Insomnia Horror Collection

Ghost in the Machine

I was born in 1985 and grew up in the 90s. I was through and through a 90s kid and, when I wasn't riding bikes or screwing around with the other guys in my neighborhood or at school, I was playing video games. I found a very special love in them and would whisk away hours and hours mainly in RPGs (or Role Playing Games). If it wasn't Dragon Quest it was Final Fantasy, but my true love came in November of 1998 with the release of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.

Always a Zelda fan since the early days on the NES, this one blew my mind and I became somewhat of an expert, (Even the Water Temple.) As the years went by and I got older I had less and less time for games. Such is the curse of getting older, you have the finances for games but not the time, a vicious joke of life.

About a year ago on my 36th birthday my wife decided to buy me a few of the games I grew up with. To my pleasant surprise, she got me some loose copies of Mario and Duck Hunt, Final Fantasy 3 and a copy of Pokémon Red for the Game Boy! I was ecstatic and worried as I know retro video games can cost a fortune, easy.

This however, sparked a fire inside of me to reconnect and own once again many, if not all of the retro video games I grew up with. The strangest thing to ever happen to me occurred on this quest to regain part of my childhood.

I learned that one of the best places to find retro videogames outside of the price-gouged Ebay was thrift stores, resale shops, garage sales and flea markets. One evening I visited a local thrift store and made a beeline for the electronics section where old VCRs, VHS, cassettes, DVDs and older games would be. It was a good idea to check daily as the retro games would sell fast, as popularity has grown quite a bit over the years.

I couldn't believe my eyes, there on a dusty shelf next to a rundown microwave and dirty DVD player was a Nintendo 64 cartridge. It was none other than The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. The label on the front was in rough shape with some fading, sun washing and minor scratches, but it was there... I flipped it over and on the back was an address and the words, "Happy Birthday Tim, love Nana."

It was written in permanent marker, of course, as many video games were back in the day, in case the child lost it, misplaced it or there was a issue over ownership. Still... I had to have it, so I paid the low price the thrift store was asking for it and rushed home. My wife could recognize the excited look on my face.

"Oh God... I know that look, and you have a bag, what did you get..." She sighed as she rummaged through the fridge.

I produced the game from the bag and held it up victoriously, though she made it clear I wouldn't have peace to play until dinner was done and the kids were asleep. I carried on and, as soon as the kids were out and the wife was wrapped up in an episode of 90 Day Fiancé, I ran into the living room, loaded up the game and booted up my Nintendo 64.

Hearing the music, the soft melody that only a Zelda game can produce, sent me back to a time and place I had almost forgotten. My mission was clear, rescue Princes Zelda from Ganon, but first... Link needed to wake up and Navi was just the fairy for the job, time to visit The Great Deku Tree! I was right back where I left off twenty years ago in my mind and it all began to come back to me.

It had been so many years that some things I must have forgotten about. A silhouette like shadow was always in the background somewhere in nearly every shot. Weather I was smashing pots, looking for sticks, finding rupees or fighting seed spitting monsters it was always there in the back. It looked like it belonged but also off in some weird way. Like a video game mod had been inserted into the game. It had the same textures, same cartoon style but it was something dark that I didn't remember from when I was a kid. I brushed it off as my age catching up to me and carried on but then the dialog started to change.