The Legend of Zelda
[Nintendo, 1986]
A Wiccan-oriented openworld platform whose first edition was famously plated in 24-carat gold (see: Limited Edition). Along with Metroid, form sub-network of duality within indigenous NES releases, a system characterized by open form gameplay, extensive world building, and manipulatable programming glitches serving to enhance the artificiality of the digital universe. Of particular interest is Zelda's use of infinite loop structuring in the code-based "Lost Woods[1] [2]", an inescapable labyrinth of endlessly scrolling forest screens.
Pictured: The lost woods phenomena in action.
- ↑ A seemingly innocuous section of woods that can only be exited via employment of the proper directionality - information available via the games in-game matriarchal oracle. An unsubstantiated but widely-spread rumor states that prolonged entrapment in the Lost Woods can lead to permanent morphing of Link, the game's protagonist, into a Stalfos, or Living Skeleton.
- ↑ Many children exposed to the "Lost Woods" at an early age were proven to have developed lifelong cases of apeirophobia, or Infinity Phobia. One report from the [REDACTED] in 1989 sites the case of [REDACTED], an eight-year-old child who spent a total of 71 consecutive hours in the Lost Woods, resulting in him stuck permanently in a hypnagogic state [see: sleep]. Similar effects were seen from prolonged engagement with Super Mario Bros. "Neverending Castle" (Level 7-4).