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.

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!!!).