Way back in the summer of 1998, I had finally scrounged up enough money between my allowance and my birthday to get an N64. I had been playing it for almost two years at the houses of friends and neighbors, trying my hand at games that any millennial would be familiar with: Goldeneye and Mario 64. The system itself was a massive leap from the Sega Genesis I had gotten for Christmas a few years prior, and I dove right into what felt at the time as very immersive 3D visuals.
Somewhere during that summer, I was made aware of a game coming out in the fall for my N64 - a game called Zelda. Every month’s Nintendo Power would bring new tidbits about this game that was being hyped as the next big thing. The marketing worked and I eagerly added it to my Christmas list that fall. On Christmas morning, I unwrapped it along with many other gifts (including another great N64 game, Star Wars Rogue Squadron) and eagerly got to playing.
December 1998 was several months before I would get the Internet; in fact, my first exposure to it would be at my dad’s workplace the following spring, where I would type www.zelda.com into a web browser for the first time and be amazed that I could just read more content about my game at no cost to myself. But even without the internet, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time felt like an all encompassing event. My cousins had gotten the game too, and so when we all went to my grandparents for Christmas dinner, they regaled me with stories about areas of the game I had not yet reached (I was stuck in the basement of the Great Deku Tree before I had to put the game down that afternoon). On the school bus after the holiday break, older brothers of my friends would drop hints of puzzle solutions and mysteries to solve. I couldn’t get enough - I talked about it with anybody who wanted to, and played it every night, even as I got stuck in some of the more challenging dungeons.
Because while Mario 64 had been my first introduction to a 3D world, Ocarina of Time was the first time a game felt bigger than a game for me. It was a world that felt lived in, carefully constructed to be a mainstream fantasy adventure game that would appeal to kids who hadn’t yet become familiar with Tolkien or other notable fantasy authors. In the months (yes, months) to come, I explored every nook and cranny of the world, chased down every conspiracy theory, and even bought a Gameshark to try to unlock whatever spare code was left on the cartridge.
When we finally did get the Internet at home that following spring, my love of the game drove me to put together a fledging website, impressive only to a grade schooler in 1999. Named “Gerudo Valley” after an area of the game with very catchy music, I cut my teeth on HTML and Javascript and made all of the cardinal web design signs of the late 90’s. I would move the website to different providers and launch other websites in those years (one a 76ers fan site, another one dedicated to another of my favorite N64 games, Jet Force Gemini) but Zelda was always my main focus. As I branched out to other Zelda games, I started adding coverage for them too.
That initial drive to create websites led me to do a lot more on the computer over the next several years, including writing walkthroughs for GameFAQs, editing some maps for Starcraft, and even eventually writing for some basic game websites that got enough traffic to net me review copies of games - a really nice perk for a young teenager. Over time, those passions morphed into just a general love of computers and using them to create stuff, which led to engineering and security. After talking with many people in the technology industry, I’ve realized this is not that unique of an origin story; most people got their start using computers and the web purely because they were passionate about something and wanted to find a way to share it and connect with like minded people.
In two days, the full fledged remake of Ocarina of Time releases for the Nintendo Switch 2. Unlike 28 years ago, I won’t have to wait until Christmas to play it. I don’t think I’ll be making a website this time; instead, I’m excited to show my kids what Dad’s favorite game of all time is, even though it probably won’t seem as cool as Sonic or Spider-Man to them.