The Legend of Zelda

A Game That Became a Core Memory

I have talked before about how, one Christmas morning when I was five, I was introduced to the Nintendo Entertainment System after only knowing Atari and a few Game & Watch handhelds. My older brother knew what the NES was and had asked for it. We were poor, but somehow my mom found a way to make it happen through Santa Claus. I loved my mom, who has since passed, and while I could write a long list about the financial struggles and questionable choices we went through, this was one of those things she got right.

Fast forward some amount of time, I am not sure how long, but we ended up at a Jamesway (remember those?) that had a small video game section in the back. Trips there were a big deal for us. My small country town had no fast food, so driving an hour to get a Burger King meal and then hit Jamesway felt like a huge luxury. That day, we each got to pick a game. In reality, my brother probably picked both, but I remember my eyes being drawn to a shiny gold box. I had no clue what the game was about, but the gold stood out. My brother went with Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, which I did not think I cared about at the time (turns out I was wrong, but that is a story for another time).

I have no idea what the prices were, or why we were allowed to buy them when we were broke, but I am glad we did.

Of course, my brother got first choice when we got home, so the first few days were all Punch-Out!!. Eventually, though, we switched over to The Legend of Zelda.

My memories get fuzzy here. When we bought the NES, it came with a free Nintendo Power subscription, and I remember getting the issue with the clay Mario on the cover that featured Zelda’s second quest. But I also remember going into Zelda without knowing anything about it, which makes me think I must have gotten that issue later. Playing it for the first time felt completely new.

From the instruction booklet’s cool world-building with clay dioramas and anime-style art, to the instantly memorable music, I was hooked. This game grabbed me even harder than Super Mario Bros. and cemented my love for video games.

We played by taking turns, mapping out dungeons on paper, and struggling together through the harder parts. I remember our death counter being somewhere in the 30s when we finally beat it. After the credits, I immediately started what I thought was a replay, not realizing it was the second quest. The only difference I noticed right away was that Stalfos were shooting swords. I told my brother, but he thought they had always done that and figured the game was just looping like an Atari game. We turned it off. Later, out of boredom, I picked up the second save again and realized the dungeon layouts were completely different. I told him, he did not believe me, and I had to prove it. I ended up playing the second quest mostly by myself, getting stuck until I finally opened that Nintendo Power.

A Game I Can Always Come Back To

Zelda 1 has been a constant in my life and is probably my most-played Zelda game. Later entries might be better designed or more ambitious, but this will always be my number one. In my twenties, I had a tradition with my best friend where I would pop it in, do a swordless run, or beat it in one sitting. I am not a speedrunner, it was just something I enjoyed. Years later, when I discovered RetroAchievements, this was the first game I went for a full master completion on.

The Legend of Zelda was not just another game to me. It was my first great adventure.

What I like about the Legend of Zelda

Timeless Design That Still Works

Despite it’s age, almost everything about it. It has solid gameplay, a really fun core challenge loop, and just hits all the nostalgia parts of my brain. The music and the world structure remains with me to this day. It was one of the first open worlds I have ever played and the entire structure of needing to find items to progress further, such as needing the raft to get to the islands in the lake, or the ladder to cross a river you couldn’t get across, were mind blowing for my younger mind and games today still do this.

Music and World That Never Left Me

The Legend of Zelda, like many of my favorite games, solidified how important sound and music to a game (and likely other mediums like movies and tv shows too). It’s just amazing how to this day I can hum the music and instantly hear it and somehow never be sick of it. The overworld theme, the dungeon’s theme, even Ganon’s darker final level music all hit and future games just build on this sound design.

What I dislike about the Legend of Zelda

You Only Get a First Adventure Once

That’s right, like many things, the magic of your first adventure is always the best. The amount of mystery this game had for me is understated and a feeling I don’t get as often in modern games. As an adult, the mystery of the world is gone and I can’t get a first replay ever again. I guess this doesn’t really count as a dislike, but, I have a hard time coming up with too many things I dislike.

Once Memorized, The Challenge Fades

If we are talking about just the base game, the fact that there is no real randomization or ways to challenge you too hard once you’ve memorized the game (this is true for like 99% of games by the way). But people have hacked the game and created randomizers, which is just another way to turn a dislike into a like. I haven’t really spent time with them, maybe one day, when I have more free time, I can do so.

Difficulty Spikes

I think there are certain levels in the game… anything with Darknuts and most of level 6 where the difficulty probably spikes a bit too much for a newer player. I’m not really sure how to improve the difficulty curve because there are options at your disposal such as saving up for potions and getting the blue ring but I feel like there is probably a sub group that never beat the game because of these spikes. Maybe an earlier point in the game to upgrade your bomb bag count might have been a good adjustment. Maybe a shield upgrade that would let you reflect wizorbs spells back at them might be another.

Second Quest Obscurity

The second quest is a cool concept but some of the entrances and secrets are a bit too cryptic than the first, especially the walking through walls thing that doesn’t even exist in the base game. Maybe NPCs to help point the way a bit more could have solved this but it does lessen the greatness that a second quest provides.