Shout out to Tiny Toons Cartoon Workshop for the NES (of all places).

Rented it and a NES from Blockbuster for my birthday when I was a kid. Blew my mind that I could make my own short cartoon pixel animations to show my family on the tv. (This was before I had experienced stuff like Mario Paint.)

Bingo.

Not…quite…

Ayn Rand’s Disneyland experiences managerial issues.

As others have already touched upon, I think the Zelda series is masterful (pun semi-intended) at this.

I can’t count how many times I’ve replayed through Ocarina of Time just to relax and vibe. These games really excel at creating little moments of catharsis.

I used to spend hours in OOT just hanging around Kakariko or Lon Lon Ranch or soaking in the ambiance of the Forest Temple.

Or hanging outside the Stock Pot Inn in the morning, waiting for it to open in Majora’s Mask.

Or floating around on the Great Sea in Wind Waker.

Or taking Marin down to the beach in Link’s Awakening.

And so on, up through the BotW/TotK era.