Gamer Origins: How’d You Get Your Start?

In my twenty-three years on this earth, I can hardly remember a time when video games were not a part of my life. While the medium as a whole has exploded over the past decade or so, my love of gaming dates back a little further. No, I wasn’t a part of the Pong generation; instead, like many of you out there, my story begins with the original Nintendo Entertainment System and includes just about every gaming console since. My passion for games hasn’t faltered in the slightest, in spite of urgings from friends and loved ones to “grow up,” “get a job,” or, my personal favorite, “leave the house.” When I sat down to start writing about what originally sparked my interest in gaming, I was prepared to dissect any number of classic games and the experiences I had with them as a way of arriving at my current state of full-out geekdom. Instead, I realized that it was really one game, one monumental, medium-defining title, that hooked me for life.

I speak, of course, of The Legend of Zelda.

It’s electric, isn’t it? Just typing or reading that title conjures so many memories. And yes, the gloriously 8-bit theme music will be stuck in my head for at least the next 24 hours.

8 bits of pure badass.

The original Legend of Zelda is, for me, the first truly epic gaming experience I ever came across. You’re dumped in this seemingly gigantic world with nothing but your wooden sword, a stylish green tunic, and your wits (otherwise known as your thumbs). I wasn’t big on manuals back then, so I honestly don’t remember how I ever found anything in that game. It’s such a strange parallel to today’s games like Fallout 3 (which currently has my undivided attention) that just cut you loose in a world.

The true indication of the game’s longevity for me, however, is that so many of its features are now gaming clichés. Upgradeable equipment? Check. Pattern- and weak spot-based boss fights? Check. Seemingly impassable areas that open up after a new item is acquired? Check. A second quest that’s only available after beating the first? Checkity check check. Think for a second about how many of your more contemporary favorites contain one or more of these features, and then remind yourself that the first Zelda came out in 1986.

Ultimately though, this game doesn’t have a special place in my heart for its features alone. It’s the feelings that it evoked in a young Josh many years ago, the idea that this was a different and magical experience. It begins with the game itself; surely a gold cartridge contains an adventure that is beyond the norm. It’s the first time you pushed back a gravestone and found something underneath. It’s the first time you got stuck in a maze that seemed to be deliberately trying to trick you. It’s the first time you felt the sense of doom when you scaled Death Mountain. And it’s the ultimate feeling of triumph when Ganon fell and the fully-formed Triforce was in your hands. That’s what the game means to me, and that, to me, is what gaming is all about.

I’d love to hear about your own personal origin story. What title or titles turned you into a gamer?