the legend of why was this ever so popular

Boy, and I thought I had a lot of free time working on strange projects. Well, I still do, but this is equally cool — someone has created a timeline of all the Legends of Zelda projects. It’s actually an interesting read. At least the first page is, I didn’t make it past that.

It does bring back memories though. I remember going to my friend’s house when I was in 6th grade I think it was and he had the gold Legend of Zelda Nintendo cartridge, and I would watch him play. Then I would have a turn, and I’d quickly demonstrate how my hand-eye coordination skills are equal to that of your average garden slug. Naturally I blame it all on my parents who wouldn’t let us have any gaming consoles, and stunted my mutant thumb skillz for life.

That never stopped me from trying to dominate some games though. My favorite was always Super Mario Bros. 3. At least with that little squirrel costume I had a flying chance because I could soar over everything that was trying to pelt me with fireballs from its mouth. That was a great game.

Then, do you remember the Super Mario Bros. TV show? I must admit, in full honesty, I’m tempted to buy the entire series on DVD. I used to watch that show religously — whether it was to learn more of the eternal struggle between Mario, Luigi and Poomba (or whatever those green scepter-wielding turtle-dragon things are called) or just to maybe somehow pick up some mutant thumb trick moves that would miraculously carry over from the cartoon into real life.

My favorite part of the show was that every Friday they would have a Legend of Zelda cartoon. By this time, Dungeons and Dragons had been off the air for a few years (which, btw, should be on DVD sometime this year), so this was the only under budget fantasy-themed show on for kids at the time. I remember I really enjoyed it. So much, in fact, that I recently bought the entire series of them on DVD.

Watching it now, I’m starting to realize that maybe some memories from my childhood probably aren’t too reliable. Especially when it comes to my definitions of “delightfully entertaining.” Granted, it’s not that bad. It’s good for someone who is probably six or under, which is why I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world at the tender age of eleven.

I will give you fair warning though — don’t watch the credits. There’s this awful theme dance (I kid you not) where they “do the Mario,” a dance which is surprisingly simple consisting of just swinging your arms side to side, and then moving your legs back and forth. I guess Mario’s been too busy jumping over man-eating vines to really get in shape to come up with some decent dance moves. Here’s to another childhood classic that I can’t talk about in public.