NES-Hacks: Your home for Wii and DS Hacking!

The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説, Zeruda no Densetsu?) is a video game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to rescue Princess Zelda from the primary antagonist, Ganon, by collecting the eight fragments of the Triforce, a powerful artifact.

As the inaugural game of The Legend of Zelda series, it was first released in Japan as a launch title for the Famicom's Disk System peripheral, a year and five months before it was released in the United States. Because the Famicom Disk System was not released outside Japan, the game was published internationally on the Nintendo Entertainment System's cartridge format in 1987, with an internal battery to facilitate data saving. Nintendo released the game in Japan in 1994 on cartridge format for the Famicom.

Gameplay

When The Legend of Zelda was released, its gameplay defied categorization. The game incorporated elements from action games, adventure games, role-playing games, and puzzle games. The game begins with the player controlling Link from an overhead perspective, armed with a small shield. A sword becomes available to Link if he ventures into the cave, accessible from the beginning screen. When the game starts, Link spawns in the overworld, a large outdoor map with varied environments. Throughout the game, merchants, gamblers, old ladies, and other people guide Link with cryptic clues. These people are scattered across the overworld and hidden in caves, shrubbery, or behind walls and water falls

Barring Link's progress are creatures he must battle to locate the entrances to nine underground dungeons. Each dungeon is a unique, maze-like collection of rooms connected by doors and secret passages and guarded by monsters different from those found on the overworld. Link must successfully navigate each dungeon to obtain one of the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom. Dungeons also hide useful items, such as a boomerang for retrieving items and stunning enemies, and a recorder with magical properties. The first six dungeons have visible entrances, but the entrances to the remaining three dungeons are hidden. Except for the final dungeon, which cannot be entered until the previous eight have been completed, the order of completing dungeons is somewhat arbitrary, but many dungeons can only be reached using items gained in the previous one.

Nonlinearity, the ability to take different paths to complete the game, separated Zelda from its contemporaries. Link can freely wander the overworld, finding and buying items at any point. This flexibility enables unusual ways of playing the game; for example, it is possible to reach the final boss of the game (but not defeat him) without taking a sword.[3] Nintendo of America's management initially feared that players might become frustrated with the new concept, left wondering what to do next. As a result, the American version of the game's manual contains many hints, tips, and suggestions for players.

After completing the game, the player has access to a more difficult quest, officially referred to as the Second Quest,[4] where dungeons and the placement of items are different and enemies stronger.[5] Although a more difficult "replay" was not unique to Zelda, few games offered a "second quest" with entirely different levels to complete.[3] Entering "ZELDA" as the player's name starts the second quest immediately.[6] The Second Quest can be replayed each time it is completed.

At #12, The first game ever to feature a gold plated cartridge, i think it was the first game ever to feature SRAM also (Could be wrong). Awesome game, who could also forget the easy secret of entering the game on 2nd world as codename ZELDA. Not knowing what the future held for Link and Zelda, im sure glad the developers decided to bring this game to life...