Despite the structural similarities, this is a fundamentally different kind of game than a modern Zelda. From the first glance at the manual, it's clear that this is concerned first and foremost with secrets. The game is crammed chock full of hidden passages and actions, and past a certain point simply can't be progressed without learning to look in every nook and cranny. Even the manual itself slyly hides crucial information in plain sight.
Later Zeldas translated this preoccupation into a focus on puzzles, which has a totally different feeling. Where those games feel like going through the motions, performing a dance choreographed by the designer, Zelda 1 encourages a sense that any wall might hide an incredible treasure and in doing so makes the entire world feel magical. There's a risk in doing so that the game locks itself off from too much of its audience, but I at least was able to get through it with nary a glance at the wiki (and only gentle hinting as to the location of one optional item).
This game's other major interest, much more to its detriment, is combat. Because this game is less interested in puzzles, the dungeon design is structured much more like a gauntlet of combat challenges than anything else, and this gets old fast. Towards the end of the game, each room feels like it could just as easily have been procedurally generated, with a handful of enemies randomly selected from among Bubbles, Like-Likes, Darknuts (fuck those guys), and Wizrobes (FUCK THOSE GUYS)... occasionally with fireball-spewing statues thrown in for good measure.
The end result is a combat system that careens between trivial (most of the overworld sections) and nigh-impossible with very few points where it actually feels both relevant and fun. Making matters worse, most of the really heinous enemies are immune to the late-game weapon treasures, making those treasures largely irrelevant in turn. I've never been a big fan of Zelda combat in later iterations, and I guess they come by that shortcoming honestly.
Later Zeldas translated this preoccupation into a focus on puzzles, which has a totally different feeling. Where those games feel like going through the motions, performing a dance choreographed by the designer, Zelda 1 encourages a sense that any wall might hide an incredible treasure and in doing so makes the entire world feel magical. There's a risk in doing so that the game locks itself off from too much of its audience, but I at least was able to get through it with nary a glance at the wiki (and only gentle hinting as to the location of one optional item).
This game's other major interest, much more to its detriment, is combat. Because this game is less interested in puzzles, the dungeon design is structured much more like a gauntlet of combat challenges than anything else, and this gets old fast. Towards the end of the game, each room feels like it could just as easily have been procedurally generated, with a handful of enemies randomly selected from among Bubbles, Like-Likes, Darknuts (fuck those guys), and Wizrobes (FUCK THOSE GUYS)... occasionally with fireball-spewing statues thrown in for good measure.
The end result is a combat system that careens between trivial (most of the overworld sections) and nigh-impossible with very few points where it actually feels both relevant and fun. Making matters worse, most of the really heinous enemies are immune to the late-game weapon treasures, making those treasures largely irrelevant in turn. I've never been a big fan of Zelda combat in later iterations, and I guess they come by that shortcoming honestly.