First impressions can be lasting and among the most important, people often say. Yet, how does one make a first impression with a character who has lived many lifetimes and travelled across many realms? Link, our brave silent hero, is a character who may look and seem completely different in the minds of two people depending on their first time meeting him.
In my mind, Link will always appear as I first knew him, in his Ocarina of Time form. Just a bit blocky, but with an earring swinging as he spun around or aimed the bow. To someone else, he might look entirely different. Heck, he might even be cell-shaded! So, while he is essentially the same person, due to timeline and reincarnation shenanigans, he certainly doesn’t look the same way to everyone.
This train of thought got me to reminiscing about the first time I really saw Link in any context. While he was indeed in the shape seen in Ocarina of Time, I first “met” the green-clad Hylian in an entirely separate world and on the wrong end of his legendary blade.
Yes, the first time I saw Link was in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. See, I was a bit late (around eight years old) to the video gaming party compared to my peers. So, by the time I had started to play, my friends wanted to introduce me to all the best games they had already completed. On the whole, this was great as I was introduced to many series that are my favorites to this day. Needless to say, my gift wish list expanded very quickly that year and I got a crash course in how to play most of them.
Said crash course included, in any game with multiplayer, my friends would gleefully explain how to play while soundly defeating me. Super Smash Bros. was no exception to this. When my friend started it up, he was very clear on a rule which was not to be ignored: Two players could not select the same character. Of course, as the owner of the game, he got to pick first. He was a rotten liar, but hey, I was new to gaming so how would I know any different?
I don’t quite recall who I selected, but I know he picked Link. And when I saw the character screen come up, I immediately wanted to be the sword wielding man in green. I also know that I had my butt thoroughly whooped and immediately declared that Link would be the character I learned how to use first. This led to single player mode and almost losing to the Yoshi herd. But to me it didn’t matter, Link was already my favorite character.
Given how much I liked Link, that same afternoon my friend showed me Ocarina of Time, and my journey through the Legend of Zelda truly began. To this day, Link is my favorite video game character and, even though I haven’t played much Super Smash Bros. since my college years, he was always my first choice in those games as well.
In the many years since that glorious day, Link has taken on many different sizes and shapes. I mean seriously, Super Smash Bros. and Ocarina of Time on the same day? So much awesome! But when I think of Link, it will not just be the iconic tunic or the legendary sword, but also that distinctive N64 block shape and the earring he somehow got while unconscious for seven years in a magical realm.
But that’s a memory for a different day.
