Okay, the title is bit misleading. It wasn’t truly the happiest moment of my life, as those days would come later with my marriage and birth of my two kids. Oh, and when I bought my Switch, that was pretty cool. No, this is what I said to my best friend after I beat A Link to the Past for the first time.
In 2002, Nintendo released A Link to the Past for the Game Boy Advance. As a young Zelda fan, this was my first experience with the game. I was so hyped for it. For Christmas 2003, my brother bought me the Prima strategy guide for it while my mom got me the actual game. I was always a year or so behind on new releases, something that I have finally been able to break out of as an adult. Yeah, no brag, but I bought the collector’s edition of Metroid: Dread on a whim and only suffered minor financial setback.
I spent hours just sitting and playing A Link to the Past. And, yes, I did 100% the game and, yes, I am not ashamed about using my Prima guide. That thing was my lifeline playing that game. I can pretty much point to it as the reason I can’t play any game without getting everything.
I was in middle school at the time, sixth grade, and my best friend was Matt. He was awesome. We were both huge gamers. Many, many weekends were spent in his basement playing Halo 2 and watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force until the early hours. For one of our classes, we had to write a letter to a celebrity to ask questions about their job or something. The ultimate goal was to try get an autograph or something like that. I wrote to Tiger Woods (Why? I have no clue as I don’t like golf) and Matt wrote to Shigeru Miyamoto. One day after school he called me, and was so excited that he actually got a response from the Zelda man himself! He got a really nice letter that actually answered his questions, and a signed print of Link fighting Volvagia in Ocarina of Time.
After a few months of playing ALttP, I was finally at the Ganon fight. The game recommended full hearts, a fairy, and three bottles of blue potion for this epic confrontation. I was ready. I was playing on my silver GBA, leaning in close to the floor lamp we had in the living room, slightly standing on the edge of the couch when I delivered the final blow. It was a huge moment for me. Ecstatic, I called Matt to tell him the great news.
“I beat it! I beat A Link to the Past!” I shouted into the phone. “This is the happiest moment of my life! Nothing can bring me down!” A bit hyperbolic, but, please remember that I was 11. I will never, ever forget his reply.
“Really? Even if your grandpa died?”
I was shocked. Like, straight-up stupefied by that comment. I mean, he was right. If papa died, I probably wouldn’t be too thrilled anymore. But, like, come on, man. My grandpa suffered from several strokes over my time in middle school and Matt, my best friend, knew how touchy of a subject it was. It really broke my heart that he went in that direction.
He quickly apologized, realizing that he went too far. He was excited for me and we talked about the final battle. He had already beaten it, so it was fun to swap stories about our fights. His comment forgotten, we made plans for our next Halo and Warcraft night.
Honestly, looking back on the story now, it’s pretty funny how savage he went right from the get-go. Matt and I continued to be friends through all of middle and some of high school. I have so many Zelda-related memories with him that he’s most likely going to be a recurring character in my articles. I’ll occasionally run into him at my hometown Gamestop. We’ll chat about old times, life, and, of course, the next Zelda game on the horizon.
