The Legend of Zelda Part 5

THIS POST HAS SPOILERS!!!!! DON'T BE A FOOL!!!!!!!!!! USE PROTECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And so we have arrived.  After trudging through the "undesirables" we arrive at the cream of the crop.  At this point, it becomes difficult to judge these games.  I really do like them all, but I am definitely not going to hold back on the criticism or the praise.

12. The Legend of Zelda (1986 Nintendo Entertainment System)

Genesis.  The beginning.  The game that sparked arguably the greatest gaming franchise of all
time.  This was something like the 10th Zelda game I played, so I actually don't have that much of a case of nostalgia goggles when it comes to this game.  I can say without hesitation that this is a game that should be played by anyone who considers themselves a gamer of any kind.  If you have played any other Zelda game then I demand (I want to say threaten) you go play this game before you do anything else; you need to experience what this game is like.

The story begins, well...it doesn't really ever begin (link to opening of the game.  If you have never played the game before, I really do recommend watching the first few moments of gameplay).  Instead, you simply enter a name for your character and boom! away you go.  This is very much in character for many games of the period as there still weren't set rules to making video games.  In fact, there wasn't much of a way to tell a story in a video game at that point apart from simply reading words.  So, it made sense in a way to have much of the story included in the instruction manual that came (and still sometimes comes) with many video games.  The  one for the Legend of Zelda is actually really awesome.  It comes with some excellent artwork and details quite a fascinating story, a story that is still being built on by the franchise today.

The story itself is quite simple, the Triforce is a powerful item within the land of Hyrule, made of Power, Wisdom, and Courage.  The evil wizard Ganon has invaded the Land of Hyrule and stolen the Triforce of Power.  In an effort to keep Ganon from the rest of the Triforce, Princess Zelda split the Triforce of Wisdom into eight pieces and hid them throughout the Kingdom of Hyrule.  She then entrusts her maid Impa to find a man with enough courage to save the Kingdom; I'll spoil it, it's Link.

 The gameplay itself really does begin right from the get go.  The player takes control of Link and is immediately thrust into the world.  You must rely on yourself in this game.  It certainly isn't the most difficult NES game by any stretch of the imagination, but it will certainly keep you on your guard at all times.

The item set-up is extremely straightforward: one item can go on A and one item can go on B.  I do love how simple these old games are sometimes.  There is no better way to truly test how good a game is then to strip it down and not give it very much to work with.  The Legend of Zelda does an amazing amount with only 2 buttons and the Directional pad.  The controls for the gameplay itself just makes sense.

You always feel in control of Link and you don't ever feel cheated by any of the items.  Each screen on the game is often populated by various enemies that, unless you happen to be smart and leave one alive, will continuously respawn no matter how many times you kill them; again, par for the course for a NES title.  I actually don't mind this gameplay mechanic though.  I feel it makes you work hard for what you are after, and it isn't all that difficult to avoid the enemies if you don't want to fight them.

As Link travels around Hyrule, there aren't many people you can really encounter apart from the occasional "Old Man" or "Old Woman."  This is surely due to the technical limitations of the NES and honestly, you don't really end of missing them in this game (you wouldn't miss them at all if this was your first Zelda experience) as the game itself is all about the gameplay; something games these days could take a lesson from.

The Dungeons in this game truly are excellent.  Each is given a simple name like "Eagle" or "Moon (pictured)" and the layout of each dungeon tries to mimic the name it has (not always successfully).  Although, like many NES games, they weren't trying to be beautiful, they weren't trying to be over the top, they were trying to be excellent gameplay experiences.  Each Dungeon in this game is an excellent example of puzzle solving and combat.  The player enters each dungeon, finds a new item, reaches the end boss and collects the piece of the Triforce.

This game famously introduces many of the enemies that we still know in the series today: Keese, Stalfos, Armos, and Gibdos (just to name a few).

I also love how simple and yet challenging the boss fights are in this game and again, how many staple characters this game introduces.  Many of the boss fights aren't much more complicated than hit the boss with the new item you got in the dungeon and do so until it dies; when all else fails, use the sword.  When you get the bombs for example, you have to use them to defeat Dodongo at the end of the Moon Temple by dropping them in his path.  Despite its simplicity, the game doesn't feel like a simple 8-bit experience.  It doesn't feel like a boring chore.  Whenever you play this game you will get that excellent feeling you get when you play a truly great game.  The feeling that makes you want to stay up all night until you kick the crap out of that difficult boss.  You really feel like Link matters, you will want to collect all 8 pieces of the Triforce, Zelda has been kidnapped damn it, it's time to get shit done!


Now to be fair, this game doesn't show its age well at points.  There is one famous point in particular where you have to burn down one specific tree in order to open up the path to one of the Dungeons.  There are pretty much no indications as to which tree you are supposed to burn at any point during the gameplay and its pretty much automatic internet check to figure out what the heck you are supposed to do (who knows what pre-internet people playing this game did).

Aside from those few noticeable age spots, this game is excellent.  And it culminates in a truly epic fight with Ganon.  I know "truly epic" doesn't necessarily apply, but hey, it was 1986.  Honestly, I might go replay this game on my next day off.  That's how much I enjoy this game.  And to cap it all off, after you have beaten the game for the first time, you unlock a more difficult second quest.  Quite an excellent way to extend the replay value of an already amazing game.

If you haven't played this game I implore you to get off your ass and play it.  I demand that you forget about your, "I don't really care for Nintendo games" mantra.  Any game developer will tell you that this game helped start it all.  In terms of core gameplay, there are more enjoyable Zelda games out there.  However there is one thing they will never be able to reproduce: that moment when Link first ventured into Hyrule.  A truly excellent game, and one that will remain one of the most influential of all time.

Well.  That was really enjoyable wasn't it?  Don't you want to go play the game now?  Go do it.  It's amazing.  It's the kind of game that rainbows are made of.  Stay tuned for #11!  Which one will it be?!?!?!?!?!