The Legend of Zelda

Similarly to Super Mario Bros. [スーパーマリオブラザーズ] on the same system, this is also a game that is very influential and also a foundation for the rest of The Legend of Zelda [ゼルダの伝説]. In fact I think they have similar pitfalls of a lot of the level design just not aging the most well and this game in particular pretty much requires you to have a guide on hand for as much as possible. A good portion of the secrets and even some of the progression are honestly quite cryptic or easy to miss without one. The game also gets really difficult very quickly with some of the later dungeons going with the philosophy of "here's our equivalent of Hammer Bros. and we're gonna place 5-7 of them in this room that you're required to defeat, have fun :)". Resetting with only 3 health every time upon death is quite annoying too and probably would have made me hate the game had fairy fountains not existed. Still though, I'm happy future games in the series are much more intuitive in that design while also featuring more elements and keeping the best parts of this game. Things like the sword upgrades, the shops, and even general combat and some of the dungeon puzzle solving were quite fun despite this game not having aged super well. The different weapons in the game are really nice too and help freshen up the combat, though I wish some of them were more fun or rewarding to use than others (I never used the magic rod). Overall, the core gameplay is fun and that's enough for me to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of it and it's definitely worth giving a shot, even outside of its historical significance.

Before anything, if you are planning on playing this, see the link below for the manual, which includes critical information that players were expected to have access to when playing originally. While it may appear strange for crucial information to have been relegated to an external, printed out medium, it is just the design philosophy of the time. In embracing that, I found the game had a charm that modern games don't quite touch. The manual includes a partially filled map that I printed out and manually completed with a pencil, along with notes of shop locations, character hints, and other game secrets. Having part of the exploration require my own willingness to map out the world really increases the involvement you feel in exploring and makes the world feel more mysterious.

Upon playing, it is clear why this game is so influential. The amount of freedom it affords the player is genuinely exciting, if not intimidating. For example, I was able to find the last level far before I was supposed to, though I went and found earlier levels and went for upgrades (save up for the blue ring and find the white sword!) because the difficulty of certain rooms full of enemies can be pretty overwhelming if confronted too early. Later game design philosophy often assumes that giving the player this much freedom from the get-go is poor design because a player could get lost. But because the world itself is relatively well contained and the manual points you in the right direction if needed, the ability to go where you want just adds to the feeling of you being a weak but brave adventurer confronting an actually dangerous world.

As a Zelda series fan, it is also fun to see how this influenced later games. While open exploration defines most of the game, it also features some some one-off progression blocks that require a specific solution (e.g. how do you get past an enemy that just says, "grumble, grumble"). It is reminiscent of design adopted in later games like Ocarina of Time (e.g. how on earth do you get into Jabu Jabu's belly?) that requires some listening to characters (or manual hints) and applying real world logic. Other series staples are introduced here, including musical instruments for transportation, lost woods, hidden secrets behind walls, using items found in dungeons to conquer enemies, etc.

Really, the main problem with this game just comes from its controls and combat, which are mildly horrendous. By the time the game ends, you get pretty good at moving around enemies, but the short little stab combined with no diagonal movement can make for some very annoying battles in some later levels. This is particularly the case when enemies like wizzrobes can warp directly in front of you with no warning while 4 fireballs are firing at you and 5 other enemies are semi-randomly marching all around you. Since the bulk of the challenge of the levels comes from combat, this obviously hurts the game if you don't love the combat. Some of the level challenge comes from navigation, but it is relatively simple, and mostly comes down to being willing to bomb enough walls. I fully admit i used the Nintendo Switch version which allows for small rewinding of events, so if I bombed a wall and it didn't reveal a new room, I would just rewind and get my bomb back. This obviously circumvented most of the inventory management aspect of the game, which is another source of difficulty, but since I didn't enjoy the combat aspect necessary for farming resources, I happily used modern emulator features to skip that portion. Judge me as you will.

Overall, I consider this game to be wonderful in the macro aspects of world exploration, interpreting secrets, and figuring out where to go next. But the micro aspects of actual combat and movement controls are very rigid and not particularly fun. But the power of those macro aspects make this a very enjoyable experience, especially in contrast to the modern gaming landscape. I highly recommend this if you're curious about Zelda's roots, or adventure gaming in general.