2127: Hero of Hyrule

All the pointless bickering over the distinctly stupidly named “Linkle” the other day got me thinking about The Legend of Zelda. “Linkle”, if you somehow missed this, is effectively a genderbent version of Zelda protagonist Link who is set to appear in the upcoming 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors Legends; rather than a simple reskin, however, she appears to be her own unique character. Which is cool, especially as she’s kinda cute!

But anyway. As I was saying, I got thinking about The Legend of Zelda and how it’s a series that has, for one reason or another, kind of passed me by a bit over the years. There was a period when I was very much into it — I’ve beaten A Link to the Past numerous times on the SNES, and absolutely adore Majora’s Mask — but for some reason, the other games haven’t stuck with me. I didn’t make it through Twilight Princess or Wind Waker, and I didn’t even play Skyward Sword, let alone the numerous handheld incarnations that have appeared over the years.

I thought, out of idle curiosity, that I’d casually start way back at the beginning with the original NES version of The Legend of Zelda and see how far I get before I don’t feel like playing any more. I was also curious to see how the series had developed over the years, because for sure it’s come a very long way since the original game.

The original game, however, is still surprisingly solid, if rather challenging, to say the least. One thing that stands out immediately is how little handholding it offers; it presents the player with a sprawling open world which they’re expected to navigate themselves around without the aid of objective markers, and several dungeons which can theoretically be completed in any order. Compared to later Zelda games, these dungeons are relatively simple and don’t have a great deal in the way of puzzles, though there are a couple that are effectively “gated” by requiring items found in other dungeons to access.

I won’t lie and pretend that I’m going through The Legend of Zelda completely blind; it is, after all, 2015, and the Internet exists, so there’s little reason to play the game without the benefit of, say, a map. I’m not using a walkthrough, mind you, just a map to show where all the areas are and how they connect to one another, since this is the sort of thing that tended to be included in the physical manuals of games way back in the day.

I’m actually rather enjoying the sense of exploration and discovery that the lack of tutorial messages and, indeed, developing plot provides: it makes The Legend of Zelda feel like a very “pure” gaming experience that is satisfying — and, at times, frustrating — to work through. Plus if nothing else it’s something to do while waiting for dungeon queues in Final Fantasy XIV…