The Legend of Zelda is the first game in the series, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 in North America. The game has a bunch of innovations that is still felt to this day. One of the most impressive aspects when you first start off the game is how you are dropped into a large open world map. You can immediately head off anywhere you want and there are seemingly no restrictions. The only thing you might want to do first is to grab your sword such that you can at least fend against monsters.
Each area of the map takes up one screen. Due to the hardware limitations at the time, every time you want to go to the next area, there is a screen sliding transition animation as it loads the next area. It doesn't take too long but it is there for the whole game. For offense, Link has his sword which he uses to stab right in front of him. This means the enemy has to be in front of Link before you can damage them. While for defense, Link has a shield that will automatically block certain projectiles if you are not attacking at the same time (since swinging a sword will move the shield to the side). Touching an enemy will damage you though and as you only start with three hearts for health in the beginning of the game, it can be a bit difficult.
If you take the time to slowly explore the world, you will be able to find plenty of extra items to help you along your journey. You'll find shops and secret areas that provide extra offensive power like bombs, fire, and a bow and arrow. Finding new stronger weapons and shields are part of the fun. NPCs you encounter will give out cryptic hints. Although the storytelling is non-existent, the game is quite addictive with its exploration aspects and freedom. Enemies roam all the areas and they respawn once you're a few screens away. They can be annoying with unblockable projectiles or are speedy little things running fast into you to cause damage. The harder enemies are ones where they are invincible, doesn't get knocked back or presented in such vast numbers that they simply overwhelm you. If you die, you can either retry, save, or get sent back to the beginning section with some health.
The pot is basically that Link must travel through the lands, gather all the pieces of the Triforce, defeat Ganon and save Princess Zelda. To accompany that mission are a total of eight dungeons hiding the pieces of the Triforce, with a ninth final dungeon where Ganon resides. There is no set order to tackle the dungeons, although they scale up in difficulty and if you don't have some specific pieces of equipment, you may not be able to advance. The dungeons are not too big and are comprised of various rooms. There are heaps of secrets and collectibles, some of which are missable, even though they contain key items required to advance through other areas. There are also a lot of hidden areas where you need to bomb walls to open a path.
Each dungeon is capped off by a boss. The first few bosses are pretty easy as you only need to get the pattern down pat and dodge the projectiles. The later dungeons are more annoying than hard, because they feel cheap. The game tends to overwhelm you with enemies that are very unpredictable, moving all over the place and is invulnerable except from certain sides. Then in the same room, are multiple invincible enemies that throw projectiles. The kicker? You have to clear the room of enemies in order to proceed.
The final dungeon is filled with the types of annoying enemies who does huge amounts of damage with a large amount of enemies. This includes the ever annoying enemy that disables your sword attacks... in a room where another enemy only takes damage from sword attacks. It is frustrating and cheap. Yet when you do end up getting through the dungeon and defeating the (luck-based) final boss, there is a sense of satisfaction that you've conquered the game. The graphics are as you'd expect of a NES game. It still holds up fairly well to this day though. The music has the iconic Zelda themes in it.
Once the game is cleared and the credits roll, you are immediately put into a new game called Second Quest. Second Quest is like a New Game Plus but it significantly ups the difficulty via different enemy placements and extra moves. You still start with nothing and have to regain everything but what makes it confusing is the fact that the world's layout has changed. Everything that was familiar to you has now changed, it feels completely different. Overall, playing through the game, you appreciate how innovative The Legend of Zelda was. The amount of freedom you get is both a boon and a curse because the game doesn't give you any help at all in terms of what to do and where to go. It is a tough but rewarding game.
------------------------------------------------
For other game reviews, have a look at this page.