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

[Xeogred]

Someone take the internet away from this boy.

[3DSStrider]

^ I'd probably be a much healthier person if that had happened when I was a kid.

[MrPopo]

^ I'd probably be a much healthier person if that had happened when I was a kid.

You're still a kid.

[3DSStrider]

^ A younger kid.
Anyways, sorry for derailing your thread OP.

[LBJeff]

The bad: I wanted the "back in the day" experience and wanted to play without walk-thru's.

Good job at least making the attempt. Modern gaming has pretty much killed off any need for the elbow grease and intestinal fortitude required for games such as the original LoZ. I played through that game when I was seven. I got it for Christmas and pretty much crapped my pants when I opened the package and saw the gold cartridge. After playing through it multiple times in the eighties it pretty much got shelved as newer games came along.

Fast forward to the late 2000's and I decided to give it a go just for fun.

I have no idea how I ever managed to beat that game as a kid. Something happened between 1986 and now that caused me to lose all semblance of who I was as a gamer back then. I mean, I was just freaking lost after I beat the first palace. I tried as hard as I could but I had to FAQ it. In doing so it lost much of what made it so special when I beat it. It felt pretty empty.

Here's a old school challenge for you, one that I have been trying to get my buddy to do for a while now. Beat the original Final Fantasy, on an original NES. I beat that game a dozen times back then and tried to do so last year but after having the NES randomly glitch out on me a half-dozen times, I had to bail. I remember back then the NES would glitch out after a long dungeon run and what would I do? I'd do it again. No way could I do that now. Still, it's fun to remember having the time and sheer willpower to fight my way through those times.

[Zing]

You had to use a FAQ to find the second dungeon? The second dungeon that is literally out in the open, not hidden in any fashion whatsoever?

Final Fantasy isn't that difficult. You just need to stock up on potions. I have played it on the NES and the PSone within the past year. I actually found the NES version to be the easier of the two.

[BurningDoom]

You had to use a FAQ to find the second dungeon? The second dungeon that is literally out in the open, not hidden in any fashion whatsoever?

Final Fantasy isn't that difficult. You just need to stock up on potions. I have played it on the NES and the PSone within the past year. I actually found the NES version to be the easier of the two.

Kids nowadays are used to games completely holding their hand. Exploring on their own and memorizing paths and landscape features are completely beyond most of them.

[marlowe221]

For me, the original LoZ, while still a great game, is REALLY showing its age.

Personally, I am a firm believer that ALttP was the height of the series - the move to 3D with OoT was at best a lateral one. But to me, ALttP was everything the original LoZ wanted to be when it grew up.

OoT was a great game despite several things working against it. 3D console controls were still new and a little wonky. The consoles were not powerful enough to make all the 3D environments and characters and do much else at the same time - hence the very empty Hyrule of OoT as opposed to the very lively overworld of ALttP.

Later 3D Zeldas have improved in those aspects but failed in others. Lately a tendency towards overly convoluted stories akin to those in almost every jrpg after the 16-bit era is one example. Twilight Princess? Great game but the story had quite a few "WTF?!?" moments in it. (There are obviously elements of japanese story telling that are VERY different from western story telling that don't translate well - at least for those of us who are not into anime and manga, etc. as well).

To me ALttP managed to walk the tightrope like no other game in the series before or since.

IMHO the best 8-bit Zelda game is Link's Awakening. Damn. Good. Game.