Rewind Review: The Legend of Zelda (Original NES)

The Legend of Zelda is a series that has truly stood the test of time, whether you’re a Nintendo fan or not, this game series is utterly legendary, and with the recent release of Breath of the Wild, it’s one of the few franchises that seems to actually be getting better.

I’ve been taking a trip back through time, and with the help of a Zelda veteran, have been exploring the origins and everything this franchise has to offer. First stop – the original Legend of Zelda, released on NES in 1986. Join me as I adventure through one of the longest running and most successful series in history, beginning with chapter one.

I’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time before and one of the main joys from revisiting this original are the areas you can recognise, and I realise that for long-term fans of the series this is likely amplified tenfold. I suspect as I continue my enthusiastic push through the Zelda series, I’ll feel more and more of this as I go, just you wait, hardcore Zelda fans, I’m coming to join you! It’s to the point already where I want to collect little memorabilia of the series, a couple of amiibo may have already been bought… and it’s fully my intention to grab something that reminds me of each game in the franchise, as a way of keeping track of my pixel adventures, dorky? Perhaps… but fun nonetheless. The maps are an especially precious part of the memory, so I’m likely going to find a way to collect at least a relatively representative image for each as well.

A Beginning

As soon as you boot up this gem, on whatever console you may be able to play it on – be it an original NES itself, or something more convenient like the WiiU (my platform of choice), you’ll be hit with an instant wave of nostalgia in the form of 8-bit music sounding with resounding clarity. I’d never played the original before, and yet when I heard the old music playing through my TV speakers, I felt I was suddenly at least a decade younger, I can still hear that old theme ringing through my memory, in fact.

It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!

An old man handing a child a deadly weapon – ah, glorious

You’re greeted with the now famous (or infamous depending on the websites you frequent), “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!” So your journey begins with just a sword and shield. You look left, you look right, there seems to be no direction whatsoever. As someone that’s played Skyrim, COD, many, many modern games, this makes no sense! How am I supposed to enjoy the game without a marker telling me which direction the main quest lies? I can’t place pins to remember where that chest was? What the heck Zelda! While I’m mostly exaggerating, these are genuine slight thoughts that passed through my mind, and yet, as I continued to play the game, it grows on you. Soon I began to enjoy the fact I had little idea where to go, it felt like a true adventure.

The first time through took me 10 – 20 hours, but when I got stuck I would often be tempted into following a walk-through. A decent length for the time and type of game The Legend of Zelda is, but this length is vastly increased by the much harder and more convoluted second play-through. Similar to the modern NG+ we see in titles such as Dark Souls, after the completion of the game the player can go through once more, should they wish to be so masochistic. I may come back and visit this later, but for now… I’m just glad to have slain Ganon the one time.

Gameplay

I’ve, admittedly, never been a fan of 2D combat. Disclaimer right there – and that should tell you just how fun the combat is in The Legend of Zelda, because I actually enjoyed it. Starting off relatively simple, with the ability to shoot beams from your sword at full health, the combat of the game rapidly evolves into a surprisingly tactical and fast-paced beast. Some of the funnest, albeit hardest enemies, you have to strike from behind or from the side, whilst dodging the blows of deadly critters such as Wizzrobes. A room full of Darknuts and Wizzrobes may possibly have earnt its place in my nightmares.

The Legend of Zelda strikes a balance hard to achieve between difficult, the sense of achievement that comes with this, and being casual enough to enjoy without having to keep a spare controller next to the remote – in case of breakage.

This is a feature many games, modern especially, get wrong. Too difficult and a game becomes frustrating, too easy and it lacks any sense of accomplishment. The Legend of Zelda manages to strike a good balance between these two and keep the interest going.

While the player has access to far fewer abilities than in some of the later games, less weapons, armor… and so on, for a game of its age the simple additions to the usual stand next to an enemy and stab, lend enough variety to keep hacking your way through dungeons interesting the whole way through.

The sword beam when you’re at full health provides a neat little incentive never to take damage, and gives a bit of a – ah fuck moment, when you manage to accidentally lose that first half a heart. The gimmicks of defeating each boss also keep things interesting, though a couple, such as when the ‘recorder’ is needed, feel a bit cheap when you figure out the secret.

Artwork & Soundtrack

I’ve already gushed about the nostalgic joy of the 8-bit music you’re greeted with, but this same joy seeps into the visuals of the game in glorious fashion. I’ve never -particularly- been into the look of these games, but the creatures of The Legend of Zelda look especially adorable in this format that I found the low pixel count look growing on me, even the freaky-ass bouncing spider boys.

That said, you hear the same soundtrack for a significant portion of the game… and I would be lying if I said it didn’t begin to grate on my nerves. What used to be a joy to hear, something I would get stuck in my head and whistle along to as I played, began to become something I’d roll my eyes in horribly emphasized fashion at. The dungeon music is less so, unless you get particularly stuck, but the over-world theme just gets a little bit too much after dozens of hours. Likely a product of its time, but this would be one of my main complaints.

Final Thoughts

The Legend of Zelda has aged surprisingly well, I began this journey through the Zelda series expecting a laborious trawl through the first game, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find I really enjoyed this one, a worthy beginning to the series, the start of a wonderful and captivating formula for a game.

I’m glad I played it to get my grounding before I move on to the more popular games in the Zelda franchise – one of the greatest joys being the reappearance of many areas that have made their first showing here (the Lost Woods for one). Simple, predictable, but glowing with an irresistible charm and laden with fun.

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