The very first Penny Arcade comic came out about five days before the original Ocarina of Time hit the N64. I didn’t actually play much of it back then for a lot of reasons. I was playing a lot of PC games with Jerry at the time. It was also an incredible year for the PlayStation with Gran Turismo, Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear and Tekken 3 all coming out. Also I had to pawn my N64 to pay rent so that made it tricky to keep playing Zelda.
I grabbed the remake and after a few days playing I am ready to go fight Ganandorf. I have loved every minute of this beautiful game and the idea that it is ending has me not wanting to do the last fight. It has been such a joy to play a game that is so friendly. I have seen some people complaining about the difficulty but I have to say I love not getting my shit kicked in by Soulslike bosses. Most of the time the boss was a challenge but I don’t think any took me more than 3 tries and you know what, I love that for me.
It’s hard for me to remember what games actually looked like back then. Whenever I see a screenshot from those days I am shocked. The combination of nostalgia, imagination and raw time beats out DLSS 5 any day of the week. Somehow this Ocarina of Time remake manages to make the game look like the dreams I used to have about Zelda. The world feels incredibly grounded and physical from the way fog swirls as you run through it to bushes bouncing as you move past them, it just feels like a real place. There have been beautiful Zelda games before and I loved the style of Breath of the Wild but this game is a magic portal that takes you to fucking Hyrule.
I managed to put the game down long enough to do a little fan art yesterday. Here’s my little Link with his Ocarina.
Quick little Link sketch this morning just for fun. #zeldaoot
— Gabe (@cwgabriel.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 12:12 PM
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Old school inks on my Link sketch.
— Gabe (@cwgabriel.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 1:36 PM
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Colors! and now back to playing Ocarina of Time.
— Gabe (@cwgabriel.bsky.social) November 9, 2026 at 4:23 PM
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-Gabe Out
