Oh man, the release of this game sticks out so much to me. I remember a couple things in perticular,
it was the very first thing I ever ordered online (from gamestop) because I was nervous about stock. It didn't come when the game released, I remember going over to my freinds house and playing up till the young link temple in Zora's domain, it was such a captiviating experience. We got stuck on a puzzle in that specific temple and we discovered the solution do it discussing it on the walk home from school which was such a cool experience. I remember the mailman finally delivering almost a week later, it was a friday evening and by that point I had lost hope that it would show up in time for the weekend, but sure enough around 5 or 6 PM the mailman shows up and I was elated.
The game is amazing from beginning till the end, it always surprised it me. I remember just feeling so much joy and excitement the first time I explored the starting town, to how alive everything seemed in Hyrule square, to what a pure joy it was to catch a fish that contained a heart piece, finally to a story that was surprisingly captivating with a world that was genuinely interesting to explore with tons of neat surprises hidden around every nook and cranny.
Honestly it's an experience that I don't think any of us will ever get again, it's hard for anyone to understand that wasn't there in that moment. But games like Zelda:TOOT and Mario 64 were filled with so much innovative new ways to play games and experiencing them for the first time when it had never been done before... what an incredibly exciting time.
