The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube) was my first Zelda game. I was in sixth grade; my dad, my brother, and I would pass the controller back and forth as we sailed across what felt like an impossibly vast ocean, exploring every island with our Prima Official Guidebook.

Now I’m an adult, sharing my second playthrough with my uninitiated wife—whose first Zelda game was Breath of the Wild, and whose exposure to the series mostly comes from watching Game Grumps play through the classics.

Released in North America in 2003, Wind Waker truly holds up in every way. As I play, I keep stumbling across clear and unexpected precursor mechanics and design ideas that I now recognize from Breath of the Wild and its sequel—making the experience feel simultaneously nostalgic and strikingly modern.