I've always been drawn to video gaming as a source of entertainment, therapy, escapism, and emotional attachment. Hear me out before you laugh, though. When we were given an NES near the end of my sixth year of life (1988, I think-correct me if I'm wrong, I think I was almost seven at the time) for Christmas by my dad's mother, I found myself drawn to that classic adventuring side-scroller, Super Mario Bros. My problem was, and always has been the fact that I get so wrapped up in a storyline and the people therein that I hate it when bad things happen to them. (I think that was probably the first indication I had that I was going to be a writer later on-I'm an eighteen-year-old fanfiction writer, now...I plan on being a published author at least once before I die) As such, I couldn't bring myself to play any of the underground levels of that game. Which happened to be the first one I ever owned. I just was horrible at the underground levels and felt guilty when Mario a)took a header ff a cliff, b) got eaten by an evil mushroom with fangs, or c) ran out of time on the level and died anyway. So. Eventually, I got over that little problem. And then, a few months later, the Legend of Zelda entered my life and changed my outlook on gaming forever. I've been obssessing about the Legendary Hero in all his various forms since I was about seven years old. Zelda always bothered me, though (the princess, not the game...I'm not stupid). I couldn't figure out why she kept sitting around, WAITING to be rescued. If it were ME, my seven-year-old brain reasoned, I'd be doing everything I could to do one of three things a)make my dear hero's (whoever he may be) job an eensy bit easier, b) annoy the hell out of whomever was holding me hostage, or c) eliminate my captor, thus helping out my hero and possibly giving him a few months off before I was captured again. I was seven, so I naturally didn't fully grasp the thought of hero rescues princess, hero gets girl and anywhere from a quarter to the entire kingdom as dowry.

Until later on. The years passed, we continued to play and entertain ourselves by offing the various big icky things that Hyrule threw at us. Then The Adventures of Link came along, and I realized something: That Legend was never, EVER meant to be a side-scroller. For me, it kind of wrecked the whole thing. I was so disillusioned by ZeldaII that I didn't even bother beating the game. What was the point? I knew that good always triumphed over evil eventually, and that was more than enough for my by then eight-and-a-half-year-old mind. My imagination could conjure far more interesting enemies and foes for our Legendary Hero, anyway, and my friends and I ultimately ALWAYS ended up acting out those stories in my backyard. *Don't laugh* With me as the hero. That was my condition. I just couldn't see myself as a sniveling little princess locked in the big, evil black tower waiting like a little weenie to be rescued. I wanted to do the rescuing, dammit!

I ended up out of the loop of Zelda gameage for a while when my parents sold our NES. I went into conniptions over THAT one, let me tell you. So in that single move, I was separated from a world that had grown very close and dear to my heart. I was in mourning for a good two months. For a very short time, I was in possession of an original Game Boy that my dad won as a door prize at some business convention out of town, but we sold that (once again...WAUGH!!!) long before Link's Awakening ever graced that tiny dot matrix screen. I almost had a massive coronary when I saw the ads for it...I had been SO close...and then, the SNES made its debut. I begged and pleaded, but my cries for a reunion fell upon deaf ears when my parents bluntly announced-quite cruelly, to a Link fanatic-that we were "out of the video game league for good". I could have died right there. It was even worse later on when I saw the ads for 'A Link to the Past.' I wanted to scream and shout, but I knew it wouldn't do any good.

My parents got me into a brief affair with Sega Genesis when I turned thirteen...that was when the Sega Channel was the newest thing-you could play in a kind of 'online' state, and never have to worry about buying cartridges for your machine, effectively cutting down costs. (1995-I think-or maybe it was '96 and I was fourteen...my memory sucks) As such, I remained plugged into the world of Sonic the Hedgehog (don't come with an unruly mob to my home...I'm better now, and it WAS my parents fault) and friends. I remained plugged into the Sega Channel until the following year when I started high school-ugh...waste of my life-and my grades continued to suck. They discontinued our connection, and that was the last I ever saw of the Sega Channel. It died horribly long before I managed to get my grades back up. And thus, I was stuck with some...maybe ten Sega cartridges and the hand held game gear system...only a few of which I ever managed to master. (Funny enough, I've still got the Genesis and Game Gear in the back of my closet.) Now it's the year 2000, I'm back with the Nintendo groove, and renewing my passions as concerning a certain realm of intrigue, ambient magic, evil sorcerers, a captive princess, and a valiant, stalwart hero who will stop at nothing to save a certain golden-haired, elfin princess from certain doom...

That's right. I mamnaged to scrape, pinch, and weasel enough money together to get back with the most imaginative game series I've ever known...*Hail to the N64!!*...I bought my system near the end of last year (1999), and was able to scrape enough money together to snag a copy (rather inexpensive, too) of Ocarina from the shelves of the local WalMart. And I'm thanking my three golden Goddesses every day that I finally managed to get back into the swing of things...a place I never should have left. I'm rekindling all my old imagined adventures and some new ones, "...to be placed...on perishable parchment...with ink that begins to fade even before it dries", the travels and adventures of a single man, the one, the only, Legendary Hero, Link. The Hero of Time. One of this world's, and any other's, true great ones.

And in that brief timeline, my friends, you have seen into my soul...a glimpse of my innermost heart...an important piece of me.

"Power is nothing without the Courage to do what is right and the Wisdom to know what right is." -www.teamsavezelda.com

May Nayru's Wisdom always lend you aid, Din's Power never foresake you, and Farore's Courage be forever in your heart-