My Favourite Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

1991 was momentous for me for two big reasons. The first was the birth of my little brother, who has been my best friend since that day. The other was the release of the game that would become the one I have played the most times in my life, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Of course, technically it didn't release in Europe until 1992, but still!

My Mum and I picked up our copy in the Newport Woolworths and I clutched it to me all the way home, staring at the beautiful gold box in awe, not even daring to break the plastic wrapping on the outside. I ran upstairs to plug the cartridge into my SNES, while Mum sat on the edge of my bed to watch the now unforgettable animation of the Triforce spinning into view. I was convinced it was 3D! Then the Master Sword dropped in, along with that incredible Koji Kondo fanfare. I watched the intro scene, learned of the reasons for my coming quest and began what would be the coming of age of my gaming life.

Over the years that followed, I attempted speed runs, exploration, hunting for secrets, anything and everything you could do in ALTTP. To this day, I still say it is one of the most graphically perfect titles in history, still standing up to most any 2D game around. But, with that said, I have always wanted to see it in HD.

When Four Swords dropped on Gamecube, I saw was could have been. I still long for Nintendo to re-release ALTTP with Four Swords style graphics, not the 3D style of A Link Between Worlds, but a true to the roots version, everything as it was but with those amazingly polished sprites. The fire effects should stay, though, as those are so cool!
 
In the last couple of years, I have played around with various art styles, in order to do my own re-make of ALTTP. As I learn more about sprite art, as well as 3D modelling, I have been trying to come up with a "photo-realistic" orthographic style for ALTTP, something that has, so far, eluded my grasp. I have managed to create some pieces of concept art, which I will place here for you all to see. 

On the left is the original screenshot I based my art on. The right side shows my efforts!

While I may have completed the quest in ALTTP many times over, my personal quest for ALTTP HD continues. One day, that quest may be completed too.

Rainbow Six: Siege, Beautiful Destruction!

I remember sitting and watching the E3 trailer for this game, seeing the style of combat that was employed and enjoying the tactical shooter that was unfolding before me. That wasn't what I was most impressed by, though. I wanted to BLOW THINGS UP! You see, ever since I was a child playing his first videogame on the ZX Spectrum in 1986 (I was 2!) I have yearned for more. More realism, more things to destroy in a realistic way. So too, it seems, had the team at Ubisoft! My first match of Terrorist Hunt, on the newly released Rainbow Six: Siege, lasted 3 hours! Not because I was being overly cautious, far from it. After breaching through an upstairs window of the "House" map, I cleared the top floor of enemies. I then proceeded downstairs and cleared the ground floor. There were 4 enemies left, all holed up in the basement. This is where an amusing thing happened. I found out that the enemies won't come looking for you, until the last 3 are left. So, I decided to have some fun, instead of completing my mission.
What happened next was like Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen's worst nightmares! Using breach charges, I "renovated" the house! Starting on the top floor, I removed every breakable wall and floorboard! 

Nothing a lick of paint and a Dyson won't fix!

I found myself in a paradise, merrily trotting back and forth to resupply crates to stock up on my instruments of destruction. Eventually, I made my way downstairs and continued the extreme makeover...

Come on in, please take your shoes off!

This was where I hit upon a snag, with the floor now pretty much gone, the enemies in the basement could see me and shoot at me, thus ending my fun and games, at least for the moment!