The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda is the first game in The Legend of Zelda video game series. Although not the first adventure game, it is often credited for perfecting the adventure genre. The game was first released in 1986 in Japan, and in 1987 everywhere else.

Gameplay

The goal of The Legend of Zelda is to collect the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, defeat Ganon and to rescue Princess Zelda. To obtain the pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, the player must take on the role of the hero, Link, and explore the first eight dungeons in the game before embarking on the journey to the final dungeon, Level 9: Death Mountain, to defeat the evil wizard Ganon.

Controls

D Pad: Moves Link around and selects his secondary item. Also controls the direction of the Boomerang after it has been thrown

A:Sword Attack

B:Secondary Item

Start:Brings up the progress screen

Select:Lets you move the cursor on the save select screen and pauses

Save Select

The Legend of Zelda is one of the first, if not the very first, video game to have a save feature. On the select screen, the player can continue their progress, register a name, or eliminate a file. When the player registers a file name, they start a new game and create a name for the file. In elimination mode, the player is able to erase one of the files so they are able to start a new game on that file. The numbers below the name of a file represent the number of game overs that occured while playing on that particular file. The hearts under "Life" represent the amount of remaining health in Link's quest.

Development

The Legend of Zelda and the original Super Mario Bros. were being designed simultaneously by the same development team. They had set out to make the games opposite of one another. Mario would follow a linear pathway, while The Legend of Zelda would have a more open world experience. Shigeru Miyamoto got the idea of the open world experience from his childhood, where he would go out exploring into the wilderness. Miyamoto was less concerned with Zelda being a game of getting the most points or reaching the end of a linear path. Instead, Miyamoto wanted gamers to relax and enjoy themselves as they made their way through the adventure. It was because of this that some basic gameplay elements, such as communicating with characters and shop owners were included.

The name for Princess Zelda was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald. Miyamoto stated, "Zelda was the name of the wife of the famous novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald. She was a famous and beautiful woman from all accounts, and I liked the sound of her name. So I took the liberty of using her name for the very first Zelda title."

On February 21, 1986, the Legend of Zelda released as a launch title for the Famicom Disk System; it was released alongside several other titles including a re-release of Super Mario Bros, along with a number of sports titles.

Story

Plot

Main article: The Legend of Zelda Story

This story is taken directly from the western localization of the game's instruction manual...

A long, long time ago the World was in an age of Chaos. In the middle of this chaos, in a little kingdom in the land of Hyrule, a legend was being handed down from generation to generation, the legend of the "Triforce"; golden triangles possessing mystical powers.

One day, an evil army attacked this peaceful little kingdom and stole the Triforce of Power. This army was led by Ganon, the powerful Prince of Darkness who sought to plunge the World into fear and darkness under his rule. Fearing his wicked rule, Princess Zelda, the princess of this kingdom, split the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them throughout the realm to save the last remaining Triforce from the cluthes of the evil Ganon. At the same time, she commanded her most trustworthy nursemaid, Impa, to secretly escape into the land and go find a man with enough courage to destroy the evil Ganon. Upon hearing this, Ganon grew angry, imprisoned the princess, and sent out a party in search of Impa.

Braving forests and mountains, Impa fled for her life from her pursuers. As she reached the very limit of her energy she found herself surrounded by Ganon's evil henchmen. Cornered! What could she do? ... But wait!

All was not lost. A young lad appeared. He skillfully drove off Ganon's henchmen, and saved Impa from a fate worse than death. His name was Link. During his travels he had come across Impa and Ganon's henchmen. Impa told Link the whole story of the princess Zelda and the evil Ganon. Burning with a sense of justice, Link resolved to save Zelda, but Ganon was a powerful opponent. He held the Triforce of Power. And so, in order to fight off Ganon, Link had to bring the scattered eight fragments of the Triforce of Wisdom together to rebuild the mystical Triangle.

If he couldn't do this, there would be no chance Link could fight his way into Death Mountain where Ganon lived. Can Link really destroy Ganon and save the Princess Zelda? Only your skill can answer that question. Good luck. Use the Triforce wisely.

Timeline Placement

The Legend of Zelda features the same Link as its direct sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. In 1991 when A Link to the Past was released, it was a distant prequel to the first two Zelda titles. Over the next 20 years, the series expanded rapidly with new games and the timeline became a bit more blurry. The Legend of Zelda had a direct timeline placement with The Adventure of Link and A Link to the Past, but very little in relation to the rest of the series.

In December of 2011, Hyrule Historia revealed the complete Legend of Zelda timeline. It was revealed that there were three outcomes branching from Ocarina of Time. One of the outcomes involved Link failing to defeat Ganondorf and is often times referred to as the Downfall branch of the timeline. After Ocarina of Time, the Downfall branch continues with the Imprisoning War, followed by the events of A Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.

Reception

The Legend of Zelda was a huge commercial success, having become one of the highest selling titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game sold 6.51 million copies..

The Legend of Zelda was a critical success as well, ranking at the #1 spot in the original NES Top 30 listing of Nintendo Power magazine.. Nearly 7 years later, Nintendo Power retired the Top NES list in January of 1995. The Legend of Zelda was given Hall of Fame status, being one of the all-time greatest titles and having been on the charts for a record 76 months.

The Legend of Zelda placed first in Game Informer's "The Top 200 Games of All Time" list. Game Informer Top 200 Games of All Time

Legacy

The Legend of Zelda was paramount in establishing the Action-Adventure genre. Several games in the late 80's and 90's replicated the formula with games even today being referred to as being Zelda-like or Zelda-clones. Some games such as 3D Dot Game Heroes have been cited as being almost exact replicas of the Zelda series. All development versions of subsequent 3D Zelda games have used A as the sword button, despite the fact that B is always used as the sword button in release versions.

The original The Legend of Zelda started the Legend of Zelda. A series that has featured over 20 games, including the various side stories and multiplayer games, while selling over 60 millions games overall.

Re-Releases

The Legend of Zelda was one of the most highly acclaimed games of all time and this warranted several re-releases. In November of 2003, the game was re-released as part of the The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the Nintendo GameCube. The Collector's Edition included The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask.

The game's first rerelease was on the Nintendo Famicom as a cartridge title in 1994, as the game had first been released for the Famicom Disk System years before.

In 2004, The Legend of Zelda was re-released for the Game Boy Advance as part of the Classic NES Series. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was also a part of this series, along with other popular NES titles including Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Bomberman, Excitebike, and several others.

In 2006, The Legend of Zelda sought yet another re-release, this time as a Virtual Console title for the Nintendo Wii. Several other Legend of Zelda titles have since also been released for the Virtual Console.

The Nintendo 3DS released in 2011 at the price of $249.99 US Dollars. After slow sales numbers early on, Nintendo announced a significant price cut to $169.99. In gratitude for purchasing the system earlier at the higher price, early adopters became part of the Ambassador program, getting ten free NES games and ten free GBA games for download. The NES games released on September 1st, 2011, including another release of The Legend of Zelda. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link was also included as part of the Ambassador program. On July 5, 2012, as part of "8-Bit Summer", this digital release of the game was made available to all Nintendo 3DS owners via the Nintendo eShop.

Controversy

Each of the first nine Dungeons in The Legend of Zelda is shaped in a specific design, which corresponds to the name of the dungeon. The first labyrinth is referred to as the Eagle, while the fourth dungeon is referred to as the Snake. The third dungeon of the game is referred to as the Manji, and it is in the shape of a left-facing Swastika. The term Manji is actually a Japanese character and it is very common in Japanese culture. Because of this, it slipped into the game without considering the sensitivity of the symbol. The Manji is considered offensive in western countries due to its relationship to Nazism, though the Nazi swastika faces the opposite direction of the Manji.

All versions of the game include a cross on Link's Shield. However, in virtually all pieces of merchandise, Link's shield is shown in a solid color. This is likely due to the sensitivity of religion in western countries. Furthermore, in the Japanese version of the game, the Book of Magic was referred to as the Bible. When the game was released in the West, it was renamed to the Book of Magic, or the Magic Book.

Characters

Here is a listing of all of the characters found within The Legend of Zelda.

Dungeons

Here is a listing of all of the dungeons found within The Legend of Zelda.

Locations

Here is a listing of all of the locations found within The Legend of Zelda.

Merchandise

• This Delta Apparel Link Kneeling Shirt wasn't released at the time of the original The Legend of Zelda, but it contains the original games Logo and Official Artwork.

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  Molblin's Magic Spear

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  Electro-Optix Wristwatch Wall Clock

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  Nelsonic Flip Watch

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  1988 Baseball Caps

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  1989 Place Mat

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  Nasta Wind-Up Toy

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  Topps Bubble Gum Dispenser

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  Topps Nintendo Game Packs

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  Trophy Figures With Scorecard

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  Promotional T-Shirt

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  Delta Apparel Link Kneeling Shirt

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  Sticker Fun Book

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  1988 Twin Bed Set

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  1988 Twin Size Comforter

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  1988 Curtains

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  1988 Trash Can

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  1988 Toy Box

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  Milton Bradley Jigsaw Puzzle (Link vs Keese)

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  Milton Bradley Jigsaw Puzzle (Link vs Aquamentus)

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  1989 Paper Magic Valentines Cards

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  Nintendo Power 1988 Ruler

Gallery

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• Enemies Gallery

Videos

Legend of Zelda and it's really rad! Commercial

Pe Pe Peahats! Commercial

Game Intro

Trivia

• The Japanese version of The Legend of Zelda is known as The Hyrule Fantasy
• Despite initial runs of The Legend of Zelda being in shiny Gold cartridges, the later Gray re-release versions are more rare. However, compared to most NES titles, both versions are fairly common.
• There is a second quest in The Legend of Zelda, which places Dungeons in different spots as well as all Heart Containers and Secret Moblin locations.