Thread by @dave_judgment

For the #Zelda35th, I have a little story to tell.

It was 1991, and A Link to the Past was still in development in Japan. I was 15 years old, having just moved to Redmond, WA. I was a massive Nintendo fan, having played their games since 1983 when Donkey Kong was in arcades. 1/

After arriving in Redmond in 1990, I started writing a bunch of fan-mail to Nintendo of America's HQ, asking for crazy stuff, like the stats of NES Mega Man & Final Fantasy characters, to translate them into D&D characters. I never got a response, but I got a letter later... 2/

The letter was from a small User Research team, who'd bring in a bunch of kids to try out NES and GameBoy titles before they arrived on store shelves.
In a room with 20-something other kids, I'd share my thoughts. I guess they liked my feedback, because they called me back. 3/

in 1990, I was asked to one of the first 100 Americans who got to see the "Super Famicom." I tried out Super Mario Bros. 4(!), F-Zero, & Pilotwings. As a kid raised on the NES, I was *blown away* by the "Mode 7" effects.

I remember every detail. The chair, the ROM, everything 4/

I went back every few months, and was shown all sorts of things. Sometimes 3rd party developers would show us early concepts for games, like "Fireteam Rogue," and others.
Not understanding who we were talking to, we'd complain about art in Nintendo Power magazines 😅😅 5/

In 1991, I was called into a special group. Only six kids this time. We were introduced to Dan Owsen (who I later learned was a translator and overall mensch at NOA), who gave us some SNES Cartridges with Zelda ROMS on them. A Polaroid title screen was taped to the front. 😵 6/

Dan gave each of us a cartridge to play for a WEEK(!!), and we were to return at the end of the week, and explain what was frustrating or confusing. I felt like I had been given the Crown Jewels. Now, I had a lot of OPINIONS regarding Zelda. It was my favorite title. 7/

My biggest opinions were about Zelda II. I didn't understand everything that made it unappealing, but I was certain I didn't like the "grown up" Link. And the cartoon made everything much worse. All I wanted was my cute, stubby, story elf kid hero from the first game back. 8/

So, imagine my surprise and delight that in Zelda III, Link was a pink bunny when he was sent to the Dark World!
zelda.gamepedia.com/Bunny_Link

Anyway, I felt so special to have been invited to play the game.

But this story isn't as heroic as I'd like it to have been... 9/

Turns out, I was a deep failure. I never even make it out of the castle after getting Zelda out of the dungeon. That's because I never grokked how the lantern lit the torches in the hidden path behind the throne room. I never made it through. 10/

31 years later, I now understand that this was good Usability feedback! Dan added some text explaining the lantern and torches better, and no one seemed to have trouble after that. 11/

All in all, A Link to the Past has a very special place in my heart. I bought the game as soon as I could. I played the heck out of it, loving every step, every pixel. It's a game that Will always be #1 to me, even as other titles become more popular, or are just better. 12/

So, happy 35th birthday, The Legend of Zelda. You'll always be my favorite. You inspired me to make games that measured up to you. 13/13
cc @ZeldaUniverse @ZeldaInformer @ZeldaWiki @NintendoAmerica @NintendoForce @nintendolife #Usability #uxresearch @Magic_Duels

@threadreaderapp unroll please