Trigger Happy
within the gameworld. But the ghosts inside suddenly come to life with a demonic chuckle. The player realizes that he must shoot them with an arrow before the painting turns blank and the ghost flees to the painting behind him. So the pure icon has suddenly become a symbol to be fought.
A different part of the same Temple, meanwhile, sees the player facing another ghost portrait. Suddenly six stone blocks fall from the ceiling; each side of each block is painted with a different section of the ghost portrait hanging on the wall. The player’s task is to move the blocks around within a strict time limit so that their arrangement recreates the painting, at which point the ghost is drawn into the open to be fought. So the painting, which as before starts out as a pure icon, then becomes an index, pointing at the desired arrangement of the blocks on the floor. And finally it becomes a symbol again, as the ghost turns into a real enemy. The fact that all this sophisticated semiotic play happens in a matter of seconds provides an enriching experience beyond simple puzzles of space and movement.
The masterful semiotic playground that is Zelda 64 also expands the language available to the player by means of its titular ocarina, a clay pipe that emits
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