Remarkably, the good majority of Zelda holds up in the current day. It's interesting to hear people call this a "guide game" in a negative lens because... that's always how it was marketed and sold to us. The manual that comes with the game not only expands quite a deal on the story and context of this first entry, but includes gorgeous artwork and maps - complete with walkthroughs for the first few dungeons - to get a new player started. This was indeed always meant to be an adventure, one the player would get their nose lost in manuals, handwritten notes and drawings, and of course not the least of which murmurings and tips passed between friends in the schoolyard and the fabled Nintendo hotline.

That said, the original Zelda experience isn't without flaw, for all of its adventure purist expression. I think Miyamoto and the team learned pretty quickly that an indicator for which bushes to burn, which boulders and walls to bomb, and stronger guidance for the sake of general gameplay flow were all in order by the time Link to the Past would roll around. The combat so desperately wants Link to have an arced swing of his sword, evidenced by how much combat relies on inter-tile maneuvering, but it's not quite there yet. Still a massive step in the right direction from the competitions' push-combat approach... much as I do like early Ys. What's here is still very solid, and a great deal of fun. I just replayed this with my best friend in an impromptu single session and it didn't drag at all. For as minimal and bare-bones as Zelda feels now, that adds to the unique charm and status it takes within its series and adventure games as a whole.

Revolucionário para a época, porém muito ultrapassado. Achei lento, difícil e chato. Marcante por ser o primeiro da saga, mas no como jogo em si.

Gameplay: 0,5
Gráficos: 0,5
Trilha sonora: 0,5
História: 0,5
Game design: 0

I'll probably get some flack for this, but pretty much any Zelda game is better than the first one, at least from my perspective. I get it was supposed to evoke the feeling of getting lost exploring a vast world, but literally getting lost isn't my idea of fun or engaging gameplay. Every time I attempt this without a guide, I run around aimlessly & get beat up by Octorocks. I'm beyond glad that this game laid the groundwork for an awesome franchise to bloom from... but eh, the original LOZ just isn't a whole lot of fun for me.

Out of the Original Five™ (Tower of Druaga, Hydlide, Dragon Slayer, Gauntlet, and TLOZ), to me TLOZ is both the most boring of the bunch. I tried playing the original multiple times: it didn't hit. I tried playing the Satellaview remake: I zoned out. It's not entirely its fault, because the previous Four were also flawed in some shape or form, either because of lack of direction or being obtuse. But Tower of Druaga and Gauntlet had a lot of immediacy while Hydlide and Dragon Slayer had a progression system through fun mindless grinding. Zelda has neither of those.

It's very polished for the era and whatever ideas it didn't steal from Hydlide or Tower of Druaga are cool, but it's just not as interesting as its predecessors. But sure, when it released it was the most advanced fantasy game... for about 5 months before Return of Ishtar jumped past everyone. Honestly I think The Mysterious Murasame Castle used the smooth overhead fantasy action formula much better despite its obscurity (it was released the same year by Nintendo too!!!).

Beating every Zelda in timeline order 17/20:

The Legend of Zelda is a game that needs to be experienced in the context of the time it released. I've heard again and again how fun it was to discover secrets and share them with your friends. Figuring out how the world works and making incremental progress to strengthen Link is the whole game. And I'm sure it was really good at that in 1986. Yeah, I used a guide for the whole thing (minus the dungeons), got all the good items immediately and made a beeline for each of the dungeons. And for the most part, the game is still a good time. I think I do appreciate how much it trusts the player to just figure it out. It's not the game's job to make sure you win, it's your job to beat it, despite everything.
And boy, levels 6-9 (7 not so much) are brutal. Which is where most of my frustration comes from. It stops being difficult (good connotation) and starts being an NES game (bad connotation). Death Mountain especially just feels like the devs loaded every single room with wizzrobes for no other reason than to piss me off. It feels like a 10 year old putting 5 Bowsers on screen at once in Mario Maker and calling the level "FINAL BOSS!!!!" The Ganon fight? Horrible.

The Legend of Zelda is a product of its time for better or for worse, and although I mostly still had a good time with it, I'm seething with rage and I do not want to play it ever again.

La exaltación de un recuerdo de niñez reavivado en la forma más pura de aventura.

Ante la aparente limitación y la imposibilidad, se elevan la inteligencia (aquello que permite diseñar y unir las piezas que conforman la totalidad de una obra) y la sensibilidad (la capacidad de dotar al conjunto de un impacto y significado mayor) para dar paso a la posibilidad y la maravilla.

Esa unión es la clave para concebir un mundo tan rico como Hyrule: inhóspito, desafiante, pero también intrigante, poético y evocador. En cada una de sus pantallas aguarda una posible historia, un secreto por descubrir, una bifurcación de caminos donde coexiste el desafío de la navegación junto a la tensión del combate para dar como resultado la lucha por la supervivencia, una lucha donde cada acción y decisión importan frente a estas tierras totalmente indiferentes a nosotros.

Es esa indiferencia la que enfatiza el desafío de esta aventura y su naturaleza indómita por medio de la escasez de recursos, de parajes laberínticos, de supervivientes reticentes, de enemigos impredecibles y de misterios que se ocultan a simple vista. Hyrule se resiste a nosotros y, en consecuencia, buscamos prevalecer pese a la adversidad. Todo ello a través de los ojos de un niño como lo es nuestro protagonista, quien, guiado por su sentido de la justicia y armado con su pericia y valor, afronta los peligros de este reino en ruinas doblegado por la barbarie.

Un niño frente al mundo. Parece un esfuerzo fútil, ridículo, casi imposible, pero con cada derrota, con cada descubrimiento y con cada victoria superamos los límites conocidos. Crecemos. Una vez superada la percepción de esos límites, la figura de ese niño se engrandece. El valor ilumina nuestra senda, revela el mundo y da paso a la posibilidad.
Solo entonces ocurre la maravilla.
Solo así nace la leyenda.