From when my oldest child was two and a half until he was four, he went through a phase where he would constantly come out of his room when he should have been going to bed. Often immediately after we turned off the lights, but sometimes as much as an hour after, he would slink into my wife’s and my bedroom, and one of us would escort him back and start all over. It got to the point where we began sitting outside his room after lights out until he fell asleep. At least when he came out, we could immediately catch and redirect him back to bed. However, this could mean sitting in the hallway and waiting for up to an hour. Luckily, my brother-in-law had lent me his 3DS and given me a copy of A Link Between Worlds to pass the time.
I still think back to that period and shudder, but I do have some fond memories of questing in Hyrule and Lorule as I waited for the little one to fall asleep. For example, one afternoon I was working my way through the House of Gales when my son emerged from nap time. He asked to play, so I let him take the reigns for a bit. Almost immediately, my boy walked Link off the edge and watched his figure disappear into the abyss with a fading scream, only to reappear on the ledge moments later.
He, of course, thought this was hilarious, and proceeded to do it repeatedly, giggling wildly as he did. I was happy he was happy, until I realized that Link’s hearts were getting low, and that if he died I may have to start back at the beginning of the dungeon. This being an unacceptable outcome, I wrestled the 3DS back from him and put the handheld to sleep. “Daddy, I want Link fall down!” became a consistent refrain every time he saw the 3DS from then on, and every once in awhile I would let him run Link off a cliff a few times before putting the system away and diverting my son to some other activity.
My son stopped coming out of his room after his sister was old enough for them to share a room (praise Hylia!), and I put the 3DS away after saving Hyrule/Lorule from catastrophe. Some time later, I picked up Skyward Sword for the Wii and would play when I found free time, which was mostly when the kids were napping. They would come out to find me playing and ask for a turn. My oldest had fun swinging the Wii Remote around and trying to slice logs at the Knight’s Academy, but the best time he had was in Lanayru Desert, forcing Link to jump down the crevices and listening to his wails. This time around I had no qualms with it.
You see, unlike other Zelda games, Skyward Sword does not take hearts away when Link falls. I was thrilled to discover this when I was watching to see when I would need to wrangle the controller away. But because the hearts never decreased, there was no need. My son could jump to his heart’s content. My daughter even got to join the fun when she woke up, and the two enjoyed an afternoon of making Link fall down.
My kids may be have been too little to remember these as their first time playing Zelda games, but I certainly will. I also get a reminder every time I accidentally drop down a cliff while playing, as I can still hear their giggles and my boy saying, “Link fall down!”
