The Legend of Zelda Retrospective

From thecrankyhermit

The Legend of Zelda

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In 1986, in the wake of Super Mario Bros.' immense success, Nintendo EAD released The Legend of Zelda, with Shigeru Miyamoto as lead designer. Rather than being another platformer, as the majority of Nintendo's post-SMB NES games would be, they created an open world to explore at your own pace, viewed from a semi-overhead perspective, in the style of and perhaps influenced by the Ultima series. But unlike the Ultima series, the game controlled fluidly, and combat was determined primarily by simple action game mechanics. What Nintendo created was essentially an action game, but with design elements more common of adventure games. This was not the first game to have such properties - 1980's Adventure on Atari 2600 may be the first - but it *was* the first game to be such a success and spawn a series of games which would build on the formula and become even bigger successes. As such, The Legend of Zelda launched and codified the action/adventure genre.

You play as Link, a sword and shield-wielding adventurer, searching for the eight segments of an ancient relic in the fantasy land of Hyrule. Hyrule, unlike most action game worlds at the time, is a large, open, and non-linear realm that you are free to explore at your own pace. You begin right in the middle of this world, without any equipment but a sword offered to you by an old man in a nearby cave, and are given no directions or instructions on where to go or what to do. There are monsters to slay, treasures to find, secrets to unlock, powerups and equipment to collect, shops where you can buy more equipment, clues to discover, and dungeons to conquer.

These dungeons are where progression through the game actually takes place. There are nine in all, and the entrances are scattered across the Hyrule overworld. Some are in plain view, some are hidden, and many are inaccessible without using a certain piece of equipment. Dungeons are mazes of rooms filled with deadly traps, locked doors, puzzles, and nasty monsters - nastier than what can be found above ground. Each dungeon contains at least one new piece of equipment to find. The game features an innovative inventory system that allows you to equip any two pieces of equipment you have collected, which can be used to fight monsters, navigate obstacles, or solve puzzles. Discovering new equipment may enable you to visit areas of the overworld that you couldn't before, granting you access to more secrets, treasures, powerups, and other dungeons. The first eight dungeons, when completed, grant you a "Triforce" segment. Collecting all of the pieces grants you access to the final dungeon where Ganon, this game's Big Bad, resides. Slay Ganon, and you rescue Zelda and win the game.


Is it worth playing? Being the first in the series, it is rough in some ways when compared to its more polished sequels. The huge world combined with a lack of instructions about where you are supposed to go has the potential to frustrate gamers who aren't accustomed to the style of gameplay where you explore on your own and stumble upon your objectives during your explorations. The series would soon revise the formula by giving pointers towards your "next" objective within the context of the game's narrative, and gamers familiar with later Zelda titles may take this design feature for granted. Also, typical of Nintendo games at the time, many gameplay elements are more frustrating than challenging, especially the Like-Likes who will eat your expensive Magic Shield and never give it back, even if you kill them. But this game is considered a classic for a reason, and not just because of the franchise it eventually spawned. The exploration, the action, the puzzles, and the innovations that have become hallmarks of the series were all present in this groundbreaking title. Recommended to the curious Zelda fan.

My rating:

2 old cave people (very good)

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

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In 1987, Nintendo EAD released a sequel to The Legend of Zelda. Shigeru Miyamoto was its internal producer, but did not serve any direct roles in its development or design. In fact, the game was created by an entirely different team within the studio, with design led by Kazunobu Shimizu. It is decidedly a different game from its predecessor. Perhaps even regressive, as it's essentially a platformer, when its predecessor was notable for *not* being a platformer.

In what might be the only direct sequel in the Zelda franchise as far as plots go, you play as a slightly older Link, on a new quest to break a spell on Princess Zelda, and to stop the minions of Ganon from completing a ritual that would resurrect him.

At the highest level of gameplay is an overworld, which rather than being an open explorable world, is a macroscopic world map similar to ones found on Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Dotted throughout the map are various landmarks, like towns, dungeons, grottos, and bridges, which can be "entered" and explored. When entering these areas, the game switches to a normal-scaled sidescrolling mode, where you can move left, right, jump, and fight. Leaving these areas brings you back to the map, right outside the landmark representing the area you just left. The map, like its predecessors overworld, still serves as the hub to the dungeons (and other areas), still is open-ended and explorable, and still has obstacles and puzzles which must be solved using weapons and equipment found in conquered dungeons, but the macroscopic scale of the map makes the dynamics feel very different.

As the map now serves primarily as the hub to the different areas, the bulk of the gameplay is spent in these areas, with a side-scrolling view mode. Zelda II features several towns, where you can collect items to increase your abilities and strength, some of them hidden, and speak to townspeople to learn clues and gain side-quests. Landmarks such as grottos and bridges take you to linear areas reminiscent of "levels" that you would find in a side-scrolling action game. These areas have platforms, pits, and monsters to fight with your sword, shield, and magic abilities. At the end of these areas is typically either a new piece of equipment, a power-up, or an exit that takes you to a new place in the map. Dungeons, like before, are mazes filled with traps, puzzles, and monsters, and you must conquer all of them to finish the game, the main difference being that they are now side-scrolling.

One of Zelda II's innovations is its fighting system. Your shield plays a big role in your defense - it is capable of blocking in multiple positions, and you must learn which attacks can be blocked and have your shield in the right position at the right time. You also have the ability to perform high attacks and low attacks with your sword, and can learn additional attacks including a downward stab and an upward thrust. The tougher enemies have shields too, and you must outmaneuver them so that when they attack, you are blocking where they attack, and when they block, you are attacking where they do not block. Zelda II also features an experience points system that allows you to level up after killing enough enemies, increasing your stats. In all likelihood, you will max out your stats well before reaching the end of the game, and the last few areas of the game are seriously tough to complete even at the highest levels.


Is it worth playing? Ultimately, the shift in gameplay style diminishes the exploration aspect, one of the biggest selling points of the original. But it is made up for with a more satisfying sense of progression, more involving dungeons, and better fighting and action. Zelda II is nearly as good a game as its predecessor, if for completely different reasons. Also recommended to curious Zelda fans.

My rating:

2 life bars (very good)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

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In 1991, Nintendo EAD released the third installment of the Zelda series on the SNES. Developed by Shigeru Miyamoto's team, it returns to the gameplay style of the original Zelda, with much more polish, numerous improvements, a bigger scope, and an actual script.

There is much debate over the chronology of the Zelda series' plot, but A Link to the Past is known to take place at least a generation before the first Zelda game (hence the title), and features different characters who happen to be named Link and Zelda. You play as Link, and after receiving a telepathic message from Princess Zelda, venture into a castle where she is being held, rescue her, and escape to a hidden sanctuary. Within this sanctuary, you learn of the Dark World, and the evil sorcerer Ganon who has been trapped there for centuries. The wizard Agahim intends to use Zelda in a ritual to destroy the magic seal which binds him to the realm You must travel the land of Hyrule on a quest to find the Master Sword, a magical weapon forged to combat evil, to destroy Agahim, and ultimately venture into the Dark World to destroy Ganon as well.


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As in the original Legend of Zelda, gameplay is set in a large, open-ended overworld. After a brief, semi-linear prologue where you must venture into a castle and rescue Zelda, Hyrule is yours to explore. Not all of it is immediately accessible - many landmarks and sections of Hyrule are blocked off by obstacles. You are initially tasked with exploring three dungeons, each in a different part of Hyrule, and retrieving a magical amulet from each, and two of them are in these inaccessible locations. But as you play the game, with each dungeon you conquer, you locate new weapons and equipment that allows you to bypass these obstacles, giving you access to more places to explore, more secrets to discover, and more dungeons to conquer. Completing dungeons and other accomplishments also always advances the plot in some way, and you are always given direction to your next objective in the context of the plot. Through these mechanics and very careful design, you are rewarded every step of the way.

A Link to the Past's overworld is initially more restrictive than the original, which was happy to let you wander into places you weren't prepared for and offered no comfort upon your inevitable death. But by being less open, the experience is more regimented, more directed, and has a natural and satisfying sense of progression as you constantly discover new areas. By ensuring that you are prepared for an area by the time you are able to enter it, it becomes practical to create more sophisticated design, more interesting puzzles, and generally do more interesting things with the potential depth of the genre.


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The dungeons, as in the original, are mazes filled with puzzles, tough monsters, treasures, and a boss at the end. But they are remarkably more polished and better designed. Each dungeon now has a "theme" that dictates the design, such as verticality, flowing waterways, and interaction with the light and dark worlds. Every room serves a purpose to the greater design, with no repeats or filler. Puzzles are a good deal more sophisticated than in the original, which now frequently invoke the thematic gameplay mechanics. For instance, the Swamp Palace has dry waterways, which can be flooded with water, changing the dungeon's layout considerably.

Another part of the designs is that each dungeon now contains a new piece of equipment for you to collect, and has several rooms that you can't totally complete without said piece of equipment. Quite frequently, having this item grants you powers that you'll use throughout the entire game, making the moment of discovering this item a game-changing moment. This becomes evident as you go back and conquer every room in the dungeon that you couldn't before, and as after defeating the boss, you are able to explore parts of the world that were previously inaccessible. Perhaps the most significant piece of equipment, making its series debut here, is the hookshot - a grappling hook that enables you to create a makeshift bridge across any gap that has a suitable anchor on the other side. Moments after you acquire it and use it to reach areas you couldn't before, it becomes clear that the new possibilities are enormous.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past doesn't just return to its roots. It set the bar for all action-adventure games to come. It has truly cohesive design, an engaging plot, scads of game-changing items that would become staples of the series, masterfully designed dungeons, epic boss fights, and tons of memorable moments, all set in two worlds densely packed with things to discover. I recommend playing the SNES original via emulation, which can be done on the Nintendo Wii through Virtual Console.


My rating:

3.5 heart containers (remarkable)

Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Zelda series is that it added a kind of depth to action games. Most action games today are semi-linear, featuring some amount of backtracking, puzzle solving, logic, searching for items, and environmental manipulation. Even more action games today have a concept of permanently upgrading your hero, be it simply expanding your maximum health points, or acquiring new weapons with better properties and new uses. And yet, at the time that the early Zelda games were exploring these concepts, they were otherwise strictly the domain of adventure games; contemporary action games were linear stage-based affairs, where upgrades were temporary and puzzles were rare.