Earliest Zelda Memory

[Zelda44]

I was about 5 when my older brother started playing Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on the N64. I was immediately interested and watched him play all the time!!! I was always sad when he stopped playing haha Finally, I worked up the courage to try it myself, and fell in love! I have so many fond memories from back then..it was such a long time ago but I remember it vividly! On Ocarina of Time, for a while I spent all my time just riding around Hyrule on Epona! Good times. Even though I preferred playing as adult Link, I mostly played as young Link because the ReDeads you have to run past in the marketplace freaked me out every time haha! Every time they screamed at me I would jump but yes..as young Link I remember running across Hyrule field to Lon Lon Ranch as fast as I could, trying to make it before the sun set. If I ever didn't make it, I would make Link jump on top of a stone wall and wait there until the monsters disappeared haha. I also loved the Kokiri Forest..the music and the atmosphere in general was just a lot of fun. I loved Majora's Mask as well, and I spent much of my time riding Epona around Termina as well! I also thoroughly enjoyed trying on all the different masks and seeing what they did! The Zora's mask was definitely my favorite! One of my favorite memories though, (on OoT and MM) was playing the ocarina (and other instruments) and learning all the songs! I always loved Zelda's Lullaby, Epona's Song, and the Song of Healing the most. These are just a few of my first Zelda memories..

 

[Ecysmest]

My earliest memory is of watching my father play OoT, that was back when I was... I'd say 5 maybe 6? After I had been watching him play for a while, he asked me if I wanted to try it out. I would not have been able to explain just how happy I was, then. I am still great-full to my father for introducing me to The Legend of Zelda, and making me the fan I am now.

Back then, my favorite characters were the Kokiri. I had loved the fact that there was an entire race that consisted of only children.
To this day, I still love the Kokiri. I still wish I could be like them.


I've been playing ever since...

 

[Akuhime-sama]

My earliest Zelda Memory that I can think of, is when I was over at my friend's house and she was showing me OoT for the first time. This was the first I've ever witnessed of the Zelda Series. My earliest memory of just INVOLVING Zelda, is one of the numerous times we were at the store, and I kept hearing about and seeing Zelda titles in the store, but never knew anything about them. I remember when Wind Waker and the Minish Cap was the "big thing"

Aside from that, I can't really remember anything else :shake:

I also can't recall the order of those events.
All I know, is that OoT was the first one I've actually seen Gameplay of.

 

[ChainLink15]

My very first memory was playing Adventure of Link on the GBA. I was around 5 years old and I couldn't get past the first cave.

After that I didn't play another Zelda title until Phantom Hourglass came out. That is when I remembered AoL and I got that indescribable feeling that my life was complete. And that is when I got back into the swing.

 

[ZeldaFan11235]

I was at a friend's house, and we where playing super smash bros 64. Then a few years later, my cousins gave me their N64 with a copy of OoT. I know, not the world's coolest story.

 

[Aerauro67]

About 5 years ago when I saw the commercial for Phantom Hourglass.

 

[hylianordonlink]

My earliest memory is watching a commercial of the ganon / link battle from Oot,but with better(Imo) graphics. I think it was a commercial for the 3ds. It was so awesome and when I found out that was zelda,I read the manga and got twilight princess. Such fun is zelda.

 

[onebizarrekai]

Ah, I remember... Outset Island was my first memory.

Two friends came over and bright Wind Waker with them. My sister played it, and we borrowed it for some time. I was too scared of the Forsaken Fortress to play it, though. I can't even remember if my sister managed to beat it or not, but we did get a copy of the game of our own after a while. Back then, I was terrified of "sneaking past guards" or anything similar.

How old was I...? We didn't even know about Zelda, but we still live in the same house we do now. I don't even remember... Around 8...? Or 7.

Those same friends introduced us to Pokemon.

 

[Brandikins]

Well, I think I can vaguely remember driving home with Ocarina of Time in the car with my older brother and dad, but that might have been a different memory that I am mixing up. It was the two of us staying at his house at the time (my parents are divorced), and it was probably a Saturday, and it was nighttime. I was only four at the time, and my brother was about seven or eight. I can remember us quickly pressing start at the title screen, and then the next thing I remember is Link coming out of his house. When my ears first heard the music of Kokiri Forest, I immediately fell in love with the game, and the series too.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Watcher my father play A Link to the Past on our SNES when I was 3 or 4 is my earliest Zelda memory. Later on, I proceeded to rip up the ALttP guide he bought, but whatever.

 

[JPowers83]

My earliest Zelda memory:

I got Zelda 1 when I was in 2nd grade. I had no clue what the game was or how to play it. I just put it to the side for like a month or 2 and didn't play it (I had tons of NES games when I was younger.) I eventually started playing it and I fell in love with it. So I used to tell my mom I had no homework just so I could play Zelda all night after school. My mom eventually found out and took away my NES until summer vacation. I also remember the first time I beat the first dungeon in Zelda 1. It was right before I left for school. I was so excited that I beat the dungeon. My aunt and my cousin were also playing the game, and I called my aunt crying, cause I was so excited, to tell her I beat the dungeon, and she thought there was something wrong. She lived across the street from me, so she was about to come over and see what was up, and I was like nooooooooooooo, I beat the first dungeon in Zelda. It took me 20 something years to beat that game. I eventually got it for GBA, and I finally beat it on GBA. Same with A Link to the Past. It took me years to beat that, and I finally did on GBA. (GBA=Game Boy Advance for those who don't know). I got the one that looked like the NES on the outside and looked like the NES controller on the inside that folded up. Still never beat Zelda 2 though.

 

[ShellShocker]

I have a lot of Early Zelda memories; however, it is very difficult to be able to identify one particular memory. Out of all the notable ones, I distinctly remember crying when the ReDeads attacked Link in Old Hyrule Town when I was playing on my brother's file. Since I didn't really have much to do at home I played a lot of N64 and thus I went through the first dungeon in Ocarina of Time many, many times. Every single play-through I got stuck in the Dodongo's Cavern and then restarted the save file every time. I also remember my brother's friend come over and I'd watch them playing both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask all night.

 

[Curmudgeon]

A friend of mine got Adventure of Link for his birthday... 1989? We died a lot that day.

 

[SpartanGibbles]

My first memory of Zelda was my dad getting me OoT for my N64. I had heard of Zelda before but never had a chance to play it so I was very excited. My dad got the game used from a friend and it came with 1 save file on it. Being young I thought nothing of it and started playing that file, little did I know that it was saved just after Ganondorf take's Zelda back to his castle which was the closest thing to the temple of time. Another notable thing that I realize now is that the cartridge I had was hacked. In the saved file, Link was wearing the White Tunic and while it had the complete inventory, none of the cutscenes were triggered yet. So I ended up wandering there and triggering a bunch of cutscenes even though I don't think i really knew what cutscenes were at the time. I had a blast messing around with Link's inventory and wandering around Hyrule Field. It wasn't until about a year later that I actually started the game for myself and experienced the magic behind the game.

 

[LalaCoyoteGamer]

I never actually got to /play/ any of the Zelda games - or any console or videogames at all until I was 18. But I remember being around 8-9ish and going to my babysitter's house and watching her son play Ocarina of Time. One of the few good memories I have of that period of my life. Somehow, I managed to remember Zelda's Lullaby for the whole following decade, and that was how I ended up tracking down the games again when I got my first console - the Wii. Good times, good times.