As an English teacher, June is always an exciting time for me. It means the end of the school year and laying down all the stresses that come with it, getting to rest and recuperate from the burdens of the year, making summer plans with my family, and it’s waiting with bated breath to see what surprises Nintendo has in store for us as E3 comes around. No E3 in recent memory compares to E3 2019, both because it was the first E3 I shared with my daughter and because of a particularly mysterious surprise from my favorite game developer.
My daughter had played some video games prior to the Switch, but it was the hybrid handheld system that really hooked its claws into her and made her a gamer. From the adventure of Breath of the Wild to the endless journey of Super Mario Odyssey and the family-friendly competition of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Switch had become a core part of our everyday life. As Nintendo’s E3 Direct approached, my daughter and I were practically vibrating with excitement as we sat down on the couch together and settled in to watch the show.
As the presentation went on, both my daughter and I found games to be excited about. She was ecstatic to see Pokémon Sword and Shield after having played through Pokémon Moon recently. The upgraded graphics and more open-world design brought the game more in line with the dream experience the anime had set up when thinking of the adorable pocket monsters. I was excited to see old favorites like Link’s Awakening and Luigi’s Mansion get a remake and a sequel respectively. Getting to share a Hyrulian favorite with my daughter was a dream experience, and exploring a haunted hotel side by side sounded really fun, too. The House of Mario had already set themselves up for another great year, and both my daughter and I were saddened but fulfilled when the trailer for the “one last thing” started.
The green energy spiraling through the air, brightening the darkness instantly made me think of Metroid. The neon emerald color conjured images of the gelatinous forms of the energy-sucking terrors. I waited quietly for the sharp chirp of the titular creature or the armor-clad Samus to show up; instead, we saw that the energy seemed to be escaping some kind of structure. Then a torch showed up.
“Wait. That torch looks like it’s from Breath of the Wild,” I said.
My mind reeled as the spiraling energy returned. What was going on? Suddenly, the Princess of Hyrule was shown riding a gigantic lumbering beast, and I exploded.
“Is that Zelda?” I said as I hopped up and grabbed my daughter in a hug.
Any doubts disappeared as Zelda and Link appeared together on screen, their backs to us as they investigated the weird source of the energy. My mind wasn’t working at all as the rest of the trailer quickly skipped by, showing us the pair drinking from an underground stream, coaxing their beastly friend across a bridge, and revealing Zelda’s new hairdo. I wish I could say that I was taking in every detail, but my brain could only repeat the same refrain over and over as my daughter and I hugged. “Wait. This is Zelda!”
Leave it to Ganondorf to break the spell. As the camera panned over his mummified corpse, I remember being worried that whatever happened next would scare my daughter. She was nine years old but still easily unsettled. Suddenly but entirely expectedly, the dead body came to life and evil eyes filled with Malice opened. My kid and I were still hugging, so the comfort of a parent was already there, but when I asked if she was scared, she just shot me a sassy look and said, “No. I’m excited!”
We watched the trailer countless other times before we got to share it with my wife who was too busy to watch the presentation with us. She wasn’t as impressed but humored my daughter and I in our fervor. Years have passed, and we’ve seen this iconic trailer hundreds of times, both on its own and in a multitude of analyses and theories. No viewing will ever be as meaningful to us though as the time that we spent together answering the question “Wait. Is that Zelda?”
