The Legend of Zelda created an experience like no other that changed the concept of videogames forever. Although the platform limitations could potentially be seen as a negative and causing the game to be “aging badly” it’s arguably one of its strongest points. Not being able to consult a map through the game itself but having to decode the one in the games manual is fun and takes you back to a time long gone, as well as having to look for exploration hints in it, which sometimes are a little too cryptic, but still satisfying if understood. The gameplay is solid and never renders items obsolete, enemy variety is surprisingly vast although its use eventually creates one of the most frustrating parts of the game, with dungeons being filled to the brim not leaving room for error, ever. The unforgiving nature of early videogames is very much felt, which after awhile I just couldnt stand and started to use save states to create a better experience for myself.
The world of Hyrule of course is not yet the whimsical landscape we know of today, but its quirks already show through the small bits of dialogue the game offers.
Despite it all, the beginning of my journey into the Zelda series surprised me and gave me an experience I could have never anticipated enjoying this much. I look back fondly at this game, it only solidified my love for this franchise even more.

This game is hard (like really hard) without following a guide.

The gameplay loop is simple but fun: explore the map to find a dungeon, clear said dungeon by killing the boss, recover the tri-force piece, repeat. While fun, the lack of an in-game map makes navigation cumbersome and made the exploration feel tedious at times. Combat is basic, with simple swordplay and items like the bow and boomerang, but enemy AI can feel clunky and the controls felt unresponsive at times (maybe the pro controllers D-pad is to blame).

The story is a classic "save the princess" tale with minimal dialogue, typical of NES titles, but I can see how much of an influence it had for future entries.

Visually I found the game to be very charming and I thought it held up well for its age. One of the standout features is definitely the music, which remains iconic. I'd catch myself sitting on the title screen just to let it play.

As a fan of the Zelda franchise I'm glad I gave this a chance just for the historical relevance if nothing else. It had some fun moments and I can respect and appreciate that this laid the foundation for future games, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to replay.

Love a game that just drops you into a place and says "Figure it out." Great balance between action gameplay and a need for a more cerebral approach. It feels so good to play, so smooth and visceral, but at the same time it's not a pure action game. It requires thinking, remembering, planning. There's huge map to explore and uncover secrets. Tough as nails dungeons that are so rewarding to conquer. And it got so much right so near the beginning of all this. It makes me sad that so many others don't feel the greatness of this anymore.

Not to sound super pretentious but I think a lot of people who played this game much later and don't really get it can't really appreciate how amazing this game is, It really isn't like BotW(though BotW took inspiration from it obv). You aren't meant to just be thrown into the world and "figure it out" You certainly can do that and nothing is stopping you but the game is intended to be played with the manual, so much so that the PDF for the manual is available through Nintendo.

The manual has the overworld map just filled out enough to get you started and help you find some neat equips, it has the 1st and 2nd dungeon completely filled out, It also shows you how to use the maps properly so you don't get lost in later dungeons which is really neat, on top of that it teaches you what each item does, what the enemies do. It really does a lot without holding your hand and I feel like that got lost in translation the older the game got. So PLEASE! If you play this game do it with the manual!

I realized after playing the entire Zelda series as well as King's Field/Dark Souls that this game has way more in common with King's Field and Dark Souls than what Zelda would eventually turn into, which obviously isn't a bad thing it's just really neat to see that. This game isn't really that puzzle heavy it certainly has puzzles but you're mostly fighting and just trying to survive more than solving puzzles. I don't really to expect people to get Zelda 1 and people typically are harsh to the first entry in the series in a long running series but I believe this game still holds up, and hell when it was a newer game this game was so value. Having a Second quest that completely changes the map and gives you some exclusive bosses. I think it's neat that with BotW they took inspiration from the first to ever do it but they didn't really take anything other than surface level stuff.

IN CONCLUSION: This game is great, so is the one after.

I can totally see how this game was revolutionary back then. It's great the focus on exploration and pure adventure it has. It's all down to the player too (kind of). I mean it made sense back in 1986 for games to be this hard and filled with bullshit - like exploding random walls that look exactly the same as all the others to progress.

I played this for like 4 hours with no guide, managing to get 1 piece of the Trifoce (from the 1st dungeon) and 4 items from other random dungeons. But mostly I was grinding like CRAZY to get rupees. It's insane how long this would take to beat blindly.

After seeing a guide it got way easier and way more fun to be fair. The combat is fun, even though the controls haven't aged particularly well. The dungeons are pretty cool too. The overworld gets pretty repetitive, but it's crazy to think that the only truly open world Zelda games are the first and the latest.

Had a fun time and can't wait to play the rest of the series, as this is my second Zelda game ever. Played Wind Waker recently and loved it so much I decided to play through the whole series in order. Sort of a video games through the times experiment. Can't say I'm looking forward to Zelda II from what everbody says lmao. Definitely playing with a guide from the get go.

randomly decided to go through all the Zelda games in order so this is the start of that. When I was younger I was super into Zelda, and it’s weird that somehow along the way I lost that aspect. Playing this brought back many memories of that time in my life, I can vividly remember how life felt, things that were going on in my life; pausing the game, having to go out to eat with family,,,I remember these kinds of insignificant details that were involved around my life and Zelda because it really was a huge part of my identity growing up. At that age, maybe 11 or 12? I had feelings of “I got into Zelda way too late in life” it’s funny our view of life at that age is such a small percentage of living, so I think back now and it’s nice to realize that i did actually grow up with this series. You think your childhood is over 6th 7th 8th grade, but it’s not! You are making important memories and replaying this helped me find that realization. Anyway, it’s a generally a great NES game especially because of saving! after all these years I still know the exact path to take to fully prepare yourself for the first dungeon with extra hearts and the bombs. It’s the Legend of Zelda and it’s truly is rad! Go link!

Side Note: Seeing Legend of Neil many many times over the years made playing this quite hilarious as I just would quote that series constantly while playing

With games where you practically require a guide, it feels that your enjoyment will derive from how good the walkthrough you're using is. One of the people I follow on here mentioned that the guide provided by IGN doesn't make much sense, so just in case that is true, USE THIS GUIDE: https://www.zeldadungeon.net/the-legend-of-zelda-walkthrough/ . It tells you exactly where to go and what to do, no waffling or bs.

Even without a guide, this game can be fun. Just jumping in and seeing what you can find or discover is a great time.

If this game wasn't so cryptic, and had better hints (and if the darknuts didn't exist, I FUCKING HATE THEM SO MUCH STOP TURNING AROUND I HATE DEATH MOUNTAIN), the rating would be alot higher, but I used a guide so idk what i'm talking about. All in all, its pretty good. Not sure Zelda 2 will hold up to that standard though lmao

Durante mi semana que me dió por jugar juegos retro me encontré con este dolor de huevos, un mapa con el que si no fuera por una guía estaría mas perdido que su madre, una dificultad en el combate que parece que estoy jugando a ver quien tiene la vga más grande contra un ngro y una historia y pistas más ausentes que mis ganas de vivir.
Pero aun y con todos estas desventajas o a mi punto de vista, aciertos, me dió un sentimiento de alegría tan grande cuando lo terminé y me di cuenta de que experimenté uno de los juegos que marcó un antes y un después en la historia de los videojuegos, fue algo mágico el ver y comparar el pasado a la actualidad y comprender porqué todo pasó como pasó.