Retro Review: Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda has been a major influence on the role-playing game genre.
By JAKOB W. BARKER
SNN Staff Writer
It has been nearly 26 years since the Legend of Zelda came to American shores, and despite the franchise only selling about 60 million copies over the series’ existence, it has managed to ingrain itself into both gaming and pop culture.
The game has evolved much since its early days: from an overhead perspective of the early 2D games, to the side-scrolling nature of the second game, to the modern third-person perspective of the 3D games. None of this, however, could have happened without the first step being made: the original Legend of Zelda.
Released in America on Aug. 22, 1987, the game was a surprising hit, becoming the first Nintendo Entertainment System game to sell over one million copies.
The Legend of Zelda has been a major influence on the role-playing game genre. While early games like Dragon Slayer existed, it took the Legend of Zelda to make the sub-genre popular. It was also one of the first games to feature non-linear gameplay and the first to have battery-powered saving. (Previous games used a password system to start at a certain point instead of actually saving a player’s progress.)
Despite being so old, the game manages to play surprisingly well. Unlike many games over 15 years old, picking it up and playing on a whim comes easily, with minimal time spent getting used to the controls. Movement is simple with a Direction-pad, while the A button uses your sword and the B button uses the item equipped. While it is slightly bothersome to have to keep going to the pause menu to switch which item is equipped, it is a minor complaint in the end.
The game overall can be rather tough for those who aren’t expecting it, especially when it comes to actually finding the dungeons without a guide.
However, once you settle into the flow of the game, it does get slightly easier while still remaining a good challenge throughout. Of course, if you ever wanted to up the
challenge, you could always do the “Second Quest,” which is basically an alternative version of the game with different dungeon locations and layouts, and is overall a tougher game.
The Legend of Zelda has helped to define a generation. Those of you who grew up playing it know this, while those of you who never played it missed out on something great.