This was my experience as well. I didn't have an SNES, and so every opportunity that I could play this at my friend's house, I did. I never got all the way through until I emulated it in university.

I did, however, get a Game Boy, and Link's Awakening became my defining Legend of Zelda.

It stayed that for me albeit Majora's Mask came very close to dethroning it. Then came A Link Between Worlds, and that was even better. So yeah nowadays I very slightly prefer that.

The fact you were only about 25% through the game was pretty crazy to me back then too. It’s still one of my too Zeldas.

That moment and what happened after defeating the Elite Four in Pokémon Gold both blew my mind as a child.

My first gaming memory was watching my dad kill Ganon when I was probably 4 or 5.

I have played Link to the Past so many times over the years, probably most recently when I got a switch in 2018. I've actually still never beat the preceding 2 main games, having been turned off by their lack of direction too many times.

These days I think Tears of the Kingdom is my new favourite (although Ocarina and LTTP will always be in my favourite games of all time list). I found the story to be better than average for Zelda, and the final boss battle in that one is just amazing - maybe not very hard, but I can't remember any game with a more spectacular ending.

If you want to experience a similar kind of nostalgia, may I suggest a brand new game called Under the Island. Just came out a few days ago, and for me, it hits that sweet spot in terms of pixel graphics and acquring new gear and re-exploring old areas and using the new gear to unlock more things to do and see.

I have no affiliation to the game or the devs, just really want to promote it because it is very obvious they put a lot of love and effort into it and it's always nice to see someone's passion and being able to experience it.

Anyway, it's like $15 on steam right now, plays great on a SteamDeck, and is just really well done. It's not a super deep story or anything, just a really fun time, fun and easy game play, and lots of side quests and things to explore for $15. ❤️

Chrono Trigger had a similar effect on me, where Magus seemed like he just had to be the BBEG... Then you realize that was just the first drop on the rollercoaster.

I remember experiencing that moment like 4 times in Ōkami

There is something very serene about BotW. I was recently looking into some mods to see if I can get back into the game.

It’s amazing how many things happened so quickly, like the goldeneye multiplayer being a thing created over the weekend before launching or something.

I can recommend you to play A Link Between Worlds on the 3DS. It is a successor of some kind, playing in the same world. And man, the Dark World music remix is excellent.

For us in the west, lttp seemed like such a huge upgrade, because very few people here saw any of the evolution steps inbetween like Neutopia. It's a really fascinating to discover the things we missed in that era.

My brothers and I went to a neighborhood friend's house every day after school for months because he had an NES and this game!

They do, because the Japanese table of phonemes is very limited compared to English.

But they will typically deemphasis the ru by making it quick and attached to ze.

“ZEru DA”

Yeah but their R sound sits between an R and an L sounds. They don’t have a separate L and R sound. Hence when they transliterate foreign words they use ラリルレロ both for L and R sounds. It’s why Japanese mix up their Rs and Ls when they talk or write a foreign language like English or Spanish. It’s much harder for them to hear the difference since they didn’t grow up hearing L and R as separate sounds. But also the way they learn foreign languages doesn’t help either. Since they use their kana system to learn pronunciations.

But non native Japanese speakers also have a hard time pronouncing the R the Japanese way. It’s like a rolling R but only a single tap to the palate.

Basically. The R sound isn't the same as English's R so it's a bit misleading in romaji, but basically yes.

Mistakes happen mate. Not everyone can be as perfect as you.

These things used to be funny and irk me a little, but everyone is on their phone and dealing with life, your mind read it the right way, who really cares.

I actually did proofread a few times. By now I think I’ve had to admit to myself that I may have mild dyslexia, and should see about getting diagnosed. I usually have to read through something multiple times, and even then, typos will remain. I do appreciate you pointing it out though! I’ve updated the title.