The Legend of Zelda review - Nintendo Entertainment System

The is where it all began - it's amazing how playable and fresh this games feels, even after all these years! Although the visuals and sound are hardly going to turn heads these days, the core Zelda gameplay is all present and correct.

The Legend of Zelda is a famous series. Second only to Mario, The Legend of Zelda manages to make fans swoon with excitement over each follow-up (unless you count the CD-i abominations). But like everything else, it has an origin, and many origins of other series can't hold up the way this game has. Those who just try this game now may grow frustrated with the lack of clues given, but those who don't mind will find one game that conveys a sense of adventure unlike many others.

One thing this game needs to be credited for is it being the first game with a battery save, which is a huge relief since this game would be terribly frustrating without it. Thankfully this would not have been a problem with the Wii’s built in suspension save points. For its time this was one of the lengthiest games around. 128 screens, very few clues, and many hidden dungeons to discover. This game is all about exploration, and while it’s frustrating when you can't figure it out, the feeling of finding hidden things is unparalleled.

You get many different items, which you can map to the B button at the item screen. The chances are you'll be using a lot of them often, which is something that you can't always say about the rest of the series. The combat can get quite difficult since the enemies are fast but numerous. This game is also all about conquering. You'll take on a tough dungeon boss and eventually win, or possibly a huge group of enemies and eventually win. Your eventually bettered equipment will give you the needed edge over the bad guys, which gives you a feeling of accomplishment not many games can match.


This ranks as one of the finest 8-bit RPGs available. If you don't already own a copy of this (and you might do if you got the GBA version or you own the GameCube Zelda disc) you should download it right away!