Hyrule Warriors may not be a true Legend of Zelda game in the strictest sense, but it’s close enough that buying it made me giddy.
For some reason, buying a new Zelda game always makes me happy in a strange way. I buy a lot of games, and, unless it’s a midnight launch or something, I typically don’t remember much about the experience of actually buying them. But every Zelda-related purchase is memorable for me.
When Twilight Princess came out, the Wii was super hard to find. I remember spending weeks chasing one down before the miraculous morning when I called Target and they told me one had just come in, and if I wanted it that I had better come in right away. They didn’t have Twilight Princess in stock, but Best Buy did, and I remember striking up a conversation with the Best Buy employee who sold it to me, who gazed upon my new game enviously. I walked out of Best Buy that day with a gigantic smile on my face.
In the more recent past, I remember very clearly the unbearable anticipation for the HD remake of The Wind Waker and the specially branded Triforce 3DS that came out at the same time as A Link Between Worlds. (I had held off on a 3DS purchase for years in hopes there would be a golden Zelda-themed model.)
I can’t think of another game series off the top of my head where buying a new entry is almost always a magical experience.
I haven’t even peeled the shrink wrap off Hyrule Warriors, and I’m not sure I’ll have time to play it for a while yet, but the fact that I just went out and bought it is making me all tingly inside. Even if it’s only a Zelda game by proxy, enough of the magic has rubbed off on it that it kind of sort of counts as one.
