graphics to make non-Zelda games. Zelda Classic can be had for Window, Linux, and OSX. You can get Zelda Classic and quest files (the custom quests) at:
Zelda Classic main site (http://www.zeldaclassic.com/) (You can also get the main program for Windows here)
PureZC (http://www.purezc.com/)
Both sites have forums too, for discussion of Zelda Classic and quests for it. If you want Zelda Classic for Linux, OSX, or just recent builds for Windows (only recent builds work correctly with Vista) you have to get it at http://www.shardstorm.com/. You will have to scroll down to find the latest Linux or OSX builds as the most recent are for Windows only.
Well, I hope you don’t mind my post on retrogaming. I’ll get back to subbing news when I have something interesting to post. Until then.
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