Back in - *gasp* - TWENTY EIGHTEEN I completed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was then the latest in the Legend of Zelda franchise, dual released on the failing Wii U and the brand-spanking-new Nintendo Switch consoles.
I started playing it's sequel, Tears of the Kingdom right on launch day, May 12th, 2023 and thanks to life's many circumstances it was only today, nearly three years since its release, that I finally finished the game.
I took about a million screenshots of the final moments, but then realized they were all very spoiler-y and even though I'm likely one of the few people that took this long to beat the game, I decided to go with the simplest of proof:
Today was a very apt day to complete the game, no matter how long it took me to get here - as today is February 21, 2026, the 40th anniversary of the original game that started the series, The Legend of Zelda.
I'm sure that I've written about this in the varied posts I've made about the Zelda series over the years, but as much as I adore the games in my adulthood I didn't really care for them as a kid. Sometimes it strikes me as funny that I'm so invested in them now.
In my teens, however, I discovered The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 and things just grew from there.
Even though I completed a Zelda game today (and beamed as I watched my 6 year old play for a long while this afternoon) I decided I just needed to boot up the OG and play for a bit tonight.
I've completed The Legend of Zelda NES many times over the years. I even practiced "speed running" it back in 2019 (I use the term lightly), but it's funny - every time I walk away from this game and start it up again... I have no idea what I'm doing.
There are Nintendo games that I played as a kid that if I started them up right now, I'd hit the ground running, remember every secret, and plow through every boss. LoZ, though - its like every memory of it just evaporates from my brain. I remember the basics - I grab the sword and muddle my way to Level 1 "The Eagle", but all of the secret bushes you need to burn or walls you need to explore for helpful items and hints... gone. The order I should play in? I got nothin'.
In one way, it makes for a semi-fresh experience every time I turn it on. On the other hand, my anxiety spikes about early senility.
Regardless of how I got here, I really do love the series now and I count both Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time as some of my favourite video games of all time, which I think says something; I've played a helluva lot of games.
So cheers to the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest gaming franchises of all time! Whether you were one of the first to pop that beautiful gold cartridge into an NES as a kid, finally gave the games a shot as a teen like myself, or you're just now getting started (like my little guy), I do think there's something special here for everyone, which is why the series endures as it does.
Heck, we're only about a year away from getting a big budget, live action Legend of Zelda movie! Only took 'em 40+ years!