The Legend of Zelda: Magic in a Golden Cartridge
Written: Aug 03 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: it's simple, yet deep, lots of side missions, two different quests
Cons: some useless items, outdated graphics, some flickering
The Bottom Line: The game still holds up after all these years.
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| kjell1979's Full Review: The Legend of Zelda for Nintendo |
I am a gamer who has been around the block with many different types of games. While I will never lose that allure of an old classic game, I have to recognize that many older games have a hard time competing for my attention against the more modern games out there. I have nothing against these classic games. To me, they are just as fun to play as a modern game that no doubt contains many borrowed ideas and gameplay innovations from its elder predecessor. They are typically just too short. One game that can still attract gamers new and old is the original The Legend of Zelda. Encased in its traditional golden cartridge is an amazement of strategy, adventure, and overall solid gameplay. Being old enough to drive in many states, The Legend of Zelda shows signs of age, but to those who recognize good gameplay it's a classic that will have a hard time dying out in the same respect as the Beatles or the 3 1/2 inch floppy drive.
The Story
There are two warring factions in the land of Hyrule. One led by Gannon and the other by Princess Zelda. Each one owns one part of the triforce. The evil Gannon has kidnapped Princess Zelda in order to get the triforce of wisdom from her and unite it with his triforce of power. Fortunately, Princess Zelda split it up into 8 pieces and scattered them all across the land. You're job as Link is to gather up the 8 pieces and then go after Gannon in an effort to save the princess.
The Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda is your standard action/adventure game. You wander around the land of Hyrule cutting down enemies with your sword or other weapons in an effort to find underworld dungeons. Your life is depicted by a string of hearts at the top of the screen. Only enemies and traps can lower your life. How much they lower it is determined by how powerful your enemies are. For instance, if you get hit by most of the enemies early on, it only lowers your life by a half of a heart. However later in the game, some enemies can lower it by several hearts.
The overworld has many areas to explore as well as holding many secrets as well. As you defeat more and more enemies, you'll begin to collect currency known as "rupees" that they drop. These are small crystals that can increase your total by one or five. Rupees are used to buy items at shops scattered all across the overworld of Hyrule. Shops can sell you anything from weapons, to shields, to tools, or even medicine. The overworld also has many secrets as well. By bombing a rock face in a specific place, or by using your candle to burn down a bush, you can reveal a secret staircase. These secret rooms can either give you free rupees, a heart container, or some useful advice.
Dungeons in The Legend of Zelda are like a whole new world. Each dungeon holds a new tool for you to use like a bow, raft, ladder, or wand. These tools either help you defeat more powerful enemies or allow you to access new areas on the map and in the dungeon. In addition dungeons also contain a piece of the triforce, and a formidable boss guarding it as well. In order to navigate through the underworld dungeons you must use keys to unlock doors, bombs to blow up walls, and move blocks to reveal hidden areas. There are also certain barriers that can only be crossed if you found a tool in a previous dungeon. There are also maps that show you the layout of each dungeon as well as a compass that pinpoints the room where the piece of triforce lies. In addition there are some rooms (hidden and obvious) where old wise men give you cryptic pieces of advice.
The enemies in The Legend of Zelda are done very well. Each enemy has a strength and weakness. As you progress further along in the game, the enemies can get faster, their weaknesses can become less obvious, and their placement becomes even more cumbersome to conquer each room. A true testament to how good the enemies are is how they reappear in later Legend of Zelda games. Most of these characters do not change their habits either. Wizzrobes teleport all around the screen and shoot magic at you whether it's in this game or any other Legend of Zelda game. Like Likes still steal your sword, but are easy to defeat. In addition there are tons of different kinds of enemies. The diversity is simply amazing considering this is a game that first appeared on our shores in 1987. There are literally dozens of different types of enemies all of which have their own distinct traits.
In addition to the regular enemies there are also many unique bosses. Bosses typically take more hits than other enemies and pose more of a threat to you than a simple group of baddies. Bosses in The Legend of Zelda usually have one method of defeating them. You must hit their weak spot at a given time with usually a specific type of weapon or tool. After a boss is defeated they drop a very valuable heart container, which increases your maximum life by one heart.
Controls
The controls in The Legend of Zelda are very simple but also very good. The A and B buttons are your two basic action buttons. The A button is dedicated to your sword, while the B button is used to operate a tool or weapon in your inventory. Accessing your inventory is accomplished by pressing the start button, while the select button pauses the game.
The biggest shortcoming with the controls is the lack of directions implemented on the control pad. Link can only move vertically and horizontally at a given time. In fact most weapons, excluding the boomerang, which can be thrown diagonally, are also limited to those two axis’s as well. This becomes slightly annoying when the more advanced enemies can shoot their weapons in many different trajectories, but you're character is very limited.
Graphics
The graphics in The Legend of Zelda are clearly outdated, however with the exception of a few framerate issues, the graphics are very functional. The land of Hyrule isn't very detailed. In fact it's very very blocky. Despite that, Nintendo did a lot to really bring the world alive. The overworld has many different areas to explore. Enemies are rendered uniquely with only minor pallet swaps to denote tougher versions of the same enemy. Graphical animations are simply but useful. For instance, you know that Moblins are shooting arrows at you and Keese flap their wings as they fly around a dungeon room.
The biggest problem with the graphics is the framerate. The game slows down considerably once a certain amount of enemies are on the screen. Given that enemies cannot follow you from screen to screen, this could have been easily avoided by adding more strategic barriers and obstacles and cutting down on the amount of enemies on the offending screens. Another solution is to limit the projectile firing capability of enemies once a certain amount of projectiles are on the screen. In addition to the slow downs is some flickering that occurs during some graphically intense moments. Overall these are rare and minor annoyances that rarely affect the gameplay let alone the safety of your character.
Sound
Like the graphics, the sound is very well done as well. Sound effects are classic. And while the sound effects never made it past this version of The Legend of Zelda, they do hold a special place in the hearts and minds of my generation of gamers. Who could forget the sound effect that depicts a defeated enemy? Despite hitting the cutting room floor in future versions, the sound effects are very well done. They aren't loud and irritating, but they also don't sound misplaced or goofy.
There are really only a few themes in The Legend of Zelda. There's the opening song, the overworld music, and the underworld music. While these themes typically cycle themselves every 15 to 30 seconds, they aren't overly annoying. However, many new to the series might decide to turn off the sound and play some real music in the background. The music here is classic, but it isn't as deep due to the hardware restrictions. The overall sound just doesn't stand the test of time.
Replay Value
What's amazing is how much replay value is in this game. The Legend of Zelda comes from a time where games were beaten in just a few hours and tucked away for months. This game features a fantastically large overworld and 9 different underworlds. Unlike future Zelda games, over 90% of the overworld is accessible from the outset, allowing you do hours of exploring before tackling your first dungeon. After you've beaten the game, there's also a second quest. This second quest features an overworld that looks very similar, but the secrets are in new places, enemies are tougher, and the underworlds are significantly different and more difficult. While you'll still see the same enemies and collect the same tools and weapons, this is almost like a completely new game.
There are many games from the old days of the NES that will be long forgotten by all but a few of the more hardcore gamers. The Legend of Zelda, if it is forgotten someday, will be one of the last to fade from our memories. Saying this game was ahead of its time is an understatement. Even though it had its flaws and shortcomings, it's still the epitome of how a simple game can be so deep and yet so fun.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kjell1979
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Location: Oxford, Mass
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