The Legend of Zelda Was A Trailblazer
NES Catalog #053
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The Legend of Zelda
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Nintendo
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22nd, 1987 (US), Nov. 15th, 1987 (EU), Feb. 19th, 1994 (JP)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Famicom Disk System, Game Boy Advance, Gamecube (via the Legend of Zelda Collection), Virtual Console (Wii, 3DS, Wii U), Nintendo Switch Online, Game & Watch
Link awakens in the dirt, unsure of how he got there. Nothing’s there, the place is empty, yet he feels like he’s being watched. A man-sized hole in the side of a rock wall beckons him forward. He enters and finds an old man muttering to himself next to some dimly lit torches. Link is cautious, skeptical, but approaches the man anyway. Trembling, the man holds out a wooden sword of questionable quality. “It’s dangerous to go alone!” he exclaims with a raspy voice. “Take this…” Link takes the sword, gets a feel for it, gives the old man one last questioning look, then quickly leaves the cavern.
Now he’s back in the bright sunlight, the empty plot of land. Three ways lie before him, north, east, and west. He has no idea where he is or where he should go, but he knows that all paths lead to adventure. He swings his sword randomly, and to his surprise, a brilliant shining sword copy is flung out towards the wall in front of him. He smiles to himself and wonders what other tricks this sword has to offer.
Without thinking, he ventures north. At first, he sees nothing. Perhaps this entire land is empty. Then suddenly, some Octoroks, big land-dwelling octopi, appear and run wildly around the area. While they seem unconcerned by Link’s presence at first, eventually they shoot rocks at him. One of them hits his shoulder, so he swings his sword, expecting to see the copy shoot out. It doesn’t. He tries again, and nothing. He looks up from his frustration just in time to see a red Octorok coming in for a kiss. He screams and swings his sword. The Octorok crumbles to the ground and disappears. Link slices the remaining creatures, then waits for a moment.
In the distance of his mind, a familiar tune emerges, foreboding and hopeful in equal measure. This song gives him inner strength and reminds him of who he is and his purpose. That’s right, he had promised Impa he would rescue the Triforce of Wisdom, defeat Ganon, and save Princess Zelda. But… this all feels vaguely familiar, like he’s done this before. Perhaps multiple times. If that’s true, then is going to such trouble for someone he doesn’t even know really worth it? He shakes the bizarre thoughts from his mind.
Link knows he needs to make his life count, to fulfill the destiny that lies before him. Zelda will be saved. Ganon will be stopped. The Triforce will be made whole. Hyrule can count on him.
The Legend of Zelda is an intimidating beast. All of Hyrule lies before Link to explore at his leisure, and yet, where to begin? Where to start? The instruction manual gives you directions to the first four dungeons, but after that, you’re on your own. Directions to four dungeons (out of nine) is generous, admittedly, but where are the items that help you along your way? Items like the Blue Ring which reduces the amount of damage you take when hit. Or how about the secret entrances to later dungeons, hidden beneath bushes or behind stone walls? Hyrule demands you experiment, burn a bush with the candle here, lob a bomb at this or that wall. All the while, Moblins, Leevers, and Tektites emerge repeatedly to give Link a bad day.
To fully appreciate what The Legend of Zelda does, one must understand what came before it. On the NES particularly, no games provided huge, sprawling worlds like Hyrule to explore. Super Mario Bros. had multiple levels, sure, but they were disconnected. Kid Icarus’ levels were longer than Mario’s, and the labyrinths were large and had to be explored non-linearly, but the latter were still just brief sections of the game. Every screen in Zelda’s world is interconnected. The Lost Woods connects to the graveyard which eventually leads to Death Mountain. For 1987, this expansiveness was revolutionary.
Then there are the dungeons, nine underground worlds unto themselves with some of the eeriest music to ever grace the NES. The dungeons all have distinct patterns, like the Moon or a Snake, but in order to see where you’re going and where the boss is, you need the map and the compass. Additional items are also peppered throughout, items like the Whistle, the Raft and the Ladder that are necessary to progress further into Hyrule and in future dungeons.
1987 was the days before the Internet provided an answer to everything, the days before even Nintendo Power swooped down with its helpful guides and saved many a child from tedious trial-and-error. In 1987, you had the Zelda instruction manual and you had your resolve, that’s it. Maybe your dad could see something you couldn’t, if you were lucky.
Zelda was a different kind of experience, one that required you to expand your consciousness. For gamers of a certain age, it hit hard and for good reason. Arcade ports are great and all, but there’s often little depth below the surface, outside of just “getting good.” The Legend of Zelda requires players to adapt to its rules, to think outside of the box, to consider what the possibilities of video games even are. The game might look a little rough around the edges today, poor Link’s melty face in particular. But no sane individual can deny Zelda’s impact on video games at large. Just like Super Mario Bros. all but created the 2D platformer as we know it today, The Legend of Zelda brought the non-linear adventure to a wider gaming audience. We’ve never looked back since.
An iconic classic, thanks for writing this post.
I do find it funny that a lot of people complain about the original Metroid's cryptic nature and difficulty when I feel The Legend of Zelda has a lot of the same issues but unlike Metroid, I think the gameplay of NES Zelda is timeless.
Enjoyed this write-up. I owned this one and it was beloved, though I never beat it until AFTER beating Link to the Past. It was either Level 6 or 7 that stopped me up in the NES era, can't remember which. But it says something that this was one of those games I just kept coming back to in later eras. Like the original Super Mario Bros., there's a certain simplicity here that means that, even though this game has been exceeded in polish and scope (and boy has it been exceeded), there are times I just want to play the original.
I spent a lot of time wandering this game pretty blind (Nintendo Power was some help but I didn't get the strategy guide for at least a year), but the sense of exploration here captured my imagination and kept me engaged to a much greater degree than the early Metroidvanias. I remember going to areas and systematically using the Blue Candle on every bush in a screen.
Especially as a father myself now, I like to remind myself of these things -- things that remind me of what it was like to be a kid. Being a kid means spending 15 minutes going back and forth burning every bush on a screen on the original Zelda without any payoff, and never feeling like you wasted your time.