I just want to say that Zelda 1 is my favorite video game of all time. It's good to see someone who "gets it" even though they were born after it was made.

Dont lie, your rewatching this for the 5th time. This is one of the best zelda videos on youtube.

Imagine slapping together a song in a single night and it becomes a worldwide icon for the next 30+ years

Its like it transforms into a completely different game when you start to learn your way around and by the time you know where you're going and what you're doing, it's not the same game anymore.

This review is an excellent reminder of all the things this Game achieved back in 1986. We often take a lot for granted..

Fun fact: You can kill those cat-looking enemies with one hit using arrows. Also: if the enemies called Bubbles hurt you, they prevent you from using your sword but you can remedy this by using the Recorder aka the Whistle!

Its very refreshing to see a review of this games that's not just reiterating the usual spiel of "great for its time, but has aged." I love this game and its great to see more people who appreciate it for its incredible accomplishments! And yes, the manual comes with the game and is part of the experience!

the amount of effort you put into this is pretty impressive, it's a shame you don't have many views atm

This is the best review ever of this amazing game. Being reviewed by a young dude makes it the more interesting. BoTW came close to matching this game. But the traditional myths and legends were unfortunately absent in BoTW.

The boss cries in the distance creeped me out a little as a kid...they should have kept that as a signature feature!

I beat this for the first time earlier this year. Played on NSO with the NES wireless controller and the unofficial manual/guide/map from Handwritten Game Guides. It was such a great time. I agree that this game feels so much more like a Souls game than you'd think given the series.

This game has a special place in my heart. I beat it when I was 7 years old, it is the game that helped me to learn English as well, because in my country there was no localisation for anything at the time. And you needed to understand some of the texts at least to progress (asking my parents for words I didn't get helped me get the idea of where to go, I never realised back then how badly translated it was, to me it all made sense). I have lived this game, this was my world when I wasnt in school. A friend of my had the same, together we discovered all the secrets. I think with have been busy with it for months. Trying everything, burn every bush, bomb every wall. We had drawn our own map with all the secrets. We had our special secret search character on his cardridge, so we always took that cardridge to where we would play together to find the secrets and then progress our own character with all this new knowledge. . What a time that was. Thank you for your awesome vids, you have a new subscriber.

I entered this video absolutely ready to drop approximately 57 insults due to your 4chan ad but I changed my mind halfway through it. Reviewing games from the 80s in depth is pretty interesting

I’m glad you commented on the sound that bosses make when you are in an adjacent role. It’s a very unsettling feeling knowing you are going in to do battle with a beast you can hear from a distance. Cool review, this has been one of my top 3 favorite games since I first played it back in 1989, I’m glad that you gained a true appreciation for it, keep up the good work. -Cast

Really enjoyed this review. I played this game when it first came to the US in the 80s, played it when I was 7yrs old or so. My memories of it are - studying the manual obsessively, making dungeon maps, sharing secrets with friends in school who also were trying to beat the game (under-appreciated by many retro reviews - this was THE GAME, everyone was playing back then), dungeon theme music constantly stuck in my head, trying to bomb every rock and burn every bush, Nintendo Power, and then eventually… the game had no longer secrets to give up and feeling sad about that (still do). As with most things in life, the joy is in the discovery. Look forward to hearing what you think of Zelda II…

Zelda 1 is underrated and underappreciated. I'm glad you are speaking the good word.

This video deserves SO much more views!

You're putting so much effort in these videos. The editing, everything. Great work!

This is one of the best reviews of the OG Zelda that I've watched, man. I would not have expected comparisons to Dark Souls, but I get it. And it's remarkably astute to have pinned the game as a survival more than a puzzle game. I have...SO many great memories tied to this title. I got it for Christmas in 1987, and it instantly swallowed me whole. I still remember devouring the manual and diving in. I remember that it immediately reminded me of the King's Quest games (with which I was equally obsessed), but with more of an emphasis on the action than on puzzles (the real puzzle is just figuring out the way forward). I vividly remember getting sort of stuck early on, hearing my family cooking and preparing lunch in the other room, and feeling warm and excited and completely absorbed in the world. As someone who struggles with major depressive disorder, I don't have a lot of memories that I can say are tied to pure happiness, but in that moment there was nothing wrong with the world. And it's the sort of nostalgia that just remembering it can still reinstill some of those feelings. In the comments to an NESComplex review on the game, I told the story of how I'd not even been aware of the second quest until a friend from school had told me about it. He couldn't find the location of the sixth dungeon, so that night one of us called up the other and we systematically went about finding it and finishing the whole game that night. While trying to warp away from one of the small desert screens east of the first dungeon, I had stumbled across the fact that, in the second quest playing the recorder could open secret rooms on some screens, and that led to finding the sixth dungeon pretty quickly. He's the one who found the eighth, and he beat the game a few minutes before I did. Such an awesome night! I love finding people who can appreciate the first game. I see a lot of opinions that range from unimpressed to complete distaste, often on the basis of not being able to get past the game's age for some reason, and it always breaks my heart to see such a monumentally important, influential, and straight-up _fun_ title dismissed in that way. I respect peoples' opinions, obviously (minus the ones who seem to genuinely believe that it's bad just because it's old), and of course it's a shame-one entirely out of anyone's hands, admittedly-that it's pretty much impossible to experience it the way we did when it was new. But that makes it mean so much more when a player gets past all that to actually *_discover_* the game. It offered so much freedom, and as later games (most of which I also adore) started to feel more and more on rails and hand-holdy, I began to long more and more for a return to what the OG game was doing. I know this is a longer response, and I know I have a tendency to be a bit of a loquacious blowhard, but I love talking about this game and my experiences with it. I wish more of today's younger gamers could see what I saw in it. Now, if I could just get them to discover Starflight and The Fool's Errand... 😃

This game was incredible back in 1987....many a day was spent on the playgrounds with my friends talking about what we discovered the previous night. Made an 8 year old feel like I was really on an adventure....fast forward 30 years to breath of the wild, and I saw people talking about it and sharing tips just like they did back in the day. It was the first time since this one I got that feeling of an adventure again. Looking forward to botw2

I had started to think that nobody could get it if they didn’t play this game as a child, like I did. Watching your video was deeply satisfying, thank you. ❤

This game set so many trends, it's hard to overstate. I'm glad you talked about how many different ways it has inspired games of many different genres, and you're the first person I've heard comment on the similarities to the OG Dark Souls. Thank you!

Kudos on your well description of this special game. It does my heart glad to see young men like yourself sharing the classics as you do. You get it! And love it! RESPECT!

Great point about how particularly satisfying it is to beat this.

Yet another old head coming thru to say how great it is that the classics can still be truly and actually appreciated, and how well done this review is. The social aspects of the game were really amazing to go through. Imagine this being your favorite game, you've explored everywhere, you've memorized the map, but you're just a kid so you don't know where most of the hidden stuff is. So you're left trying to trial-and-error brute force your way through this. Bombing every wall, burning every tree, every actual discovery accompanied by jumping up and shouting in victory (followed by a huge letdown when it's just a 10 rupee guy -_-). Then you go to 1st grade at a new school, and you see a kid next to you has doodled a triforce on his book cover. You're instantly best friends, and each of you knows about secrets the other one didn't know about. It was...magical. And we're still great friends today lol

I just discovered your channel a few days ago and you are quickly becoming one of my favorite video game reviewers. I am from the NES generation and I really like that you are tackling these great games from my childhood. Watching you play, Zelda 1, Zelda 2, Metroid, and Kid Icarus, and giving these well thought out descriptions in full grasp of these masterpieces really warms my heart.

You don't have to call them "Rubies" to honor the game. It's actually a mistranslation in the English manual. It was always rupees. I think the original it was spelled "rupies" though which got mistranslated as "rubies." Also, on the whistle warp direction thing - it's not that it takes you to the nearest dungeon you're facing, but rather, it goes in ascending or descending order based on whether you're facing right or left. In your footage, you're facing right and use it a few times in a row, and it takes you from 3 to 4, then 5. If you turned left and did it again it would take you back to 4, etc. And as you mentioned, only the ones you've beaten will be in the loop. Great review, I really enjoyed the video.

With the whistle, if you face up or right, you'll go to the next number dungeon UP (i.e. if you're standing near dungeon 4, it will take you to dungeon 5). If you face down or left, you'll go to the next number dungeon DOWN (i.e. if you're standing near dungeon 4, it will take you to dungeon 3).

Great review, Thanks for taking the time, loved this game as a kid in the 80's, love me some NES

I first played this game when I was just 5. I’m a 90s kid but my dad had his old NES and introduced us to this great game. At the time, I thought it was a fascinating adventure but I could never get past the first dungeon, haha. Now that I’ve finished it multiple times, I’m sure it was the most innovative adventure game ever made.

This is the best break down of Zelda 1 I have ever seen. Fantastic work. I might assign this to my students in my class.

I was trying to finally finish this game on an android emulator, following a walkthrough throughout the entire game until I watched this video. After seeing your similar history with the game and how you came to appreciate it, I decided to start over on my NES Classic using only a PDF of the manual and Nintendo Power Issue #1 for the second quest. Even if the NESClassic's emulation isn't the best, the game immediately felt so much more immersive, I ended up appreciating this open ended Zelda design more than any other game after it, and even inspired me to give Dark Souls another chance after all these years. In the manual, there's a section on how to play with a friend by taking turns with two different save files, so i decided to try that out for myself, discovering and sharing secrets together felt like the way Zelda was meant to be played, much like Pokémon Red&Blue were. All of this changed my view of Zelda 1 from an outdated masterpiece of its Era, to a timeless classic that's often misunderstood at first glance. Your videos really helped me appreciate the NES in ways I never would have before. Keep up the amazing work!

FINALLY! Someone who get's it! People say that this game is dated or flawed in ways it simply isnt

It really is a fantastic game. Even now I can't think of many other games that have managed to inspire the same feeling of awe and excitement in their open worlds. The lack of simple directions made finding every dungeon and heart upgrade an adventure.

I don't usually watch KZfaq videos twice but this is a really excellent retrospective. I was born in '88 and I first played the original Zelda in the mid-nineties. As a kid, the lack of any information made it a true adventure because i was just enchanted. I didn't even realize there was an ultimate goal when I was 7 or 8. It was a lot like Pitfall for Atari. It was just about managing to survive long enough to get farther and see more.

I was born in 1981 and I played this game as soon as it was available in Italy (early 1987). I wasn't even 6 years old, and the only version available was the North American English NES cartridge. Imagine a little child who doesn't speak a single word of English going around and beating the game. My game companion was my cousin who was 7, and we played a life each. We were mesmerized by the adventure, the feels, the music, the complexity. It is still my favorite game of all time, it's a piece of art. Now I also own the 25th year anniversary orchestral OST. Thanks for this video, I almost got emotional. Edit: I forgot to mention that the NES version was 2 games in one! After beating the game, you had another version of the overworld and the 9 dungeons. Different positions of everything on the map, dungeons shaped differently, but same enemies, same bosses, same kind of mysteries to be discovered (but in different places), same progression and feeling of improvement. We were so shocked and happy that we obviously beat the second quest as well! 😍🗡️❤️

This is my all-time favorite game. Great retrospective. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!

A job well done! Excellent review. You have a new subscriber.

Great video - I have seen many Zelda videos. This one stood out as a good review. Love the fact you actually brought the manual in as an important part of the experience. Almost all games today can only be experienced through the screen. Rarely do they offer much of a mystery in the way of old classics... (... to be fair to modern games. The internet and youtube have killed most of the need and possibliity for mystery and speculation.)

You have a killer voice and diction. Keep it up man and you’re gonna go big, I guarantee it. 🤘🏼subscribed.

Your channel is without question my favorite game channel that I've subscribed to in the past few years. 👍👍👍

This is a legit video my man! It deserves 50k views for sure! Thanks bro, got my nostalgia fix and ready to dive back into this Magnificent classic!

This is an excellent video. Thank you.

This video's thumbnail makes me want to kiss you. Zelda 1 was my favorite of the series before Breath of the Wild released, and I was really sad to see the series become more and more linear with time. I am really happy to know that you are enjoying finding the greatness of these old classics as I once did in my teenage years(mid 2000's)

Truly an all time classic. I still find myself compelled to play the original zelda again every few years at least. And yes, if you're going to play it, you have to commit to this being the one game you're playing while you're in it. Just like it would have been back in the day.

This was the game that changed my life and this video did it justice perfectly. Described that sense of mystery/discovery/exploration which lured me into gaming so well, how it sparked my imagination to test every single bush/rock/wall for some kind of secret. Future Zelda games have been hit/miss for me (I think Breath of the Wild came closest out of the 3D titles) but I don't think any will ever top the original in my mind.

Love your channel dude! Been watching all these classics!

Playing it right, and wow this game really is an open world classic, loving it so far thank god theres manuals online without those i'll be so lost bruh

I was 11 when Zelda 1 came out on the NES in America. This game was so hugely, stupendously, incredibly popular when it came out in 1986. I beat it on the Zelda game and watch last year. There was nothing like it at the time and set the stage for the Zelda series for decades to come. Legendary game for sure.

Really interesting video! Keep it up

I played it when it was new. Was groundbreaking and amazing then. Still awesome!!! True classic

Very good review! I enjoyed watching it and revisiting Zelda 1. If you want to up the difficulty I recomend the second quest. Harder enemies with different abilities, new dungeon and shop locations. If I remember correctly some of the dungeons also have new maps. You can start second quest right after beating the first quest or by typin ZELDA as your name. One more thing, the cat like enemies you can one shot kill with the bow and arrow. Very useful as they often drop rubies. Looking forward to your Zelda II review, my favourite in the whole series.

Thank you so much for being so extremely respectful. I am from the age when Zelda came out, and the game was made for kids my age. The game was absolutely precious to me, and I learned it very well. Now so many years have passed, and I have deeply played so many games, and yet Zelda 1 is still about my 4th or 5th favorite video game ever. I play it often, even to this day. It really bothers me to hear young people disrespect the original Legend of Zelda, or even when they slightly disrespect it. I always know that they simply do not understand the game. It's not just highly influential and trail blazing of a game, as you correctly pointed out- but it is also just an enduringly fun game. It's also not just nostalgic for me. The game is just fun through and through. So thank you for treating it with such respect. I remember how fun it was when I very first played it- back when I was not particularly good at it- and that was insanely fun. Now, I am actually very good at it, and I can report, it's even more fun when you know the game as well as I do. I'm so glad to see that you get it. I think I can tell that you get it. I really appreciated your description of how you should play the game, and I absolutely agree. You should play it with zero lag (personally I believe it must be played on a real NES with a real CRT), and you should play it with real intent to actually play through it (back when we were kids in NES days in the 80s, we didnt have the hundreds of other video games that we could turn to, so we had no choice but to take our video games VERY seriously, and actually learn how to play them, despite how hard they were). But, it is actually rupees in Zelda 1, not rubies (im not even sure what made you think it is called rubies in Zelda 1)- it's rupees. And the monsters in the lakes are called Zolas not Zoras. Zoras were an Ocarina of Time invention. Zolas are from Zelda 1. Great review. Keep playing Zelda, it never ever gets boring, ever. It's a deeper game than you may realize. I am still learning amazing things about it, ever after decades of worshipping this game. And I know that there is more even for me to learn. it's a surprisingly deep game.

KZfaq is on a mission of feeding me all the zelda 1 and 2 retrospectives and analyst videos

Your video inspired me to revisit this game. I had written it off as outdated. I played it for the first time in 1994 when I was four years old. You're right. This game seemed ancient even back then. When I beat Gannon and the music swelled, I just stood there in the silence. As the Triforce sits in the pile of gore there is no music. It was powerful. I couldn't believe I finally did it!

Most people believe that Shigeru Miyamoto made this game, it's rare to find a video where the game's other designer Takashi Tezuka is credited. Also, I think this game could work with just a d-pad that isn't horrible, a screen with very low input lag, and no save states. And remember: if you feel lost or overwhelmed, that's intentional.

Great stuff, man. We're about the same age and I've had similar experiences going back to retro games. I loved the editing and narration. I really enjoyed your insights and the fact you shared your previous experience with the game. And even with all your "like..." haha, you've got a good voice for narration. Keep it up. Subbed. Btw, what did you think of the music and sound effects? (I found this video from Sean Malstrom's blog too. It's a great read for insightful and contrarian opinions on the state of modern gaming and Nintendo.)

Aca en mexico a la mayoria nos toco jugarlo en la nes sin el mapa ni guia y lo mas loco era que en muchas ocaciones la pila fallaba de modo que tenias que iniciar todo de nuevo en cada jugada aun asi lo tengo muy presente como uno de los mejores juegos que jugue. increible reseña

Weird to think Zelda has literally been around my whole life since I was born a month after the first one came out. It's one of the earliest games I remember because we would rent it, screw around a bit and never get very far. It was just enough to get a sense of the epic scope of that world and the artistic interpretations that accompanied those first two games made a deep impression on me. I went back to play it as an adult and got to Ganon but didn't have the special arrows to beat him. Unfortunately, I was playing on an emulator site and it got taken down before I could complete it. I definitely want to go back again and do the game justice with a legit version.

I'm so happy the younger generation is finding these old games. I didn't beat it until the early 90s. Maybe when I was 10. SNES Link to the past was a complete masterpiece

Nicely done. 👍

Pretty great, I play it every several years or so

This is a super fun video. Also born in 92 this is my favorite game of all time. You captured the vibe and feel perfectly. I'm pretty sure even the first boomerang can kill the bats and tiny goo monsters. Also I'm pretty sure only the manual said rubies and even this early game had rupees in the text in game. I could be mistaken on those facts its been a while. I have a cool gameboy advance version.

Well done brother. I never knew the bait actually attracted enemies. Only thing I saw you missed was the bunnies are one shot with an arrow.

That ending must be the understatement of the century. Either way the thing about the Level 7 dungeon is that there is an old man that gives a hint that there is something to be found on the nose

I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it in these comments but the 2022 video game Tunic is the only game I’ve played that comes the closest to what it’s like to play the original Zelda for the first time, I absolutely recommend it

I'm using the zelda game & watch and I like it. It's my favourite game. ❤

Just found this video, and I'm glad I did. It was a great watch. By the by, I didn't see anyone else mention it, apologies if someone did, but the cat-like enemies "Pols Voice" dies in one hit to the arrow in the English version. Hell, a single arrow can clean through a line of them. They're good about dropping rupees, too.

i didn't realize how many people didn't know they needed the manual to play this game until just a few years ago. It was just one of those things that we always did. Now master quest that had no map help that wasn't behind buying a guide that neither me nor my best friend had access to as we were pretty broke. So we would each take turns mapping out a dungeon in the master quest with all the secrets and such and trade them at school.

Great review! I had to buy Zelda 2 as my first NES purchase, because 1 was out of stock all of the time. It was waaaaaaay different, but after beating both (took over a year each for me due to lack of guides) I prefer 2 as a game, but definitely get a different kind of special feeling from 1. 1’s lack of complex art was somehow more immersive to me, like reading a book. Whereas 2 and later games brought a complexity to combat that moved the series into the “action game” or “interactive movie” part of my brain. Both are classics and since you could see past the “antiquated” bits of this one I think you’d get a kick out of 2 as well. Don’t be afraid to use a guide though.

I grew up playing this game. I loved it every since.

I played this on the GameCube with the stick and not so great pad. I broke the stick or wore it out the rest of the way. Got a wave bird. Played Zelda II on the 3DS and eventually decided to Gamegrumps to help me out. I pushed back on help for a while until I think the second to last dungeon to find needed things in the over world. I didn’t get I needed to give the note to the old man because the game itself doesn’t remind you of objectives.

Like no cap…..I watch a lot of gaming videos on KZfaq….like a lot…. This is by far one of the best reviews of a game in general that I’ve seen in awhile…or ever….Fucking good job dude!!! Deff got a sub from me!

It’s funny seeing a guy 5 years older than me played an older zelda so much later. I was born in 97, first saw Zelda 1 in the fairy minigame in Warioware Touched on DS, then played some of it on Zelda Collector’s edition for gamecube in like 2007

Fantastic video of my favorite game of all time. Since you have a working Famicom disk system I’d say try to get your hands on a copy of the mysterious Murasame castle. It’s to Zelda what Kid Icarus is to Metroid

Legendary game love the dungeon soundtrack 👌

Zelda 1 was my first Zelda game in 1987. I was always disappointed with the series since Link to the Past because of how the games got less open until thankfully Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom went back to Zelda 1's original formula. Good video.

Greetings from the BIG SKY. That's the same word I'd use, too.

Absolutely agree. Such a good game, hell, even the manual isn't necessary as the game naturally lends itself to that exploration mindset and the dungeons do things which should make any curious player do stuff in the overworld.

As a kid, I completely identified exploring with Shigeru Miyamoto, but at the time I didn't even know. "Take this it's dangerous to go alone!"

Don't sleep on the second quest. As mind-blowing as the dungeon designs are in the 1st, they are that much more in the 2nd. It is an absolute treat (aside from two completely obscure dungeon locations....)

I saw this video and wanted to check out the og zelda with a new eye on things. Loving my time with the game so far

The reason I think we don't feel a story is needed in this game is because it has a sandbox feel to it, even without randomization and complex Interactions modern sandbox games have. The game is the same every time, but everyone creates his on personal adventures and stories playing it. I love to hear the experiences of someone who just finished it for the first time. Makes me notice how immersive this simple game is because of its amazing design.

LoZ was the second game I got on NES, (counting the super Mario/duck hunt that came bundled) and it blew me away. I spent months beating that game. The manual advised not to use the map which came sealed with a sticker and I refused to use it. I fell in love with the series and have been a fanboy ever since playing every title I could get my hands on.

I completed this game for the first time this year (2023) on the Game & Watch released in 2021, before that, I didn't really care for it. I wish I had, because I enjoyed it thoroughly. It has its weaknesses, sure, but it's a great way to pass some time, specially on such a portable format. It became one of my favorites not long after I started playing, it hooked me more than I ever thought it would.

I wish they'd make more 2d but updated Zelda games which are more like tloz and link to the past. As much as the 3d games are great the 2d versions are what I first played.

Zelda 1 is on my top 5 list of all time. Love love love it

My favourite game of all time. I know all of it, all discovered by spending full weekends playing for months back in late 80s.

I like how “the binding of Isaac” revamped the dungeon stages!

Finally I got here.

i think i think zelda 1 is best experienced with a guide after the second dungeon at that point to got lost for a couple hours and had a lot more fun following a rough guide

I play with the NES switch original controller. That goes for all the reissues for online N64 or SNES. The are an exact replica

So your statement about how you get to be able to recognize when something seems off (why is there no fairy in this lake?) is exactly the reason that you would have found level 7 even without previous knowledge. Speaking as one of the lucky ones who lived this game when it came out, when you found something like that, and you knew there was something hidden there, you would go back to that spot every time you got a new item and try it out there. Memories are hazy now, but I'm fairly certain I made a bee-line to that exact screen when I got the recorder.

Awesome video. I'm tired of people claiming this game "aged badly" and needs a ""better"" version. It's true adventure, and discovery, what it lacks in narrative compensates in adventure (something that Skyward Sword represents the opposite of everything in favor of a "good" narrative). And second quest dungeons are HUGE as dungeon 9 omg.

The bait also serves as a way to draw monsters, especially overworld monsters, put it on the group and the monsters will be attracted by it.

That’s so funny, I also made the Dark Souls comparisons, especially early in the game.

Cool.

Pretty good video, but you make a mistake early on: Link is collecting the Triforce of _Wisdom_ - it's in Adventure of Link that he collects the Triforce of Courage (or "Triforce No. 2" as it was called then)

THANK YOU!! I have been arguing that dark souls is the spiritual successor to LoZ since the first time I booted up dark souls in 2012.

It's crazy beating this game before Internet cheating was a thing. Before Internet was even a thing. All of the secrets that you spent days finding... Just an epic quest. Still to this day I've never researched any "help" to any game. It takes the thrill of surprise away and it kills the good feelings you get when you find something awesome. It took me 4 years to finish BotW 💯. Now, I'm currently 100+hrs in TotK and I'm probably 10% finished...