Played Legend of Zelda(NES) for the first time this weekend

[alienjesus]

I enjoyed the game a lot when I was a kid, but I don't really revisit it all too often now. Like Metroid it's a great prototype for the experiences that came later but it's just not as good as those refined efforts.

I personally feel that the first Zelda has aged much worse than the first Metroid. I played through the first Zelda a few years back for the first time, and found it frustrating and the secrets too cryptic. Particularly anything bombable - sure, there might be only one secret on the screen, but there are about 24 possible spots to bomb, I have a third as many bombs, they're hard to get more of easily and that assumes I even bomb EXACTLY right like this game requires you to do.

Metroid on the other hand, I played through last year and enjoyed thoroughly. The only frustration was spending ages grinding for health if you died. I can see why some woulod hate the lack of a map, but I played through both games without one and it didn't bother me.

Not sure I would have the patience for that kind of endeavor tho. What I was getting at was that you had to guess where to bomb(no cracks in wall as a hint) so it was basically hit or miss.

Yeah, this was the worst. That said, when you only have the first candle and have to burn each tree one by one, changing screen twice between each use, that sucked majorly too. So unnecessarily time consuming, and some screens had so, so many trees


I'll be the one to voice controversial opinions: This is probably the worst 'real' zelda in the series to play nowadays in my opinion. I found Zelda II to be superior in pretty much every way. Out of allt he Zelda games, the first one is the only one I'm in no rush to replay.

Not that it's bad mind. Its still decent, and a great product of its time. But that's just it - to me, it feels very much a product of it's time, and unlike Mario, Metroid or Punch-Out, it doesn't seem to have that timelessness so many other Nintendo developed NES games do to me.

[Zing]

sure, there might be only one secret on the screen, but there are about 24 possible spots to bomb

This is not true. You usually only need about 6 bombs to test every possible wall on a single screen. The entrances are always along a 'bottom edge", and a single bomb covers three tiles worth of wall.

[alienjesus]

I guess I just remember it wrong then. I just seem to recall that when i finally gave up and used a guide, i saw a secret wall with a heart container behind it, and it took me silly numbers of bombs to find it.

[Luke]

We know now that much of that was related to technical limitations.

However..

Growing up through that era of gaming, I'd have to say us kids were a heckuva lot smarter. We had to think, to plan, to memorize to get through these games. There were no walkthroughs two clicks away on the "internet".

Agreed. We did have the power though, Nintendo Power.

I don't find The Legend of Zelda to be dated at all, as it is timeless. The opening screen, the main theme, the sound effects, the story, the adventure all timeless. I feel the same with Metroid. There is little to no nostalgia involved in how I interpret Zelda, it's just an astonishing game.

[Gunstar Green]

Yeah, even if you didn't get Nintendo power, the secrets made their rounds especially in school yards. The only problem was distinguishing rumor from fact .

[BoneSnapDeez]

GREAT game, still one of my favorites. I fire it up a couple of times a year.

[Godot102]

Yeah, even if you didn't get Nintendo power, the secrets made their rounds especially in school yards. The only problem was distinguishing rumor from fact .

^^Pretty much lol. You would always get that one guy who would just make stuff up. Sad thing was, you would believe him/her until you tried it yourself....

[Violent By Design]

I was very impressed by the Legend of Zelda. I played it about 3 years ago, and I really enjoyed how raw of an experience it is.

I do admit, I forgot how old Zelda really was in till I played it. I remember when I first started the game, I was waiting for someone to tell me what to do on the first screen. Like a real simple "Go rescue Zelda" or something. Anyway, I died a few times trying to figure out how to take out my sword in till I realized I did not have a sword .


I tried really hard to play it with out a map or a walk through, but I got really frustrated. It pissed me off the most when I wanted to go to a place that I already been too, but I just didn't remember the exact route. The game would be a lot better if they fixed up the mini-map so it wasn't all greyed out.

Some of the secrets were too abstract for my liking though. I ended up beating the game with friends, and I wouldn't have found the last dungeon or two if my friends didn't tell me what the heck the hints meant.


I love the combat in Zelda. So simplistic, but it feels very good controlling Link. It kind of has an arcady feel that you don't get with the other Zelda's.


The only other Zelda I ever put serious time in was Ocarina, and tbh I thought it fell short of the original. Though I don't really consider them to be the same series, many Zelda fans seem to intertwine the 3D ones with the 2D ones.

[shmuk]

I played it for the first time a year ago, and all I used was a map that had all of the entrances on the overworld. That made the game a whole lot less annoying. I disagree in that the dungeons were hard though =/ It's really just the wizzrobes.

[AppleQueso]

The only other Zelda I ever put serious time in was Ocarina, and tbh I thought it fell short of the original. Though I don't really consider them to be the same series, many Zelda fans seem to intertwine the 3D ones with the 2D ones.

OOT is a pretty natural step from A Link to the Past, i'm not sure at all how you could consider it part of a separate series... Perhaps you should put some serious time into that one?