When you hear the phrase "play it by ear," you might not necessarily think of a video game, but gamer Terry Garrett, who is visually impaired, does — yet, that hasn't stopped the college student's quest to beat the classic Nintendo game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, even though it took him five years (and a lot of Link jumping through time to find the iconic Zelda) to do it.
Garrett lost his ability to see at the age of 10 in 1997; as reported by Wire in a profile on the gamer, that same year, he developed his long-lasting love for video games soon after, all thanks to his older brother, who brought home a copy of the PS game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Garrett taught himself how to play it by using game sounds like voices, footsteps and music to navigate his character through the game.
"Through Abe's sounds, I was able to figure out how to navigate the world," Garrett explained in an interview with Wired.
Garrett eventually moved on to other franchies like Rock Band and Wii Sports, which are a bit more accessible thanks to more tactile-based features like haptic feedback. For games like Zelda, which Garrett began in 2011 in PC form, the 20-something astutely researched gameplay and asked friends who had beat the game questions to eke out additional or supplemental information.
After years of scavenging for weapons and thwarting bosses, he officially beat the game on Jan. 2, 2016.
"It has been long in the making, but I have finally accomplished my goal!" stated Garrett a la the description for his final video of recorded playthrough, the entirety of which he uploaded onto his YouTube channel under the name MegaTGarrett.
"Who knows what is next! Thanks for all those who have stuck with me through this series even after it seemed like I was giving up," he added.
You can watch footage of Garrett's gameplay here.
Via: Kotaku
