I was about eight or nine years old when I played The Legend of Zelda on the NES for the first time at my neighbor's house. I remember feeling incredibly confident in my Zelda knowledge and gaming abilities, since I had then recently beaten The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the N64 for the first time.
Because they are the same game.
I discovered that The Legend of Zelda on the NES is hard, clunky, and doesn't really offer much in the way of story (given that I skipped the intro at the beginning and didn't have any sort of instruction booklet on-hand), much to my dismay. Several years later, I noticed a recurring sentiment regarding the first Zelda about how it offers very little in terms of "explanation," and instead opts to let the player's sense of curiosity and adventure take them everywhere, instead of being told what to do and where to go by a little glowing fairy-creature. This same style of free-form exploration is reflected again in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game I appreciate very much.
From the time I first played it to now, I have come to appreciate The Legend of Zelda for the NES very much.
Today is the first time I have played Atari's Adventure. I appreciate it tremendously.
My earliest cognizant childhood memories were formed during the time of the GameBoy Pocket and N64, so older arcade games and the Atari 2600 often feel like some kind of relic to me. I've been chipping away at Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration as a means of acquiring much-needed insight into video game history. I played my fair share of Asteroids on a family friend's computer, along with different versions of Breakout, but never had any concrete understanding of how important Atari games were for the context of video gaming as a whole. I'm getting there though, and Adventure was an enormous step for me.
Pong was important.
Breakout was important.
Adventure?
Fuckin' important.
It's got all the sense of wonder and exploration, simple rules, simple colors (out of necessity), and dragons that definitely look like ducks. It's all squares, and leaves much to the imagination. Not much in the way of story, no grandiose plot about being a chosen one, no advanced mechanics. Simply an Adventure.
And if I'm being honest with myself, I like actually playing it more than The Legend of Zelda on NES.
Not more than The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds though.
That one's my favorite. :)
Because they are the same game.
I discovered that The Legend of Zelda on the NES is hard, clunky, and doesn't really offer much in the way of story (given that I skipped the intro at the beginning and didn't have any sort of instruction booklet on-hand), much to my dismay. Several years later, I noticed a recurring sentiment regarding the first Zelda about how it offers very little in terms of "explanation," and instead opts to let the player's sense of curiosity and adventure take them everywhere, instead of being told what to do and where to go by a little glowing fairy-creature. This same style of free-form exploration is reflected again in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game I appreciate very much.
From the time I first played it to now, I have come to appreciate The Legend of Zelda for the NES very much.
Today is the first time I have played Atari's Adventure. I appreciate it tremendously.
My earliest cognizant childhood memories were formed during the time of the GameBoy Pocket and N64, so older arcade games and the Atari 2600 often feel like some kind of relic to me. I've been chipping away at Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration as a means of acquiring much-needed insight into video game history. I played my fair share of Asteroids on a family friend's computer, along with different versions of Breakout, but never had any concrete understanding of how important Atari games were for the context of video gaming as a whole. I'm getting there though, and Adventure was an enormous step for me.
Pong was important.
Breakout was important.
Adventure?
Fuckin' important.
It's got all the sense of wonder and exploration, simple rules, simple colors (out of necessity), and dragons that definitely look like ducks. It's all squares, and leaves much to the imagination. Not much in the way of story, no grandiose plot about being a chosen one, no advanced mechanics. Simply an Adventure.
And if I'm being honest with myself, I like actually playing it more than The Legend of Zelda on NES.
Not more than The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds though.
That one's my favorite. :)