THE LEGEND OF ZELDA - Review

                                     Retro Games Reviewer #9; The Legend of Zelda Review

How many Princess's are there in the Nintendo World? And they rule their own Kingdoms, right? That's why they attract such different heroes, like a couple of plumbers, and a sort of an elf.

You all know Link. Not as original as the plumbers, but still charismatic. And fits the scenario as a glove. Zelda, the princess, was kidnapped by a bad ass, wild boar shaped, named Gannon. This wild boar has an army of monsters - don't they all? - and conquered innocent Zelda's kingdom, Hyrule. Not many people around Hyrule, in the NES debut Zelda game. We don't know if Gannon wiped them off, or enslaved them. Or perhaps Zelda was not such a good politician, and everybody went off to find a better living in another Kingdom. Well, it doesn't matter. Link heard about the tragedy, and decided to save her. A young lady with a Kingdom, who needs a husband. Who gives a damn' if she's beautiful? Let's go, Link!

Well, Gannon is a tough fuck, and won't be beaten easily. But Zelda has a Triforce. A nice piece of magic jewelry which has the power to beat Gannon. The triforce was divided in 8 parts, and each part is hidden in a dungen/castle. You, as Link, have to find out all these Levels, and then, finally, armed with the triforce, search for the last castle, which is, obviously, Gannon's Lair. 

The triforce, however, is not enough to turn Gannon into a nice pork chop. 

The game is a mix between adventure, action, and RPG. But the clues that you get throughout the game are not sufficient to find all the items you need in order to progress in it. You have to explore a lot. The dungen-castles become harder, - the last one, without help, is a bitch, and, in the way, collect a lot of different things, that you will need, if you want to beat this. 

Ladders, bow and arch, bombs, keys, a boat -  raft - , all that good fantasy medieval based stuff - , and specially, the swords. You will need the magic sword to defeat gannon. There are three blades. The first, is the common one. You will get it at the beggining of the game. Then, you have to search for the white sword, and finally the magic one. 

So yes, Link has some big pockets. And you should pick up a big shield as well.

This game has it all. You control it from a God-Like perspective. That's what I call it, because you see everything that's happening on the screen, and in small size. You know the drill. No jumps, left, right, down, up, kill enemies with your sword, choose your next screen, etc.

You have the "outside" world, the Hyrule Kingdom, with that familiar Zelda Music that everyone knows, and whistles on the Zelda Festivals. Forests, waterfalls, mountains. Quite fun to explore, it can become a real maze, in some areas. The dungeon-castles are to be found among Hyrule Kingdom. And some of them are not that easy to search, without proper help. Today is easy, with the all mighty Internet, but when the game got out, you needed some hints and clues from Nintendo Magazines. Or some mighty Nintendo Hot Shot, who got enough time on its hands. 

I mean, too many fucking free time. No job. No school. No need to be fed, or to go to the bathroom.

Anyway, the dungeon-castles are a different atmosphere, as you should expect. The song is kind of a dark version of the one we mentioned before. And it fits the underground levels. Lots of chambers to explore and labyrinths to beat. You will need lots of keys in order to open up some rooms. There's a magical key that will able you to crack all the locked doors. But you can only find it later in the game. And it's not that easy to find. And, of course, there are beasts to kill, with your own good sword. - Any of them. From the typical bats, to knights, mummies, and some bizarre odd creatures, that sparkle, or look like freaking pancakes, or rabbits, you have it all. Of course, each dungeon-castle ends up with a boss. Dragons, giant spiders, giant rhinos, and more.

What about the game play? Sweet. Nintendo proves to the world that it doesn't need have to do include jumps on a game to make it perfect. The controls are smooth, and it's a lot of fun to control Link. When you have all your power/health, your sword can throw flashes of energy. What a great idea. If you don't have your health in 100 %, you have to defend yourself in close fight, with your weapon. And it's not less fun. Some bad asses can give you a great challenge, and fire up your nerves and adrenaline.

Can you believe this is a 1986 game?

I only finished this game in the last year. Finally, I decided to sit in front of this beauty, and said: "Now, no more delaying. You gotta go down, Gannon."

And hell, I can tell you. NES and The Legend Of Zelda were never so alive.

Play this. 

Categories: The Legend of Zelda, The legend of zelda review, Zelda NES