You’d be hard-pressed to find a gamer who couldn’t hum a few bars of the theme music for Nintendo classic The Legend of Zelda. (It’s in your head right now, isn’t it?) But, one uniquely talented man uses the game’s sounds–and nothing else–to navigate through fan-favorite Zelda title The Ocarina of Time. But, since he’s blind, Terry Garrett really has no other choice.
A profile on Wired.com descrbes how Garrett went blind at age 10, but still learned to play the classic action/adventure game Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee with help from an older brother. The audio design in the game–where every footstep, enemy, and action makes a recognizable sound–lets him map out the game to the point where he can get through it without dying.
Now, Garrett’s working on finishing The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Friends help him research the game, and supplements with walkthroughs that help him know what to expect. Aside from the incredible focus Garrett exhibits by picking out every sound in the game, it’s also impressive that he’s able to hold all that information in his head without visual fallbacks (arguably even more impressive than playing chess blindfolded).
Check out Wired’s Game|Life blog for the full piece, as well as a great read.