Reviews

The Legend Of Zelda – Nintendo Entertainment System

the-legend-of-zelda-nes

The Legend Of Zelda is one of the biggest franchises in video game history. It is easily the 2nd biggest franchise Nintendo has right behind Super Mario.

Story & Presentation

I think that the first Legend Of Zelda video game was really the first “epic” adventure that many of us console gamers had gotten to go on. The story of The Legend Of Zelda is pretty cool in that you play as young boy called Link. In the land of Hyrule an evil wizard by the name of Gannon wants the Tri-Force so that he can rule the land. Princess Zelda has broken the Tri-Force into nine pieces and hidden them across the land. Gannon though will not just walk away and instead kidnaps Princess Zelda to force her into telling him where the pieces are. Link now much get the Tri-Force pieces, save Princess Zelda and destroy Gannon.

The Legend Of Zelda at the time it was released was the best looking game on the NES. You view the game from a top down perspective which lets you have a great view point of the whole area of the map you are on. The game as well as having great character and monster designs in addition to the varied levels. Also has some really cool little special effects like lightening for example. And as well as looking good The Legend Of Zelda has an iconic soundtrack one that is perhaps only bettered by the original Super Mario Bros. The Legend Of Zelda theme is one that is still used in modern Zelda games.

Gameplay

First time I played The Legend Of Zelda I would have been around seven years old and I was quite overwhelmed. After about ten minutes or so I was stuck and lost interest. It was not until a couple of years later that I really did appreciate what a master piece this game was. The reason I think I could not get into it when I was a kid was because the game was just so unlike anything else that I had played before.

The game is just one huge adventure that sees you going around the land of Hyrule. In your quest you will need to find a multitude of items that will help you in your quest. There are some parts of the game where you simply cannot progress unless you have a certain item. The Zelda series is well known for its dungeons and boss battles and there are some truly amazing one here.

The exploration is great, but so is the combat and I do not feel it gets the credit it deserves if I am honest. There is a great variety to the types of monsters that you face in this game. And many of them have their own way that is best to defeat them which I thought was really cool. It really does make you feel like an adventurer trying to find the best way to destroy a monster.

The Legend Of Zelda is a pretty big game and while you can blast through it only seeing the bare minimum if you want. The real joy to be had here is to take your time and fully explore every nook and cranny that Hyrule has to offer. And if you fancy yourself as a hardcore adventurer then why not try the Second Quest once you have beaten the game? This is a much harder version of the game where items have been moved around and the enemies are tougher.

Final Thoughts

The Legend Of Zelda is just a great adventure game and going back to play this has made me realize just how many things that there in this game the modern Zelda games still use to this day. While it may not be as story driven as the games that would follow. This is still one of the very best adventure games you can play on the NES.

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