Meet the ZI Staff: Darrin W. Harr II

Hello! I am Darrin W. Harr II. In this editorial I hope to convey how I got into the Legend of Zelda series, and why I write for Zelda Informer. I promise to keep it short! The first video game I ever played was the classic NES title Super Mario Bros. My grandparents were the ones that had the NES at their house, and this is where my love for video games was born.

My grandparents basically handed me a controller, showed me what was jump, move, and run, and let me on my own. Pretty soon I was racing through levels like no tomorrow, stomping on goombas left and right. I then started playing games such as Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, and more. Eventually I started using a family member’s PlayStation 2, and play games like Pac-Man and Galaga.

It wasn’t long before my uncle let me play his Nintendo DS, which at the time was brand new. I fell in love playing Mario Kart DS and Astro Boy: Omega Factor. I eventually got bored of those two games, and dug out a DS cartridge of my uncle’s that was unfamiliar to me. This game was titled The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I fired it up and created a new save file. It asked me what I wanted to be called. I thought “Well, it’s called The Legend of Zelda, so I must be Zelda!”.

Under the title of Zelda, I battled my way through Red Chu’s and Phantoms to beat the first dungeon. I was completely mesmerized by this truly wonderful game. I progressed to about the middle of the game until I got stuck in a dungeon. I eventually gave up and went back to Mario Kart DS, and finally beat Astro Boy.

Then one day while playing at my grandparents house, my grandmother called me to the room where she kept her laptop. She was watching the teaser trailer for the sequel to Phantom Hourglass, which of course is Spirit Tracks. She said “I know you love the Zelda game you have, so would this new game be a good Christmas present?”. I jumped up and gave an enthusiastic yes.

Fast forward in time, I am now engrossed in the Zelda series. I have a Wii U and a 3DS, with Zelda titles on both, and I am now a writer for Zelda Informer. I became intrigued with this website when I was googling Zelda news when A Link Between Worlds was announced. I soon liked the ZI Facebook page and read through dozens of articles. One day, I was scrolling through my news feed when I saw a Zelda Informer post. It told me ZI was looking for new staff, and to contact them. I immediately sent in an email saying I was interested, and later went through the interview process with my awesome boss Nate.

I hope you enjoyed this little side trip through my gaming filled childhood, and how I became a writer for ZI. Thank you for reading this!