I believe it was mind blowing back in 1986. Tons of mechanics + some imagination, and here you go, a perfect adventure for a young late 80's NES gamer. However, it's hard to imagine how one can beat the game without using walkthrouhs. The only imaginable alternative is spending hundreds of hours figuring our where to put a bomb to unlock the next dungeon. Limitations of the platform make controls clunky which is not a good thing also. It's a 3/5 from me.