I vaguely remember the first time I ever played the Legend of Zelda. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t old enough to go to school and I couldn’t read at the time. All I remember is getting the sword and running around the world, killing monsters. I was told that I was supposed to save a princess, but I had no idea how. I aimlessly wandered around the world and killed things, which at the time, was probably enough of a gameplay experience to satisfy my tastes.
It would take a few more years before I actually understood how to play a Zelda game, when I first got my hands on A Link to the Past. It would take a few years after that for me to finally “get it”, when Ocarina of Time left an impact on my gaming life that I still feel today.
Since the release of Ocarina of Time, I have obtained copies of every console Zelda title (except for the awful CD-i games, but those are best forgotten). I’ve only beaten three of them, but I have played at least a little bit of all of them. A few years ago, I decided to go on a Legend of Zelda vision quest and play the entire series of console games from beginning to end.
While that venture failed miserably, I did get a few good hours of of the original Zelda and an appreciation for one of the most important games of the medium. That game was really ahead of its time. Most games at the time were relatively short experiences made to be completed in one sitting. The Legend of Zelda was an adventure so big, it was one of (if not the) first game to feature a battery backup that allowed gamers to save their progress. This feature may be trivial now, but that alone opened the door for bigger and deeper games.
The original Legend of Zelda was probably the first time most gamers at the time saw how big a game could possibly be. Unlike most games, which were designed as linear levels, the original Zelda was mainly one big overworld that allowed you to explore much of it at your own pace. If you didn’t want to tackle the dungeons head-on, the world also featured a ton of secrets and interesting places to find.
Nowadays, even “open” games give you a ton of exposition to set up the world and your objectives. This game was almost completely devoid of that, and for the most part, still worked wonders. Gamers did figure out how to get through the game on their own and really immersed themselves in the role of Link. People were able to figure out how to beat the dungeons out of order, and the hardest of hardcore could even beat the game without the sword!
I went back to the original Zelda 20+ years after the fact. Even now, that game still holds up for the most part. The action and adventure is still satisfying as it ever was, and those original renditions of the Zelda music are timeless. I was able to get to the 6th dungeon before the game completely kicked my butt. I think the only drawback to this game now is that some of the game’s openness did hurt it. In particular, towards the end, at least one dungeon is hidden, and unless you consult a guide, you can play that game forever and never find it. I never got that far, but I know that secret dungeon is there and I would lose my mind trying to find it on my own.
It may have taken me 1/5 of a century to finally get it, but I do like the original Legend of Zelda quite a bit. It may not have the lasting appeal as say, A Link to the Past, but it was revolutionary for it’s time and in my opinion, still fun to play.
In Third Person 