Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. A painfully long five year development period gave way to this absolutely gorgeous, innovative, awe-inspiring game. Being the newest of the Zelda series, Breath of the Wild (BotW) introduces a stunning new way to play a Zelda game that, in the opinions of most players, shatters the competition when it comes to their favorite Zelda game.

You can explore every inch of the world, including every place you can see in that introduction photo. As Mufasa would say, “everything the light touches” is able to be visited and scoured for items, non-playable characters (NPCs), and enemies. Having a completely open world Zelda game is totally new to the series, and it has been wildly successful with not only myself, but a large range of audiences.

Not only has BotW literally reached new heights by allowing Link to jump (which he has never been able to do without a certain item before), but he can also scale nearly every vertical surface in the world, giving the player an entire new dimension in a Zelda game to explore.

I know how satisfying it feels to seemingly break the game’s usual story sequence by climbing into somewhere you’re not “supposed” to climb into, but BotW accounts for so many things, and NPCs have confronted me and discussed how I didn’t take the usual route to them.

You’re also rewarded with secrets and possibly items for your exploration, as you may scale a certain coliseum and find some hidden chests or maybe climb a giant fish statue and find a Korok Seed, one of the game’s collectibles.

BotW is such an amazing new edition to the Zelda series, and I am so glad that Nintendo decided to really open themselves up to a Zelda game with open world characteristics that is still Zelda with Zelda characters, enemies, and lore. Everyone should get a chance to experience this Hyrule and climb to new heights in their gaming experience.

Twilight Princess

I suppose I have a thing for the darker games, as Twilight Princess is another huge favorite of mine. I have only played this title on the Nintendo Wii, which, fun fact: has a mirrored world/map as compared to the original Gamecube version, but I would like to play through the game a few more times using a Gamecube emulator on my PC.

The story of this game is wonderfully compelling and deep, and it makes me want to replay it just thinking about it.

In Twilight Princess, you, Link, are to save two worlds in one game. Both the overworld, Hyrule, and the Twilight realm have been ravished by the evil Ganondorf, and it’s up to Link to traverse both realms and defeat evil, freeing the Queen of Twilight and Princess Zelda to return to a peaceful rule over their respective lands.

After getting a tutorial in the day in the life of Link that includes interacting with friends in your hometown, Ordon Village, goat herding, and fishing, Link’s love interest and childhood friend, Ilia, is captured by monsters. Link plans to run after her to save her, but faces a wall of darkness in his path, and is grabbed by a hand in the shadows and plunged into a Twilight infested version of the world ahead. When Link awakens in the dark area, the game introduces us to the most striking feature of this game. The spiritual power of the Triforce in Link allows him to survive in this Twilight-ridden area by transforming him into a wolf.

Link then meets an Twili imp named Midna who makes a deal to help Link in his journey as long as he helps her as well, doing whatever she says. They make fast friends, and are partnered for the entirety of the game, Midna giving Link the ability to traverse the Twilight areas proficiently, eventually able to allow Link to teleport and become his wolf version at will, and Link can allow Midna to travel as his shadow through the world of light.

As wolf Link, Link is able to run faster than his human counterpart, dig into small holes and find underground grottos, and use the heightened senses of a Twili dog to follow scents and find areas to dig for items. Also, I mean, who doesn’t want to play as a dog?

Twilight Princess is such a stupendous game, and I definitely recommend adding it to your Legend of Zelda repertoire. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Princess to save.

Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask. What. A. Game. Majora's Mask is my favorite game out of the Legend of Zelda series. It's unique in its setting and story, and it has a particular interesting mechanic that makes the game riveting that hasn't been seen in the series before or since this release.

In most Zelda games, the player's, Link's, goal is to save the princess from the foul grasp of the main enemy who is usually Ganon or Ganondorf. Majora's Mask is a tad different, as it tells a tale of a young hero having to save the town of Termina from the moon as it falls from the sky. A mischievous imp steals and wears a mask that yields an astonishingly evil power, ultimately using the imp as a vessel to carry out its evil plan to drag the moon from its spacey perch and crash it into the earth. The moon falls over a period of three days, and the hero must stop this evil object and its puppet before the town that he has come across perishes.

Though the story is dark and captivating enough, the gameplay itself has its own wonderfully engaging points. In Majora's Mask, the player, Link, boasts his usual arsenal of weapons such as the bow, bombs, the hookshot, the ocarina, and other staple Zelda items that are often seen in other Zelda games. Link, however, also has a new addition to his equipment; masks. Link can place many different masks upon his face, and they can trigger events, open new areas, and give Link new abilities.

The most fascinating masks though are the three main masks that give Link the ability to transform into other species. Throughout the Legend of Zelda series, you meet many different creatures. Some are friendly, some are not, but it is amazing to be able to become a few of the creatures that you have been acquainted with through not only this game, but many others in the series. Link can become a mountain-dwelling Goron and be able to roll around Termina at high speeds, become a Zora, a fish-person capable of breathing underwater and swimming quickly, or become a Deku Scrub, a short wooden plant fellow with the ability to pop up out of certain flowers and glide for a time.

With these new gameplay features and new experiences, Majora's Mask proves to be quite the unique and interesting game. Being the darkest game in the Legend of Zelda series, it does not disappoint with its extraordinary story and the incredibly creative idea of mysteriously powerful masks. I love this game, and I will never stop replaying it.

An Introduction

I’m Vicky Giuliano. I’ve been playing video games all my life, and, though I’ve played many games from many other companies, Nintendo has always been my go-to publisher. I’ve grown up watching my brothers and my dad play games on the Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo, and the DS, and eventually they outgrew those gaming systems, leaving them for me to take over. I ended up spending nearly all of my free time playing Legend of Zelda (LoZ): Ocarina of Time, LoZ: Majora’s Mask, Super Mario 64, Super Metroid, and so many more wonderful titles on each those hand-me-down consoles and newer ones that I’ve gotten since, and I’ve formed a special place in my heart for Nintendo franchises. Zelda has immersed me the most, and it has become my favorite video game series of all time.

My family and I have spent countless dollars on consoles primarily to play the newest Zelda game that has been released, and I have even rebought Zelda titles that I already own on different consoles such as a Virtual Console version of LoZ: Majora’s Mask on the Nintendo Wii, or LoZ: A Link to the Past for Virtual Console on the Nintendo 3DS just because I love the games so much and would love to replay them on another system. I have played every Zelda game to date, and have only not beaten a few. This blog will give a bit of insight on some of the games I love so much and what’s so interesting about them.