Today marks the 20th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda.

Twenty years ago this week — February 21, 1986 — thousands of Japanese gamers played The Legend of Zelda for the first time, and their perspective on gaming was forever changed. Here was a huge world, a massive quest, an open-ended odyssey that demanded exploration. When we Americans first placed that golden cartridge in our Nintendo Entertainment Systems a few months later, we learned what our friends overseas had already discovered: Zelda was addictive. It was adventurous. It was ambitious. It was amazing.

And twenty years later, we’re still addicted to its adventure and amazed by its ambition.