The Legend of Zelda
The Story - How The Legend began
The Legend of Zelda story adapted originally taken from the instruction booklet.
Gannon, the king of darkness, lead an army of minions to destroy the land known as Hyrule. Gannon obtained a part of the ancient artifact The Triforce of Power which had great strength. To prevent The Evil Gannon from gathering all parts of The Triforce Princess Zelda scattered eight pieces of The Triforce of Wisdom amongst the dungeons of the underworld.
Impa, Princess Zelda's nurse, was surrounded by Gannon's satanic army but the herotic antics of a young boy named Link proved more than just a battle as he learnt the future of Hyrule rested upon his hands. Impa handed down the tale of the scattered pieces of The Triforce of Wisdom hidden within the eight dungeons of the underworld and the evil known as Gannon. The Legend begins....
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda subtitled The Hyrule fantasy was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed along with being published by Nintendo. It is based in a fictional world called Hyrule with the general story being based around the Hero named Link who's aim it is to rescue the Princess Zelda from the Evil Gannon. In order to do this Link must fight his way through the overworld collecting items and other helpful artifacts to aid him in the quest for the 8 eight Triforce pieces that have been scattered throughout the 8 dungeons in The Underworld. Each dungeon has a main boss at the end and most of the time Link is rewarded with a full heart container which adds one heart to his heart status at the top of the screen.
The Legend of Zelda was the first in the series released as a launch title for the Famicom's Disk System on February 21 1986 a whole year and several months before it was released in North America. The game was published Internationally and released on the Nintendo Entertainment System on a cartridge format being the first game to allow any data to be saved onto it. The game featured 3 files and the player could name themselves whatever they wished but it was recommended that the reset button was held in to prevent any loss of data.
A Unique Style of Play
The Legend of Zelda was one of its first kind to mix elements of action, adventure, role-playing and puzzle solving. You control the Hero known as Link from a look down view as you venture around the overworld of Hyrule. You begin the game with a basic shield but once entering the nearest cave you inherit a weak sword. While traveling through Hyrule you will come across all sorts of different people from merchants selling goods to town's folk offering Link helpful advice.
You must fight your way past the enemies of the overworld in search of the nine underworld dungeons. Once you have overcome the main boss of the underworld dungeon you collect a heart container and a piece of The Triforce along with helpful items hidden deep in the depths of darkness. All eight pieces of The Triforce must be completed as one part for entrance to the Ninth dungeon taking on Gannon and saving The Princess Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda originated a new concept of being able to actually make it through the game without collecting the first item collected in the game a sword making the game non-linear. It was possible to complete dungeons in any order depending on how much you like a challenge however 2 of the dungeons require an action used with an item for the entrances to appear.
When the game has been completed once there is a second quest which changes the locations of the items and the enemies prove more difficult. An alternative way to take on the second quest is to type in "Zelda" as a new file which will start the game on the new adventure.
In My Own Words
I didn't play this game the first time around on the NES. It wasn't until the late 90's that I downloaded a NES emulator with some classic games that I managed to play the original Legend of Zelda. I also still pick it up sometimes as I bought a copy of the Zelda collection that was issued with 5 games on from the past released for the Gamecube.
The game is quite difficult and can become quite frustrating at times not to make it sound like a bad thing it was always good discovering what to do next. Back in the day there was no internet people had to read games magazines and talk to fellow Nintendo gaming fans to find out what to do next. Nowadays we have the internet which was useful to me because when I became annoyingly stuck and couldn't find the next dungeon for instance I just referred to walkthroughs provided by the internet.
The game still fairs up pretty well in today's standards unless you think graphics are the most important thing, which I couldn't disagree with more. The sounds are simplistic but this was the introduction to the all time favourite Zelda theme tune that is still loved today. With the second quest if you want a challenge there's always more to come back to.
Sounds: Basic but let's never forget the theme tune that still recognises the game itself!
Graphics: Once again very basic 8-bit great for its time still good for nostalgic value.
Replayability: If you're a true Hero you will be coming back for the second quest.
I Award The Legend of Zelda: 7/10
Facts & SecretsTo start the 2nd quest without having to complete the game type in as your name "Zelda" you will begin the altered quest. Notice the consistency issue in Zelda games with the currency in The Legend of Zelda it is known as singular ruby or multiple rubies. |