Game Discussion of the Week: The Legend of Zelda

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I was a Sega guy, but this is a damn classic.

It's one of those games that makes me want to get a Nintendo system, but not enough for me to actually buy one.

The Legend of Zelda, like a lot of other early NES Nintendo titles, has aged like week old tapir dung in the steaming hot amazon. The problems I have with the game are numerous, but there are two glaring flaws that make the game a complete waste of my time:

1: The gameplay. I have never like the top-down perspective for 2D games, because ones that use it always play too similarly and too simplistic for my tastes. I mean, the gameplay in the original LoZ is basically on par with navigating the overworld in a fucking Pokemon game. Sound fun? Or challenging? It isn't.

2: The extremely cryptic nature of the puzzles & progression. There is NO WAY anyone would know to bomb a random tree or boulder in one spot of the overworld without a walkthrough to tell us. What makes it worse is that from what I've heard the english translation is partially broken which makes knowing what to do in order to progress to the next dungeon impossible.

I baffles me how seemingly everyone in the game industry still sucks this game's dick. By today's standards it's absolute garbage, and this is coming from someone who grew up with the game on his LoZ Collector's Disc for Gamecube. All the nostalgia in the world couldn't blind me from this game's flaws. It's a total snore fest.

Thank god for Zelda II The Adventure of Link. Unlike the original, Zelda II is still fun to play today and is the best NES Zelda in every respect; greater challenge level, improved gameplay, better visuals, it had everything I look for in a sequel.

As for the original Legend of Zelda, I give it a 1/5. It's a terrible game by today's standards.

Link to the Past was the first Zelda game I'd played to completion, and I think that informs my enjoyment of the series.

I'd played bits and pieces of Zelda 1 and 2 during the NES days, but they never really stuck with me. I loved the artwork in Nintendo Power, and despite the issues in retrospect, I remember really liking the cartoon. I didn't actually finish Zelda 1 until I played it on my 3DS.

Aaaaaand....yeah, it was pretty good. Big open-world feel. I don't know that I'd have enjoyed it as a child, going through it blind and having to bomb every damned surface, try lighting every bush on fire.

Ultimately, I think it is a good NES game, but doesn't hold up well compared to the things that came later. I still think you can do a lot with the basic formula though. I remember really enjoying 3-D Dot Game Heroes for example, and that's both an homage to Zelda 1 and Zelda 3.