Admit it: We all like to test our limits in video games. In a realm where there are no real-world consequences, we like to see what we can get away with from time to time. I, too, am guilty of this, and I regret nothing because sometimes it can lead to interesting scenarios.
I’ve mentioned time and time again that The Wind Waker was my very first Zelda game. Because of that, I had no knowledge of Cuccos (or the “demon-winged nightmares” as some may refer to them) as they do not appear in this game. Instead, it had pigs.
I was on Outset Island attempting to find that treasure I was told about by using Link the pig (aka that big fat pig that those punk kids name after the player) to dig up certain patches of soil. Now, I don’t remember if it was on purpose or by accident, but while doing this, I discovered you can smack the pig around with your sword. Of course, I had to continue. My sick child mind thought batting the pig around with my weapon was hilarious, hearing it shriek and skitter about, thinking nothing bad would happen to the animal as it was just a video game. Nothing bad happened to the pig, but something bad happened to the little brat who was torturing it so.
After enough swings, the pig went on a rampage. I literally could not escape it. It mowed me down in but a few short seconds, dealing mounds of damage as it trampled Link into the ground. I got a game over and I was ticked. Did I deserve it? Absolutely. I was kind of being a jerk. However, 11-year-old me did not find it funny or justified at all. I was absolutely furious. Revenge was in order.
I respawned in the game and my goal was set. I grabbed the pig from its pen using my newly obtained Power Bracelets and slowly began to carry it up to the peaks of Outset Island. I trudged along slowly, with the animal wriggling above Link’s head, to the cliff where the bridge once stood. It must have taken at least 10 minutes of real-life time to do this, which is long for a game, but I was out for vengeance. Once I finally reached the top, predictably, I chucked the pig over the edge and watch as he tumbled down into the sea.
I was vastly disappointed to see that he survived.
I don’t know what I was expecting. I was just angry. I’m pretty sure I set down the game for a while and later had my friends take care of using the pig to find the Heart Piece for me. After that moment, I had a great hostility towards any pigs I encountered on any island, usually avoiding them at all costs or even going as far as to throw them off the island.
I, of course, got over it eventually. The pigs and I get along fine now. I don’t attack them, they don’t attack me. We’re cool. I learned my lesson. Sort of. Curiosity would still get the best of me in Zelda games to come. I threw the Oocca off the edges in Twilight Princess. I attempted to free fall through the cloud barriers in Skyward Sword. I stood on top of the fire pit in Breath of the Wild. Doing stupid things in Zelda games is much too fun to stop.
In all seriousness, I think we all do silly things like these from time to time because it is a game. There is a certain sense of freedom in being able to perform certain tasks that you would never do in real life. So long as we understand the lines between fantasy and reality, doing crazy things occasionally in a game can be OK — and in the case of The Legend of Zelda, your in-game consequences will surely leave you with a reminder of why you shouldn’t do said things.
