Nintendo Power Gives Us The Best Moments from The Legend of Zelda NES

Nintendo Power may have lost some luster over the years, but it still provides some rather great talking points. This time around the latest brings us what they feel are the best moments from the original The Legend of Zelda. The one pictured on the left is a given: It’s engraved in every gamer’s memory whether they played the original or not.

That phrase alone has seen several cameo appearances, even in recent hits such as Epic Mickey and Fable III. It’s appeared in popular MMO’s such as World of Warcraft and has become a popular internet meme. This of course isn’t the only moment Nintendo Power points out.

To the right is another lesser known moment from the game that Nintendo Power points to. For those unaware, this is an enemy in the game who instead of actually wanting to fight Link, he would rather Link feed him to pass. While this Goriya (potentially an old enemy that could return in Skyward Sword, just like the sword beam) blocks the door, he simply requests link venture out and purchase meat to fill his grumbling stomach. A rather odd enemy that could use a reappearance.

This moment, on the left, is significant because it’s when you use your whistle to discover the 7th dungeon. As Nintendo Power goes on to give their reasoning for it being one of the best moments, it’s noted it wont be the last time Link uses wind instruments in his adventures. Clearly this was the start of any early concepts behind Ocarina of Time.

Of course, the whistle could be used for more than simply discovering the 7th dungeon. You could use it to teleport to any previous dungeon you have completed as well. Why would you want to do this? If you’re someone who likes to 100% games, it allows you to go back and find things and passages you may have missed, as well as jump all over the overworld map in order to more quickly access areas that are on opposite sides of the map.

To the right marks the original introduction to the Lost Woods, which was later made famous in Ocarina of Time. It’s become one of the all time classic puzzles in gaming history. Go the wrong way and you start all over again, and it can be very frustrating if you forget which routes you have already tried. These are the sort of puzzles where people use to bust out the old pencil and paper to keep track of what they are doing and what they have tried.

While that generation of gaming is slowly dying out (most games simply tell you rather obviously what way to go – Majora’s Mask had a monkey show you the way, even the original you could buy “directions” for a price), it still marked the start of “choose wisely or be lost forever” type quests. This sort of feature has appeared now in way too many games to count, and it all started back with the original Legend of Zelda game.

Possibly the 2nd most famous phrase in gaming also was coined in the original game when it referred to it “being a secret to everybody”. The meaning behind the phrase is speculated at times, but for those who always wondered what it meant here we go: Moblins are enemies in the series, and instead of wanting to fight Link this particular Moblin actually wants to help him out. He gives him some rupees and tells Link to basically “be quiet” because it’s a “secret to everybody” that he is “betraying” his own kind. Or at least, that is what I get from the phrase.

You’ll be able to purchase the latest Nintendo Power on April 5th, but for now you can check out exactly what they said about the above listed moments here. Are there more that aren’t shown? What are some of your favorite moments from the original game?