The Soul of a Game

a part of The Missing Link series of articles

Article By Hylian Dan

Will video games as a medium be forever relegated to the pop cultural ghetto? Or will they establish themselves alongside such revered media as film, literature, and music? Designer Chris Hecker tackled this question in a keynote address covered by Gamasutra. As I reviewed his points, they strengthened my conviction that the game industry could learn a lot through a closer examination of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series.

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Immortal Childhood

a part of The Missing Link series of articles

By Hylian Dan

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Home, Sweet Home…
3. Good-bye, Great Deku Tree
4. Transformation
5. The Playground
6. Mortal Life
7. The Child’s Wrath
8. The Guardian Tree
9. The Seeds of the Future
10. Immortal Childhood

Introduction

Restless souls wander where they don’t belong…
—Ocarina of Time

As Link roams across the mysterious Koholint Island, a ghost begins to follow behind him. It whispers, “…The house… …take me… …the house… …at the bay…” Link brings the ghost to its former home. The floors are cracked, the lights have dimmed. The spirit sadly drifts across the room. “…Nostalgia… …unchanged… …boo hoo…”

“…Enough… …cemetery… …take me… …my grave…”

There is a common theme that runs through Link’s Awakening and Ocarina of Time. It is expressed more fully in Majora’s Mask, and summarized at the end of The Wind Waker. These four stories express what it means to live bound to the flow of time. They are stories about the beauty of mortality, the journey from childhood to adulthood and from life to death. They are about growing up and leaving behind the immortal playground of childhood, letting go of the familiar to venture out into the world that lies beyond.

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Hey, this is Unknown Hero here with a cool Zelda video. An independent developer decided that they wanted to make a 3D version of Link’s Awakening, and released a beta build of their creation.

Some footage of the game has been captured in a video, so check it out by clicking the “read the rest of this post” link.

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