Music for the Day

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the first proper game I have ever played a Legend of Zelda game. I don’t mean that I haven’t played any others before because there is one (Zelda II: The Adventures of Link). But I have no clue how to play it back then. I remember distinctly being confused about where to go on the first screen since I never played any game like it.

Yeah, I was a dumb kid. Of course, it didn’t help that my cousin, not I, owned this game. While he lived across the street back in those days, it’s not as if I have access all the time. Not helping matters is that our NES died when we got a Nintendo 64, so we can’t borrow it from him anyway.

Because of that, I consider The Wind Waker the first Zelda game that I have played. I remember many years ago seeing that haunting ad on TV. I’m not sure, but it struck me pretty deep. And while my mom was shopping in a store (I believe Kmart), I saw the game behind a case. We didn’t own many GameCube games back then, with Super Smash Bros Melee being the most prominent. And me, being an eleven-year-old boy, seeing that game there, I begged mom to buy it for me. So she did, though it might have helped that it comes packaged with a free guidebook.

Back then, I didn’t go on the internet all that much. So I had no clue about this controversy regarding the game’s art style. Nor did I have any idea of this E3 tech demo of what it seemingly used to be. As such, I came into this game free of biases that the internet had at the time.

As someone who is autistic, it was hard for me to grasp a story back then. Part of that is that my autism manifests itself like a bizarre combo of ADD and OCD. In fact, the school system thought I did have ADD and wanted me under medications for it, and when my parents refused, they threatened to pull me into foster care. My parents responded with a hard no and gave them documents that proved that I have autism, not ADD, which convinced the school to back off.

Even so, I still understood the story. It helped that, while my reading understanding skills were lacking, I understood pictures and animations too well. So, it wasn’t that much of an issue playing The Wind Waker and reading through a guidebook with photos.

So, what do I think of it? I still think it is a fantastic game and a fantastic introduction to the greater Zelda universe. The music is outstanding, something that I like to listen to when the need for Zelda music hits me. The gameplay, while tedious with the sailing mechanics, is still good. And while I haven’t 100% it back then, I managed to in the WiiU HD edition. Plus, the story still hits me, especially on the message of moving forward instead of lingering in the past.

While I still haven’t completed all Zelda games, I do have hope for it. After all, it was because of my mom who purchased this game when she could’ve convinced me or ignored me that got me into this incredible franchise. And since she passed away nearly fifteen years ago, I still feel like I should do it if only just for her.

So, I suggest you all play it if you can.