Endless Adventure (The Legend Of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link)

So, here we are at last. The world I've anticipated visiting ever since I picked up this dusted and forgotten idea in August. I didn't know what Valya was back then. All I knew was the despair of my own situation. That passed. Time was needed to meditate, but I came back with renewed vigor. Then my friends got engaged and... well, you know the rest. This is the form that the Goddess Valya takes. The form of friendship. Every positive feeling I've ever had, expressed in one gentle smile. We are in her world now, at a Shrine of Valya. This is the Shrine of Endless Adventure, and we have much to discover. Much to talk about. One wonders where the hell to begin. This is our first big one. Our first really big one. The scope of this pair of games is beyond our comprehension. Their gravity has tugged at everything over the last 25 years of video games. Anything that can be said about the games themselves has probably been said. We cannot tackle these things directly. The gravity would destroy us. We need to use the power of Valya along with the power of alchemy to craft ourselves some protection. There will be other methods to be employed in a moment... but come. Take a look at what we've got here as the compounds for this ritual.

This is a Nintendo Entertainment System. There are about 34 million of these in the world. Maybe more. It is 10 inches wide, 8 inches long, and 3.5 inches high. What sets this unit apart from any other? That's an easy answer. It is mine. This is the console I have had for the majority of my life as a sentient human. I have only one memory of a time before I owned this NES. In a sense, it is my familiar. The dance of nostalgia is a possible angle to take when discussing the games for today, but we will need more than that. For now, we must not gloss over this console. I may be wrong, but I do not think that the Nintendo Project, either by Phil Sandifer or myself, has ever properly examined the Nintendo Entertainment System itself. What a sight it is to behold. A boxy product of its era, a time when the world danced the Dance Apocalyptic... along with video gaming. We are told that E.T. and Pac-Man and a host of other things sent the world of video games spiralling into its own World War III. Darth License and the dread beast GREED almost won, and the world of video games would have ended. Not with a bang but a whimper. We know this legend. We have been told it many times before. When all looked grim, a little red and white box from Japan managed to hold on in its native land and survive. Within secret corridors, it allowed itself to be upgraded two years later. It crossed the Great Sea on a raft, arriving on our shores and eventually taking the world by storm. We know this legend, because we lived it. How much of it was true, and how much has just been embellished by our own nostalgia? Nostalgia is itself a sort of alchemy, and its involvement in this formula cannot be avoided. Let us examine the next two ingredients.

There they are. Already these two have been through some sort of alchemy. These NES Game Paks are 5.25 inches tall, 4.75 inches wide, and 0.75 inches thick. Unlike the majority of NES Game Paks, they are emblazoned with a very reflective gold. The quest to turn lead to gold has already succeeded with these two. As already stated, to talk about the games themselves would be a redundant folly. The original Zelda revolutionized action-adventure, and introduced the world to battery saves on cartridges. It was like nothing that had come before, and it influenced everything to come after. Its sequel is maligned, but one of my favorite games on the console. Together, they are the children of Endless Adventure. Pure unfettered Valya. Here they are, in their base forms. We have been experiencing these planetoids as voyagers of some grand library, dealing with data files directly. Here, then, are the original cartridges. The original, boxy, finicky little cartridges that take forever to get to work and require proper maintenance. The stories these carts could tell are immense. These were formerly the property of our local video rental store. I eventually purchased them at the turn of this century for 6 dollars each. How many children enjoyed these exact copies? How many people I grew up with played what I now own? I took the liberty of wrangling them into some working order last night, and I have been a fool. The emulations, the Xbox 360 controller, the computer monitor... it is a poor substitute. The feeling of inserting a cartridge into that boxy slot. Fiddling with it to make the connection just right. Blinking blue screens. Glitched-out graphics, and then... it works. A rectangular controller fits into your hand. The feeling of the rounded buttons against your thumb, and the contours of the directional pad... along with the firm pressure of the corners against your palm. It is something not easily replicated. I would go so far as to say it is impossible to replicate.

There's one more thing I want to talk about regarding these cartridges; the tagline. While we're at it we should bring up the TV ads for the original game. They are rather infamous for being products of their time... but on closer inspection, they tell you almost nothing about the game itself. The only information one can gleam from these is that the game is really rad, and it has odd enemy names that a man can yell about. That second ad comes the closest to summarizing it; "a never-ending adventure". Indeed, if one examines the box itself one sees the tagline. "Experience the challenge of endless adventure.". That is where we find ourselves now, at the Shrine of Endless Adventure, still preparing to talk about Zelda. We've talked about everything but, it seems... but now we have begun. There is one more unique factor about my copy of The Legend Of Zelda worth mentioning. As I am a citizen of Canada, its taglines are bilingual. The English is the same as above, but the French side proclaims "Acceptez l'ultime défi d'une aventure interminable.". Thanks to Google Translate and a French friend, we find that this comes out to "Accept the ultimate challenge of an endless adventure.". I like that phrasing more than the other. The English offers to let you experience something. The French beckons you. It beckons you to take the plunge, and wander into a world much too big to fit inside an NES cartridge. With 128 game screens and much exploration, The Legend Of Zelda is bigger on the inside. This is what wowed the world over 25 years ago. This is what the Shrine Of Endless Adventure's influence is. A wanderlust that has rippled across time and space, making countless ideas and inspirations orbit around it. This is the power of the Goddess Valya. My god. How can I possibly begin to fathom this?

The methods of Phil Sandifer come back to me. How I first found his work. The "psychochronography" of a little show called Doctor Who. That program deals with things that are bigger on the inside. It embodies the spirit of Endless Adventure that we now find ourselves meditating before. What is psychochronography? I quote directly from Mr. Sandifer here:

"I've quietly described what we do here as psychochronography - a term adapted from the existing concept of psychogeography, in turn yanked from writers such as Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair, both of whom I saw give a talk this week, making this a particularly opportune time for some debt repayment. Psychogeography describes a form of writing in which the nature of a place is captured via the experience of moving through it. Its most common technique under Iain Sinclair is the walking tour, in which the physical experience of walking through an urban space provides the narrative frame for an exploration of its history and future. (Psychochronography, a term of my own invention, attempts to move through stories and histories, providing a "walking" tour of a time period, generally through a specific cultural object.)"

Here they are, then. The final two ingredients we need to survive the crushing gravity of Zelda and its influence. Psychogeography and psychochronography, partners in crime and paired together. I shall use the two to talk about Zelda. I am going to step outside of my door, outside into the wide world that is the southern coast of the island of Newfoundland. The island of my birth. My home. There will be a great many photographs of my daily walk, a journey I traverse in order to give my body exercise and my mind relaxation. As we walk, I shall relate what we see in terms relevant to our discussion. Both to these massively influential video games, and to my own nostalgia and memories of life growing up here. There are many legends being forged here. The legend of my childhood. The legend of endless adventure. Most important of all... this is the legend of Zelda, and the adventure of a young lad in green named Link. Let us begin. Oh, what's that? It's the heart of winter and everything is frozen? Not to worry. I anticipated. I took these photographs in August, when our resumed blog was in its infancy. Even then, the Goddess Valya was whispering in my ear. I just had yet to hear it. Anyway. On with it.

According to the NES Game Atlas (an important tool for anyone setting off on an adventure) we have begun on screen H8. There are exits to our east, west and north, as well as a cave that draws in our attention. We are also on one of Newfoundland's many routes. To divulge the number would be telling, but we are near the coast, on a crossroads. The road, by sheer coincidence, twists three ways. East, west, and north. You see it, right? Looming in the distance. It is Death Mountain, and its craggy peak cuts through the sky like a knife. It towers over every other series of hills for miles, its presence dominating the skyline. It has been here for eternity, and will remain for another eternity. As far as I can tell, no mystery beast with a triforce of "power" lurks inside. From the outset of the journey, we have a clear end point. Our physical walk will not take us up this peak... although I have been. The view is breathtaking, but do not worry. You shall see more things of beauty as we go on our quest. It is dangerous to go alone, so take up whatever arms you can and follow me forward.

Another crossroad. This one would lead you on a journey of hundreds of miles, a way to escape the coast of Newfoundland and enter the main line. You are staring at the true gate of adventure here, and in Zelda's case that is what you stare at constantly. The original Zelda has constant crossroads, constant ways for you to travel. At first, one would be lost while exploring... but gradually this world becomes a familiar one. The soft whispers of the Goddess Valya, she of Endless Adventure, take heed. You learn to plot out your path, and you learn where your landmarks are. The lake of four corners. The Gnarled Root. The Lost Woods and the Endless Hills. All become known quantities. Zelda II even provides you with roads. A safe space to walk on. Eventually you will have to walk off the beaten path, but not yet. For now, ignore the opening to the rest of the island. There will come a day when you explore the wide world, but it is not this day. This is only a tiny quest, a familiar one. Ignore this turn and continue onward.

Ah, here we are. A town. A tiny little hamlet on the coast. We will be walking further into it, of course. This is the town I went to school in. I have many friends and relatives from here. My memories are tied to this place, and my mother grew up here. Near the water's edge. Much like I did. There are no towns in the first Zelda. There is very little world that is not hostile towards you. The odd dark cave with an old man who spouts a cryptic hint. It certainly adds a layer of isolation to the quest. Just you and your little green man with a sword against the expansive world, a world like nothing the NES had seen before. That gold cartridge showing its impossible size again. Zelda II, on the other hand? Lousy with towns. Plenty of people to talk to and gather hints from on your quest. A world even bigger than the last. 128 screens is a lot, but an entire overworld with towns and landmarks? That is something to lose yourself in... as I did. More on that later, but walk to the right.

Now isn't this nice? A temporary reprieve from the journey. A little spring. The water isn't very clean, but perhaps a fairy will revitalize you. Link and the fairies would become more familiar as time went on, but for now they just soothe his wounds. Could the fairies be emissaries of the Goddess of Endless Adventure, sent to ensure that a lucky traveller in need of their help does not fall victim to the perils of the journey? In any case, one would do well to mark this spring on their map, or note its location in their atlas. One has to have a map while exploring the fantasy land of Hyrule. What adventurer is without one? 128 screens is a lot to keep track of in the head, and writing things down can make things clear. It is how they did it in the old days. I remember those days. This pond would freeze over in the winter, and right about this time of year was when Winter Carnival would happen. There would be a mass of people on the frozen ice, serving hot chocolate. There would also be sledding. I partook in both as a young child, and enjoyed every bit of it. Neither NES Zelda game had ice. Good for them. The heat of adventure kept the land warm.

This has nothing to do with Zelda. This is my own memories bleeding in. That grassy mound appears to be nothing of note. Only nostalgia and my own mind can fill in what was once there. It was a house. The year was 1992, and my parents would both be working. As such, once school was out I would walk down this road and head to a relative's place to spend my time until 5 PM, when I would go home. There was another child who lived in this house. He wasn't very nice. I feared him as I walked by, like any nervous seven year-old would. Eventually he moved away and the house was demolished. There is nothing left of that child's influence but my own hazy memories, and this photograph of the spot where he once resided. Funny how that works, isn't it? It appears to have nothing to do with Zelda... but just walk up the road a bit. You'll understand.

There it is. There it is. Oh my god. It may appear to be an ordinary house to you, but this is the place. From the basement of this house exists a family-run independent video rental store. Disciples of the Valya and the Nintendo, welcome to my childhood. As we look, the memories flood back and make time fold in on itself. It's 1993. I've rented We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story along with The Legend Of Zelda. I'm eight years old and staring up at an old TV as I explore the depths of a dungeon located within a tree trunk. The Goddess Valya is present, whispering to me as I am introduced to endless adventure. Far away, in the wide world, the NES begins its swan song. Much later now. 2000. The NES is long gone, but a way to explore its lands fresh has been found and her name is the pirate ship NESTICLE. On a winter day, I explore the corners of this place and find a game called Zelda II. I rent the thing, and experience the challenge of endless adventure for real. The spirit whispers to me again, and I am now old enough to comprehend. I adore Zelda II. Many call it the black sheep. It is a beautiful and wonderful experience, and one man's "too different" is another's "unique". Eventually I purchase both games from this place. You saw the copies before we began this wild journey. My childhood experiences and nostalgias are now part of my collection, to be enjoyed at my leisure. How lovely. Let us continue.

End of the line. Sort of. This house is that relative's place, where me and my love of NES games only continued to blossom. They did not own the Zelda games. They owned a trilogy of games that were just as massive and influential, if not more. Also Dr. Mario. I adore Dr. Mario. There is very little to say about this place in the context of a Zelda post, but we are walking by it so it is important to stop and appreciate what has brought us here. This house is a keystone to my history with the NES. Every Christmas, we go there for drinks. Two months ago I was there, and during the few hours I was there I was hit with an onrush of memories. Fridge magnets that were there when I was a child are still there. The cupboard where I would get cans of Chef Boyardee ravioli to eat after school. The little TV that used to be there in the corner of the room. A nice old lady giving me sticks of Juicy Fruit gum. Endless memories locked away for years, all brought back at once on Christmas night. What a lovely place. Now for the interesting stuff.

As I said. End of the line. The road stops here, but the journey continues. Adventure is like that. You have to step off the beaten path to find the treasure. If you stay on the road, always following the rules, how will you find all of treasures? How will you discover the heart containers? The blue ring? The secret to everybody, the water of life, the power bracelet, the candle, the power glove, the money making game. Eastmost penninsula is the secret, and now we must venture into the wildlands. Anything could happen, but fortune rewards an adventurer who is not afraid to explore. That is what endless adventure is all about. So, without fear and with our sword at the ready, let us step into lands unknown and see what the rugged coast has to offer.

Spectacle Rock rises above us, an ancient thing only recently vandalized by girls who thought themselves more important than eternity. In all the years that people have visited this wondrous rock, none have ever thought to tag it with their name. Why these people? Ah well. This is a convienient rest spot. Take a seat on the rock. Don't worry, Ganon does not lurk here. Some other beast may be rumored to walk these pathways, but that was probably just bullshit from my best friend when I was 10 and exploring this path. Nowadays, the only people that explore this place are walkers like myself, and teens looking to drink. Ah yes. You can't see it, but there are shards of broken beer bottles here. Watch your step. People have been known to come out here and drink and be merry on a Friday night. Less endless adventure, more comraderie in the face of nothing to do. By night you can hardly see your hand in front of your face... but by day?

What a sight. This is what we have sought out. Tranquility. An escape from the doldrums of sitting around and writing things or doing chores. Endless adventure offers beautiful sights like this. One can simply sit on this large rock, and shut their eyes, and listen to the sweet sound of nothing. A slight rustle of bushes in the wind. The constant beat of surf against rock. This is inner peace, and it is what keeps me sane. It's comforting. That's what video games are. A comfort. We play Zelda and Zelda II in the year of our Lord 2014 because they are comforting. It's nice to explore a simple little world and have simple little fun. In the end, that is what I live for. The simple day-to-day things. It's comforting to write about things like this, and let thoughts pour out of my head. It's comforting to play old video games from my childhood. It's comforting to explore a very pretty landscape. Come on, then. Let's soothe our souls further. That island in the distance. Let's get closer.

Of course, now we've really entered the wilds. The creator of Zelda supposedly got his idea from exploring Japanese caves as a child. I have never been in a cave, but exploring forest trails gives me much the same effect. Now I really do feel like an adventurer, walking along a path and embarking on a quest. It is a quest to understand my past, and to find my own inner peace. That's why I came up with the Valya. A concept of everything that is good in the world, in a meditative shell. Did every child who played Zelda imagine such things? Did they pretend to be Link as they ran through the forests of their backyards, swinging pretend swords at pretend Moblins? I'm certain some children did this. Imagination is a hell of a thing, and adventure can easily foster it. Hell, even in Zelda II we have a clear goal. A sleeping beauty to be awakened with the acquisition of the Triforce of Courage. Zelda II actually deals with the titular "legend" of Zelda. We don't need Anna for this one, you get the idea... but it's amusing. The game that deals with the legend of Zelda doesn't use the phrase "The Legend Of Zelda" in its title. Odd, don't you think?

Even in these woods we have branches in the path. All roads lead to the same destination, of course. The destination can sometimes be hard to reach. The Zelda games, while not demonic things that only madmen and monsters can beat, may have intimidated some. In 1993 I had no idea what I was doing as I stumbled around the world, searching for the adventure that would never end. Certain elements seem awfully cryptic now. The Lost Woods, with its precise path to take in order to explore the western lands. The secret hills. Burning specific bushes, playing flutes at lakes, knowing that the grumpy man blocking your way wants that bit of meat that looks more like a bonbon thanks to the NES's limitations... and this doesn't even get into Zelda II. Zelda II is less cryptic, but it trades its mystery for increased difficulty. Zelda II can get sadistic at times, and maybe that soured a lot of people. I personally adore the challenge, and have learned to cheat the system to my own benefit. That takes time, and the me of 2000 didn't know this. Somehow, the adventure spoke to me. Goddess breath in my ear again. Moving on.

We reach our destination. Land's End. The point at which we must end our adventure for now. Behold the island before us, standing tall in the water. At low tide, it seems like one would be able to walk across the ocean floor and explore that tiny island's coast. What would one find there? A palace? A dungeon? I do not know, for I have never been. This is where we must end, then. Take a breather and sit on the rocks that jut out towards the sea, and feel the ocean breeze. Hear it crash gently against the land. I grew up around here, and the ocean gives me much inner peace. This is my sanctuary, and I claim it in the name of Valya. In the name of Zelda. At the end of the day, this journey has been a celebration. Both of the experiences and places that made me who I am today, and of two incredibly good video games for the NES that changed video games forever. So, as we look out at the endless ocean and distant lands across the sea... we must part ways with the Goddess Valya and her shrine of Endless Adventure. The triforce has been saved and the legend of Zelda has been completed. There will be good games after these. There will be bad games after these. One must never forget experiences like Zelda. The influence they had are the reason why blogs like this one exist. No matter how many shit sports games I encounter, the NES gave us endless adventure. That's something to keep in mind.

When the snow melts and the grass gets green again... go take a walk somewhere nice, kids. Take pictures. Share them with your friends. Then once you're done with any work you've got to do... go fire up a Zelda game. Pick any one you like. Go have fun and be comforted. You earned it. Thanks, you. You're the hero of Hyrule.