be patient with the loading — it’s 26 minutes of pure zelda excitement.

the legend of zelda holds two crucial benchmarks in video game history:

1) the greatest song ever. this simple midi melody is far superior to any soundtrack noawadays, with their guest artists and studio recorded symphonic tracks.

2) the greatest sound effect of all time. what is the sound metal makes when it shoots magic? some sound designer 20 years ago figured it out, and his feat has never been surpassed.

the game itself is a classic, with everything a kid could want from a video game! …except for an ending.

this guy beat it in a half-hour. for the rest of us, it was more like half our childhoods. true, most of that time was spent blowing on the cartridge and figuring out exactly how many slips of cardboard to shove into the thing to get the cartridge to click just right in the console. but still, it took a really long time to beat!

this game is so expansive and so intricate, and after years of saved games that got deleted because you dropped the cartridge a couple too many times, you finally assemble the triforce and beat ganon. And that’s basically it. link walks into the next room, finds zelda, they play “you show me yours, i’ll show you mine” with their triforces, and credits roll.

it’s like spending years on your senior thesis film, only to discover an art school degree means absolutely nothing. only this was a lot worse!