NES - The Legend of Zelda

Haiku-Review:

one hero, two quests
a triangle and princess
romp through nostalgia

Addition Comments:

Well, I suppose I should start by stating the following: unlike most gamers who grew up on the NES, I never played LoZ as a kid. I had some friends that had the game and yea, it seemed mildly interesting when they showed it to me, but not enough to really grab my attention. After all, as stated before, I was an avid fan of platformers. Anyway, the years passed and eventually, after the 8-bit and 16-bit systems fell out of style due to the N64 and PS1 taking the reins, I rekindled my affinity for the old systems and started seeking out a lot of those old games that I missed out on. Legend of Zelda was one of the first I sought out, as I was well aware of the prestigious ranking the game held among retro gamers and sort of felt guilty that I never gave the game a fair chance as a kid. From the opening theme to the final showdown with Ganon, I was enthralled - I really did miss out on a classic as a kid.

Here it was, the late 90s, and I finally realized why gamers went nuts over this franchise. Eventually, I bought the Zelda Collection for GameCube and played through the entire game again, for the second time, and I think it was at this time that I actually gave the master quest a fair shot as well. I don't remember much, although I know I never completed it and am fairly certain I quit in frustration sometime after the third labyrinth.

Fast forward to the present - with my latest completion, I believe I've knocked out the first quest four times now, but finally, after all these years, I have driven the final nail into the coffin that is the master quest. Holy Shit! The master quest is one of the most unforgiving, convoluted mindfucks I've ever come across. With the introduction of invisible passageways and 1-way secret passages, the frustration level just skyrockets once these annoyances start teaming up with 1-way shutters. I can't even recall the amount of times I had to keep redoing the entirety of Labyrinth 7 due to a wrong turn involving a 1-way shutter or bad usage of the labyrinth's included 1-way secret passageway. Oh, and tracking down Labyrinth 6 was a nightmare on its own. I think I bombed every rock I could and burned down every tree I came across. Sheesh....

Nevertheless, LoZ is a great game. However, and it is really hard to criticize the game, I really don't think it's the best NES game out there as so many claim. I'll admit, for its time, the game was revolutionary and it completely redefined the action-adventure genre, but when it comes to the fun and replayability factor, this game just doesn't rank as well as other NES games for me. Frankly, it plays slow and being a puzzle game, the replay value is fairly diminished every time I give it a whirl. But that's not to say it's a bad game - far from it. After all, as my top 25 states, it's in my top 15.

As far as the franchise itself, it's hard to rank - maybe 5th favorite out of the titles I've played (I've played 9 different Zelda games to date for those that are curious). Again, it was amazing in its day, I'm sure, but after the material presented in both LttP and OoT laid the groundwork for the future of the franchise, completely reshaping the mechanics and nature of the game, LoZ just doesn't have a fighting chance. I don't understand these people who still think LoZ is the best one of them all. Personally, I think they looking at the game through nostalgia goggles, but to each their own.

But enough of that - criticism aside, amazing game with equally amazing music, although I will admit, about a third of the way through the master quest, I was getting pretty damn sick of listening to the same OW and Labyrinth music forever and anon. So, to continue my aurally induced illness, I present the Labyrinth Theme. (I never thought I'd grow to hate the music of Zelda.)

Rating: 4 Like Likes out of 5