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Many times I found myself neck deep in a situation I could easily identify as being “really really stumped” in any Zelda title. I'm pretty sure this feeling is mutual between most Zelda fans; you're lying if you disagree. I know that it's particularly difficult or intimidating to people who don't know good games from bad games, or the close cousin to such gamers: kids. Take a second, if you will, and try to remember your single most rage-quit inducing Zelda moment. I guarantee you that you thought about the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time for a split second, if not going with it outright. Well I have information that may astonish you, or restore just a small glimmer of hope for humanity in your eyes.
The time is Christmas, and my younger brother had just obtained a shiny new 3DS along with a copy of the legendary Ocarina of Time 3D. Now, I know my brother pretty well, and it's not much of a stretch to say he isn't much of a gamer. He plays it sparingly and in reality, I become green with jealous rage on the rare occasion that I see him with his face buried in it. He hasn't gotten very far in any Zelda title, but I think that's just because he suffers from “neglectful gamer syndrome”, like me, but his is more tragic. Anyway, you can imagine how a delicious new system like the 3DS would start to look mighty tasty to hungry onlookers; well this is where the story gets very inspiring.
Another brother of mine, younger than the last, had been introduced to Zelda a few years earlier, and needless to say, he was stunned by it. He hadn't gotten very far in any of the installations, but he wasn't bad at it either. The only games he'd beaten were Diablo II and games like Spyro and other kid stuff. Well, this boy mustered the courage to ask for a file on Ocarina of Time 3D, and luckily for him, his request was approved and he got to work immediately.
Whenever I'd see him playing it, it reminded me of a cross between the days when I'd sit like an old southern man on a porch and play Pokemon for hours, and the days when I'd gawk up at my TV and slice at chickens with a three pronged controller. I guess you could say I was just extremely proud. Eventually I became curious and approached him. I'd watch him play, after a day or two, astonished to see that this ten-year-old was already exploring Zora's Domain. He'd ask for help here and there, but like a true mentor, I'd tell him only this: “Nope. Figure it out yourself, you'll feel even more bad-a** when you finally get it.”
After a few days, the calls for assistance would come less and less, until, eventually, they stopped. Not more than two weeks later did this kid come up to me and demand that I watch him play. He was in Ganon's Castle…inside the main pillar, walking up those ominous red carpeted stairs in that dark spiral upward to that final battle that we all look back on. My ten-year-old brother…a so called “fad gamer” had just beaten Ocarina of Time on his own, with absolutely zero assistance. I think we should all take a moment of silence to salute this brave young boy, because let's face it, there's at least one Zelda title that took us more than two weeks, and chances are, Ocarina of Time was one of them.
