How Eric Got His Game Back

Okay. I’ll admit it. I don’t play video games.

There. I said it.

I’m a supergeek who hates halo. I’m the sole square-enix fan that has yet to finish Final Fantasy 7 let alone any of the games that followed. I’m the only dork more likely to win the Olympic gold in high-jumping* than to frag someone in quake deathmatch.

I just don’t have the time.

I live to create, to be productive. If I’m sitting in front of a 70 hour RPG, I know exactly where those 70 hours are going, and the sound of the “Toilet of Lost Time” flushing haunts me every minute I play.

If I’m in front of my computer, at least then I’m trying to get something done, even if it doesn’t always work out that way.

The first game I ever loved.

This isn’t the way it’s always been. I grew up loving every game I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter if it was even fun, I played it for the sheer love of playing. I spent a great deal of my childhood in front of my 8-bit altar, and my first true geek “call-for-help” was to walk a friend through the second quest of the Legend of Zelda.

Sometimes I miss the hours spent in front of my games with no thoughts of what I could, or should be doing. Don’t get me wrong, I still love a good game when there is company around, but then it’s a social activity, something to do while hanging out.

No, if I was going to really enjoy solitary gaming again, I needed to find some time that was already wasted and idle. Time when I really had nothing better to do.

How much does it cost to get your childhood back?

Eighty Dollars.

I got a Game Boy Advance SP last Christmas, and I’ve played it every day on the subway since. I’ve got absolutely nowhere to be, except on that train. No one is waiting, there’s noting better I could be doing. It’s the perfect subway pastime.

The games I had were good, and they kept me occupied. I enjoyed the Mario RPG and grew to understand why the original Pokemon game was so addictive that it spawned a TV show and a multi-billion** dollar empire. I played through the new metroid and regained my uncanny knack for working the D-pad and the B and A buttons.

These were fun diversions, but they weren’t quite what I missed.

And then Nintendo released “The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap”

This is how games are supposed to be. For the past month, I’ve poured myself into this game, struggling with puzzles, searching dungeons over and over until I found the one hidden corner I missed. I’ve spent days thinking about what I could try next to beat a mid-way boss and then found myself giddy when I figured it out. This wasn’t just hacking up octorocks and tectites with my sword. This game actually required you to be smart and think of things in new ways. This game was enriching.

Zelda’s updated look is clean and fun, but familiar.

I have yet to finish the quest, and I don’t mind telling you that I’m stuck again. This game is damn hard. But it’s damn good too. Possibly
the best single player game ever made for any console, and coming from an 8-bit connoisseur, that’s not a statement I make lightly.

If any of you grew up loving Zelda, or simply spend your days waiting for your train to bring you home, seriously, drop the $80 and pick up a GBA SP and this game. Your train rides will never be the same.

* I should note that I have zero aptitude for high-jumping.
* I also have no idea how much Pokemon has made for Nintendo, between the game, the shows, the cards, and the toys. Billions doesn’t seem impossible.