It was Friday morning, and I was freaking out. My Nintendo Switch, pre-ordered in January, was due to be delivered that day. However, early in the morning, I had received an email from UPS stating that my shipment had been delayed until Monday. And I was not alone. Thousands of other expectant gamers received similar emails, causing mass chaos and confusion.

Normally, I wouldn’t be bothered by a few days shipping delay, but this was different. It was launch day for Nintendo’s new console, and my Saturday plans revolved around getting stoned and playing Zelda for hours on end. While resigned to my fate, I decided to test the waters and drove out to Target to see if they had any consoles in stock.

The girl at the electronics counter informed me that they had sold out of their entire stock within 10 minutes of opening. The teenager in line behind me with his copy of Zelda tipped me off that GameStop was offering a bundle deal and might still have some available.

Pulling out my phone, I located a GameStop just a few miles away and headed over. The GameStop guy, who looked like Jay from Jay & Silent Bob, told me that not only were they out of stock but that no such bundle deal existed. Epic fail. By some miracle, though, I ended up receiving both my Nintendo Switch and my copy of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild later that afternoon. There was joy in Mudville.

I’ve now spent maybe 10-12 hours playing Zelda on the Switch and can say that the hype is justified. The Switch is a triumph of hardware design. The experience of switching from handheld gaming device to TV-connected game console is seamless. The sleek dimensions and detaching controllers are ingenious. The new Zelda is at least as much work of art as video game. The beauty and vastness of its virtual wilderness reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki’s films  in its reverence and near-deification of nature. Playing it is mesmerizing.

It is heart-warming to see Nintendo making a strong comeback after the failure of the Wii U. Nintendo is almost an anachronism in the age of smartphones. Many, including me, doubted whether they would ever make another successful console. People of my generation have an intense nostalgia for Nintendo, which was a singular cultural force in the 80’s and early 90’s. If you forget how astonishing was Nintendo’s rise to power or how complete their colonization of Western hearts and minds, I highly recommend reading David Sheff’s book Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World.

The heart of Nintendo’s story is Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative force behind Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and other beloved franchises. While video games have struggled to gain respect as an art form, there is no doubt in my mind that Miyamoto is one of the twentieth century’s greatest artistic geniuses, alongside the likes of Paul McCartney, Walt Disney and Andy Warhol. If nothing else, the success of the new Zelda is a testament to the endurance of his creative vision.

Like Apple, Nintendo is an embodiment of Alan Kay’s famous quote, “people who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” Also like Apple, Nintendo is always considered one failure away from being doomed and unlikely to produce another hit. I didn’t expect myself to be buying a new Nintendo console or even interested in playing Nintendo games in 2017. But against all odds, the Switch keeps the dream alive just a little longer.