Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Legend of Zelda



The Legend of Zelda the classic Nintendo franchise next to Mario produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. 

The first Zelda game, "The Legend of Zelda" originally came out 1986 on the NES. This was the game that brought console gaming to a whole new level of complexity. Up until that point people were used to play simple games such as jump and runs on their consoles, and usually having to beat them in one sitting. 

Just by taking note of the fact that "The Legend of Zelda", being sold in a golden cartridge, was the first (and only?) NES game to include a battery for saving your progress you can get a sense of the amount of hours of gameplay you can get out of this game.

It's huge. 

The player takes control of Link, a young boy in a green robe.
The game gives you no tutorial whatsoever, you start in a valley without any goal or instructions. Soon you will get your first sword handed to you, giving you the tool to progress further and onto the first dungeon you will eventually come by.

In each dungeon you'll find one new weapon or tool and heart container, guarded by the dungeon's boss. You don't necessarily need to beat the dungeon's bosses, but the extra heart containers will come in handy the further you progress in the game.

You do however need the weapon/tool to make your way to the next dungeon. It may bombs that let you destroy a rock blocking a passage or a raft, helping you to get over a lake.

This mechanic (which was later copied in the Metroid series, also by Nintendo) allows each player to play at his own pace. The game doesn't rely on scripted events to let him continue and it brings up a great open world feeling.

This formula was kept in every game of the franchise to be released since then (except for Zelda 2), no matter if it was a 2D or 3D game.

If you haven't already played a Zelda game (I bet by now everybody and their grandma has) you should crawl out from under your rock and give the franchise a try.

You don't have to start with the first one (which is also by far the hardest (except for maybe Zelda 2)) as the franchise offers  no continuos story anyway. 

If you want to start with a 2D Zelda try either "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" on the NES or "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" on the Game Boy (which was by the way my first Zelda game).

If you'd rather try a 3D Zelda go give "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" or "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" a try. 

I don't think the other installments are bad, but it's just my personal recommendation.

117 comments:

  1. The Zelda series will always be my favorite gaming franchise. I can practically beat Ocarina of Time with my eyes closed.

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  2. The best games I've played, awesome in every way, gameplay, music, I loved the sprites of the 2d era.

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  3. emulating this = killed my highschool grades haha

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  4. @IWannaBeAnon

    Completing it took you _that_ long?

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  5. hahaha@iwannabeanon
    i got to update my rom collection ;)

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  6. Awesome game. I think I might just dust off my NES and pop it in!

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  7. @IWannaBeAnon...
    I think most of us can relate to that. :P

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  8. Oh man. Always loved Zelda ever since my neighbour gave us his old NES. Best day ever. R.I.P My NES. :'(

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  9. The only thing I remember is sitting at my uncle's place and beat the bushes to see if guards came out of them

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  10. I've never tried this sadly and I call myself a gamer, friends hate me for not trying it, might try it now :)

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  11. The Legend of Zelda on the NES was my first video game

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  12. Only the best video game of our era...next to super mario bros of course :) I'm a sucker for NES and SNES games

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  13. Zelda franchise is my all time favourite videogame-franchise of all times! :D
    i was to young for the NES and SNES versions at the time, but the N64 version i had to get 3 of cause me and lil brother played it till it broke.. lol

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  14. ahhh! Zelda!
    I can't decide If I like more Ocarina or link to the past

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  15. Zelda paved the way for so many types of games.

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  16. the reason i had no live as a child lol

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  17. Really awesome work, Following.

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  18. sadly i must admit... i have yet to play...

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  19. This is one of the best examples of why the SNES was amazing. I think I should fire it and all the other NES/GB games via emulator...

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  20. What I love about Zelda is its puzzle, it looks hard but when you know the clue it seems easy.

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  21. I really loved Zelda. Hours and hours of fun while growing up :)

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  22. Come at me if you want to I never really liked Zelda. Good review though

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  23. Awesome game :) Will have to bust this out soon again

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  24. Played a lot of the Zelda games. My favourite is still Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword is looking disappointing :(

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  25. Nintendo, so so sooo much classic games.

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  26. I think the fact that Ninty were prepared to release this game in a gold cartridge says it all.

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  27. such a good series.. gotta love emulators lol

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  28. "It's The Legend of Zelda and it's really rad!
    Those creatures from Ganon are pretty bad!
    Octoroks, tektites and leevers too,
    But with your help, our hero pulls through!
    Yeah, Go Link, Yeah, Get Zelda!
    Wikki Wikki Wick!"

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  29. I never played Zelda :( i guess my childhood was bad :,(

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  30. Zelda is definitely one of my all-time favorites.

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  31. I love snes games!
    Keep posting! Following to get the news!

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  32. Oh man the long nights playing Zelda on my gameboy! ^.^

    KYYAAA

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  33. This is such a nice made post! Thanks man I enjoy reading it!

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  34. Links Awakening was my first Zelda, too! Now that you mentioned it, I feel a strong desire to play it again and relive old memories.

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  35. Zelda is epic bro

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  36. If you like Zelda, check out my blog. I posted some Zelda wallpapers not to long ago.

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  37. I haven't played one since N64 days..

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  38. Definitely a classic. I downloaded this on my wii.

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  39. I love zelda, just about all of them. Good post love the blog.

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  40. Best game ever in my childhood I still play it.. Check out my blog :)

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  41. Everyone i know has or knows someone who played that game. That's how popular it was.

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  42. LOVE ZELDA! Many sleepless nights playing it. Good read and i've subscribed to you!

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  43. ahhhh your background is so bright!!

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  44. Legend of Zelda - Legendary game. I loved it!

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  45. Loved zelda so much, I got the snes remake version for the gameboy advanced and fell in love!

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  46. Everyone loved OOT, but I didn't think it was THEBESTGAMEVER... I must say though it was well made.

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  47. loved the original zelda, defo loving this blog. Following it now :)

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  48. Was fun to watch while friends played

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  49. Link didn't have a name decided for him until after "A link to the past" which didn't refer to his name either. But after that game people started calling him Link and they made "The adventures of Link"

    Lol

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  50. haha zelda is amazing :D :D :D

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  51. Cool story, man!!! Good read.

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  52. @Sir Vitt

    Sorry, not true. Screenshot from the original Legend of Zelda.

    http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/617/screenshot20110526at175.jpg

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  53. @Ematwo

    I agree.
    I haven't played all of the 3D Zeldas though, so I thought I'd recommend it along with WW.

    LA is my all-time favorite anyway, followed by LttP

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  54. I`m a bit ashemed to admit it but all that zelda hype didnt hit here in eastern europe, most gamers dont even know what it even is

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  55. I have never played Zelda for some reason it seems to childlish for me, I played bahamut lagoon, FF 6, Chrono Trigger

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  56. I go back to this game very often, thanks for reminding me of its awesomeness

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  57. I didn't like the old NES versions, too hard for me!!
    You can visit my blog here.

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  58. If i only have time to play this.

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  59. Classic of classics!

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  60. LOL I have never played a Zelda game, and I call myself a gamer? I should be ashamed.

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  61. It's good to know that Legend of Zelda is not forgotten.

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  62. Oh, a peice of link lives on with all of us. ;)

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  63. I think my grandma truly has played Legend of Zelda XD OOT has to my favorite overall though.

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  64. legend of zelda one of the best games ever made!

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  65. Legend of Zelda, such a great game

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  66. ocarina of time :D used to love that old stuff, not too keen on thsi new stuff :/

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  67. I would love to see more ... soon ...

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  68. Love this, can't wait for more.

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  69. Somehow I messed up a link to the past. Never ended up finishing it.

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  70. I forgot to ask. Can you suggest a good N64 emulator for Windows?

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  71. Awesome... love the classics.

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  72. I love this game, i'm gonna play this tonight.

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  73. I used to like windwaker a lot, I'm not really sure how they will hold up on the handheld system though...seems a bit too much console oriented.

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  74. So much nostalgia from this game! Guess I've found something to do instead of revision over the next few weeks :D

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  75. Wind Waker is probably my favorite, because it is the only one I beat. I was too young and stupid to get past the water temple in Ocarina of Time.

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  76. Ocarina of time was the best, but dat Water Temple...was so...annoying...!

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  77. I hate Ocarina of Time, but they're remaking it for the 3DS aren't they?

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  78. Greate review mate, brings back good memories of this game and a few beers.

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  79. Thoguh I'm PC gamer at heart, the Zelda series will always hold a special spot in me.

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  80. I started with Ocarina and then simply loved it!

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  81. Ahhh nostalgia hit me pretty hard here, probably gonna replay it now :l

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  82. One of my all-time favorite games, nice post!

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  83. wow, it's been such a long time ;)

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  84. Great post I love Zelda!
    I've still my old SNES and N64 :D

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  85. Nice post.
    You did say something near the end about preference about playing 3D games, but I don't think windwaker was worth it, well, it was, hell all zelda games are, besides Twilight, but Majora's mask was also a good one.

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  86. The Wind Waker is my absolute favorite, toon Link is just so cute!

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  87. absolutly awesome! nice post. i really like your blog.

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  88. I got to admit, for me, majora's mask is the best zelda ever!

    Love the grimdark story and all the characters! :D

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  89. orcarina of time has the be the best game ever made, period.

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  90. Love the blogs and your page layout/design is fucking stellar. Will be following.

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  91. Just coming back to say how much I loved this post, glad to see you're getting support.

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  92. Big fan of Zelda games! No doubt I'll get the new one once it comes out!

    Now I only need Wii motion plus... Hmm.

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  93. Love the Zelda series. Recently finished Twilight princess (wii) and will probably get Skyward sword when it's released!

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  94. Zelda was the first game i fell in love with!!!!

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  95. Zelda 2 is the only LoZ game I absolutely cannot get into - besides the disastrous CDi games, but we all try to just forget those ever happened.

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