The Legend of Zelda
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The Legend of Zelda (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説: The Hyrule Fantasy, Zeruda no Densetsu), or commonly abbreviated LoZ by fans, is the first game in the Legend of Zelda series of video games, made by Nintendo under the direction of game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who also created Mario. The game was inspired by Miyamoto's adventures in the hills of Kyoto as a young child. It was released in Japan as the first game for the Famicom Disk System add-on to the Famicom on February 21, 1986. As this add-on was not released outside of Japan, it was released in the US and other countries on the regular NES cartridge format in 1987. The music, including the classic Zelda theme, was composed by Koji Kondo.
The game is set in the imaginary land of Hyrule and revolves around a young Hylian named Link, who must rescue Princess Zelda from the clasps of the villain Ganon by collecting eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom, one of three smaller pieces of the Triforce.
The game was included in The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the Nintendo GameCube. In 2004, Nintendo re-released the original Legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Advance, as part of the Classic NES Series. The game was also re-released in 1994 in Japan as a Famicom game, rather than a Famicom Disk.
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Game overview
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The game begins with the player controlling Link armed with a small shield. A simple sword (often believed to be wooden due to its coloring) is immediately available in a cave behind him. To advance further, Link must explore the overworld, a large outdoor map with a variety of environments, fighting an assortment of small creatures in order to locate the entrances to nine underground dungeons. Each dungeon is a unique, labyrinthine collection of rooms connected by doors and secret passages and guarded by a variety of monsters, all of which are different from those found in the overworld. Link must navigate through each dungeon to obtain the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom along with other useful items, many of them necessary to complete his quest. For example, the third dungeon contains a raft which is needed to reach the entrance to the fourth dungeon. Other available items include upgrades for Link's sword and shield, bombs for uncovering secret caverns, and a recorder with magical properties. The first six dungeons have visible entrances, but the remaining three are hidden from view. The order of completing the dungeons is relatively arbitrary, but the ninth and final dungeon can only be entered after collecting the entire Triforce of Wisdom.
Nonlinearity, the ability to take different paths in completing the game, is an important element of Zelda which was largely absent in its contemporaries. Although the dungeons were designed to be completed in order, there are many possible orders. Similarly, Link can wander the overworld, finding and buying items at any point. This flexibility enabled some unusual ways of playing the game; for example, it's possible to reach the final boss of the game without taking a sword, which in a normally-played game is the preferred primary weapon. Nonlinearity is also a source of frustration, however, often leaving players wondering what to do next.
Bosses
There are many classic Zelda bosses that first made appearances in this game. One of them would appear at the end of every dungeon, and often they would appear in other parts of the dungeon as a miniboss. All of these bosses were reincarnated in upgraded forms in Oracle of Seasons. Some of them also appear in other games.
Aquamentus
Aquamentus is a standard dragon that resembles a unicorn. Its attack pattern had it slowly pace about and shoot fireballs in a spread pattern. By attacking its head, it is easily killed. The beams it shoots can be blocked by the Magical Shield (no other boss in Zelda can have their beams blocked by the Magical Shield). Link can stand on its body without taking damage.
Aquamentus is the boss of Level 1 in both quests. In the first quest, he is also the boss in Level 7.
Dodongo
Dodongos look like triceratops. They will charge around the room and damage anyone and anything in its path. In order to slay it, bombs had to be placed in front of his mouth; he would eat them and take damage when they exploded. 2 bombs in his mouth will do him in. If they exploded on him without him eating them, he would be stunned and could be attacked with the sword. At the beginning of the game, players only fight one Dodongo at a time, but they end up fighting 3 at a time later on.
Dodongo is the boss of: First Quest: Level 2 (one Dodongo)
Second Quest: Levels 3 and 8 (three Dodongos each)
Manhandla
This beast was a gigantic blue carnivorous plant. It had four mouths (or claws) surrounding an invulnerable body. The mouths could all spit fire balls at Link. Link could only slay the beast by defeating all four heads. Each time a head was killed, Manhandla would move faster. The most effective way to destroy it was with a well placed bomb(s) that is aimed for the center of Manhandla.
Manhandla is the boss of: First Quest: Level 3
Gleeok
This large, multi-headed dragon is considered by many fans to be the hardest boss in the game. By dashing up and attacking a head repeatedly, it would detach and begin to fly around the room, continuously shooting fireballs. The number of heads it starts out with varies from two to four. After detaching all the heads, the body would die.
Gleeok is the boss of: First Quest: Levels 4 (two heads) and 8 (four heads)
Second Quest: Levels 2 (two heads), 5 (three heads), and 7 (four heads)
Digdogger
This guardian is large, yellow, and round, described in the instruction manual as a sea urchin (though he sort of looks like a buzzsaw). Digdogger is normally invulnerable and would move slowly around the room. By blowing the recorder, it would turn into either one or three smaller spawns of itself. These move very fast, but are vulnerable to attacks (and boomerang stuns), and the boss can only be defeated if all of the spawn are defeated.
Because of a glitch, if Link split Digdogger into 3 parts, killed one, and left the room, when he came back Digdogger would be slain.
Digdogger is the boss of: First Quest: Level 5
Second Quest: Level 4
Gohma
This crablike monstrosity, with one huge eye for a face, would pace back and forth, shooting fireballs. Its eye would occasionally open; when this happened, striking the eye with arrows would make short work of the beast. Red Gohma, which only appeared in level 6 quest 1, took one arrow to die, Blue Gohma, which appeared regularly in later dungeons and in level 6 quest 2, took three.
Gohma is the boss of Level 6 in both quests: First Quest: Red
Second Quest: Blue
Ganon
Found only in the final dungeon (in both quests), this sorcerer is the central villain. He would cast an invisibility spell around himself, and move around the room shooting fireballs. By stabbing the air randomly, or figuring out his patten, players could score a hit. After many hits, he would freeze and turn red. By shooting him with a Silver Arrow (which was one of the items required to slay the enemy), he would then be defeated.
Innovations
Link (figure in green at right) battling in the overworld.Its gameplay defied categorization at its time of release, incorporating elements from action-adventure games, role-playing games, and puzzles. The game was one of the most successful of its time, selling 6.5 million copies.
Zelda featured many technical innovations as well. It is famed for being one of the first games to include a built-in battery that allowed the player to save progress, even after shutting the system down (previous games used passwords, often long and complicated). Players could save progress when they died or by pressing Up and Start in the second controller while playing. In addition, the plastic casing of the cartridge was gold just like the box instead of the usual gray, making it seem special from the very beginning. It was later re-released in a gray cartridge in 1990.
Link, carrying all of the many and varied items he acquires in the course of his quest.The first Zelda appears relatively simple by today's standards, but it was a very advanced game for its day. Innovations included the ability to use many different items, a vast world full of secrets to explore, and the freedom of relatively nonlinear gameplay. Many of these innovations became staples of the Zelda series and other games, which followed its lead. The game was wildly popular in Japan and the United States, and many consider it one of the most important videogames ever made.
Zelda is also considered one of the spiritual forerunners of the console role-playing game (CRPG) genre. Even though it contains gameplay elements different from those of a typical computer or console RPG, its aesthetics, such as its bright, cartoony graphics, fantasy setting, and music, would be adopted by a number of later RPGs, and its commercial success helped create a market for involved, nonlinear games in fantasy settings, such as those found in successful CRPGs.
Some RPGs that have been compared to Zelda include Square's Seiken Densetsu series, and more recently, Alundra and Brave Fencer Musashi.
The second quest
The player could play the "second quest" either by completing the first quest of the game, or by entering "ZELDA" as the character's name.
The basic overworld map is slightly changed, but the locations and layout of the dungeons are completely different, and most of the items and secrets are in different places than before. For example, only two of the nine dungeons now have visible entrances, and the fifth dungeon is where the fourth dungeon used to be. Some enemies have gained new powers, such as the ability to take away your sword permanently, super-speed or the ability to throw swords. Also, certain dungeon walls are illusory and must be walked through in order to proceed. Some items that the player got in earlier dungeons during the first quest come in later dungeons in the second quest. In this regard, the second quest is much more difficult than the first. While a more difficult "replay" was not an innovation unique to The Legend of Zelda, few games offered a "second quest" with entirely different levels to complete. This added a great deal to the replay value of the game.
The layouts of the first five dungeons spell out "ZELDA," (the first takes the shape of an "E," the second an "A," the third an "L," the fourth a "D," and the fifth a "Z.") Level Six is a seemingly random layout of rooms that some say resembles Link's hat. The seventh and eighth ones are spirals that also resemble the letter "G" (seventh is an upside-down G, while the eighth is a regular G). The final level, Level 9, is shaped like Ganon's head.
When a player completed the second quest, they could play it over and over again.
The third quest?
A modified version with updated graphics, a smaller overworld, and completely different dungeons, known as BS Zelda, was released in 1995 for the Satellaview, the Super Famicom's Japanese-only satellite-based add-on. Several Japanese sources allude to this as being intended as a "third quest", much like The second quest (above). When the game was rebroadcast in 1996, they changed the dungeons (and probably the overworld as well); this revision apparently had a smaller broadcast audience and is known only as "~map2~". This second map could well be thought of as a "fourth quest". Additionally, Link was replaced by the Satellaview mascots, a boy and a girl; the girl had red hair while the boy wore a backwards baseball cap. Additionally, Zelda Classic allows users to create custom quests with new tile sets and level layout.
Written by: Admin-Alx
