Retro Video Game Swords and Link's Master Sword
A story of loss and one family's love of video game swords
Far be it from me to refute my own title,
but after exploring the Legend of Zelda franchise a bit online, it has become readily apparent to me that the Legend of Zelda has acquired quite a life of it's own since the original Legend of Zelda debut in 1987. The website, now know as the "Zelda Universe" is definitely a far distant future from what, in my preteritial memory lives as a 2D video game of limited visual scope. I remember sitting in front of the television at my grandparents house in Tulsa, watching my uncle, an avid video game junkie, play Legend of Zelda on his brand spanking new NES. My uncle always said that when he died, he'd leave his NES and all his video games to me - his avid fan base. Unfortunately, when my uncle did die in the middle of 2001, I think that he must've already gotten rid of his old gaming system in favor of his multiple computers networked together that all ran flight simulators for him and his friends. My uncle was running his own personal MMORPG before Blizzard Entertainment had even considered creating World of Warcraft. I know, I know, the creation nexus of MMORGs happened way before WOW - but let me have my moment, and idolize my uncle one last time like I did when I was a kid.The Legend of Zelda was his favorite game. It was one of those games that he loved to play over and over, even though he'd beaten it multiple times. He knew all the tricks, where all the cool stuff was, the shortcuts...he could run through the game incredibly fast, incredibly strong and all before vacation was over. It was fun to watch him play...fun to watch him shoot laser beams from Link's Master Sword, when he had full bar of health. I don't know what he would think about the new Zelda game and the fact that Link is in missing the Master Sword. I don't know if he was that much of a video game junkie or not. Honestly, with all the buzz about the Twilight Princess actually being the living incarnation of the Master Sword - if that's the way the story goes, I bet he'd have thought it was pretty cool.I really wish that he hadn't let his depression get the best of him. I miss him. I don't know if it was the chronic video gaming that exacerbated his depression, or if it was merely a symptom. Goofy as it is, there's actually a Miniature Legend of Zelda Sword Set that I would've bought for him - I really think he would've liked it. My family could've sent it to him for Christmas. It's totally something I would've insisted on sending him when I was 12. Generally, we just sent him care packages with mixed nuts, and other assorted holiday foodstuffs. It's been awhile since I've thought about my Uncle, and the time we used to spend hanging out. I hope he's doing okay - wherever he is.