Sunday, June 19, 2011

Ocarina of Time: then and now.

Making it feel right

   13 years ago, exactly half as old as I am now, Ocarina of Time was released on the Nintendo 64. While it may not be my personal favorite game, it was an important game, especially then. It was a big deal. And while I'm getting through the newest remake on 3DS, I'm remembering some of the other things in my life that were going on, and what all I'm bringing together to try and recreate the glory days of my youth.

This is how you remember it looking.

   When Ocarina was originally released, I was living in Wichita Falls, Texas. These days I'm in Austin Texas, a few hours south. And while I've actually spent the majority of those 13 years in Michigan, it feels right that I'm back in the south to replay a timeless classic.

   The music. Yeah, the music of Ocarina of Time is classic, but during that time I had another favorite album. Yeah, laugh at me all you want, but the soundtrack of Austin Powers was almost always in my CD player. I still do love that album, and I've pulled it out of storage (where CD's now go to die, just like cassette's before them) to relive some of the atmosphere.

   Having friends to play with is another thing that cements me to the past. More than the game itself, everybody talking about it and their experiences is what made this such an important title for me. It's lucky, then, that I have an amazing boyfriend as well as a workplace full of nerds, so that we can all talk about it again.
This is how it actually looked. An improvement? I think so.

   There are, however, some things I just can't recreate to put me back in 1998. For one, I'm not going back to America Online. I'm just not. Another thing? I'm not 13 anymore. I'm 26. I drive, vote, drink, and I make my own paychecks. So I don't quite have that youthful spark anymore. Oh and one more item: it was winter when I got the game. A step outside to the gas station tells me that it is anything but Winter right now in Austin, Texas.

   That's my little anecdote about Ocarina of Time as I plunge into the newest release of it. What of yours, readers? Where were you in your life when you first played it? Is the 3DS version perhaps your first? I would love to know more!

Until then, make it a good one!

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