Legend of Zelda What was your first Zelda experience like?

[DragonBlade64]

The first Zelda I ever played was Ocarina of Time on my friends' Nintendo 64. Running through the forest, getting your sword and shield, fighting Gohma for the first time, and setting foot in Hyrule Field. Needless to say, the first few hours of playing that left a very strong impression on me.
Back then, the only Zelda games my friend and I knew about was Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, so we always referred to them as Zelda 1 and Zelda 2 (we were little kids, so we never really had a way to get any kind of information on anything). You could probably imagine my surprise when I found another Zelda for the Gamecube (first console I owned BTW) that was dubbed, The Wind Waker. I put the disc into my system, turned it on, and my mind was blown. The art style was incredible, the gameplay felt amazing, and being able to freely sail the high seas was a breathtaking experience.

I feel like Zelda is one of the few series that can really leave a strong impression on anyone that plays them, so what I want to know is, what was your first Zelda game and what was it like to you?

 

[dezeray112]

I would say that my first initial Zelda game that I've played was Wind Waker for the GameCube and ever since then, that's how I gotten into the Zelda franchise.

 

[ixos]

My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess. I was 6 the first time I played it, and I was at a friend's house. We didn't really get anything accomplished, we just goofed off a lot. We would just run around Gordon Village and fly with the chickens and things like that. That was what first introduced me to the Zelda series, and Zelda is my favourite game series of all time now.

 

[Pachinkosam]

When i played ocarina of time i was so into the game and the puzzles i was 16 when i playing this.

 

[finalark]

My earliest LoZ experience that I remember was running around in Zelda II until I died and then getting really spooked by the game over screen.

To be fair, I was five at the time.

Great first impression, right?

 

[smokebomb12]

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess was my first Zelda game, and let me tell you this, I was blown away by the experience. The game is actually the reason I main Link.

 

[Alienz_King]

Twilight Princess was also my first Legend of Zelda game and it was the first game that really got me into the franchise. When I first played Twilight Princess it was a great game that really pulled me into the series. I liked how Twilight Princess' world was big and expansive, I liked the adventure and challenge that the dungeons gave, and I liked all the little side quests that the game had. After I beat Twilight Princess, I started to play other games and I started to get more into the lore of the LoZ series.

 

[Deleted member]

I can't remember my first experience but my first Zelda game was Zelda on the NES. Gud times.

 

[Hawkins]

when my family got our gamecube it came with the Legend of Zelda collectors edition disc. the first one i played was Majora's Mask though i switched to and played through Ocarina of Time before i finished Majora's Mask. And they were both SO BLASTED GOOD! id played video games before then, (Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, Rush 2 and others) but i credit these two games with ensuring a life-long love of video games. Ocarina of Time still holds up for me all these years later. its like the gold standard that i judge all other games i will ever see by. (though i think Twilight Princess may have replaced it as my favorite in my heart of hearts.)

 

[Tino]

Twilight Princess was my first Zelda game I've played so I guess I could say it was an epic Zelda experience for me and the main reason why I'm now into Zelda games.

 

[SphericalCrusher]

I was five years old, playing The Legend of Zelda on NES. It was so awesome, getting the Master Sword and just attacking everything with it. The free roaming, going anywhere. I've played every Zelda along the way, but Ocarina of Time was probably my most memorable experience.

 

[Arcadenik]

I remember playing the NES game. I was probably 5 or 6 but I definitely didn't know how to read back then. I had no idea what was going on. I always thought you had to navigate the maze world to find the princess. I always got lost and went in circles. Sometimes I might stumble upon a random dungeon where I always get a game over.

I also remember Zelda II. I still couldn't read so i thought all you had to do was fight monsters that randomly appeared on the world map. I ended up chasing those monsters whenever they showed up. I remember accidentally finding my way to the cave to get to the first palace. I deducted this is where I'm supposed to go to but I always got a game over.

By the time I got the SNES game, I barely knew how to read so I followed instructions and clues carefully. Sometimes I would talk to NPCs repeatedly so I would re-read instructions and clues so I would know where to go and what I needed to do. As I got better at reading, I finally "got" the story. I played for hours for many days... I got so good that I did a speed run and finished the game in 2-3 hours without dying. I suddenly knew how to read when I was in 3rd grade after I had an eureka moment in class... and I was suddenly able to finish worksheets in matter of minutes. It was almost like I suddenly became sentient or sapient or rational. I wound up being the only Deaf student in mainstream classes in my elementary school but it was lonely.