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A Blind Man Has Finally Completed ‘Ocarina of Time’ After Five Years

Terry Garrett has slain Ganon without even seeing the Zelda antagonist.
Screengrab from YouTube

As reported on Polygon and Eurogamer, University of Colorado engineering student Terry Garrett has finally completed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the classic N64 RPG, having started the game in 2011. You might be thinking that's a long time to finish a game that takes between 27 and 35 hours to beat, usually. But this is a really special achievement, because Terry is blind.

Terry had previously finished the 2D PlayStation game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee using just audio cues in order to progress, and the best part of five years ago he set himself the challenge of taking that approach to "seeing" the virtual world in front of him into a three-dimensional space. His chosen game was Ocarina of Time, and here he is in May 2011, beginning his quest in the Deku Tree, taking out spider enemies by listening for their movements.

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Terry ran an emulated version of the game for easier, anytime saves – pretty essential with so much trial-and-error play ahead of him. And on January 2, he posted his final video, of Link's climactic battle with the Zelda series big bad, Ganon (or Ganondorf, if you prefer). The video, titled "Best gaming achievement ever," features in its description a thank you to those who'd been following Terry's adventures through Hyrule:

"Well! here it is! After about 5 years of working on this series, I have finally uploaded the entire play through first! a totally blind person completing Zelda Ocarina of Time, with just walkthroughs, helpful vids from fans, and save states. It has been long in the making, but I have finally accomplished my goal! 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. Please enjoy the last vid of Zelda OOt, the final battle against Gannon!"

I think we can all forgive Terry the misspelling of a major character's name, there, so warmed are our hearts by this conclusion to an epic saga. Watch his final 20 minutes with Ocarina of Time below.

Isn't that completely wonderful? Yes, obviously. It is.

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