Now that I'm done with the "Metroid" series, it's time for...what's going to be a wildly incomplete marathon through "The Legend of Zelda." I've already reviewed several games in the series, so now I'm going back to experience what I've already played. Of the 2D games, this will be the only one I review, as it's the only one I played fully; "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" failed to capture my interest, and as iconic as it is, "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" was hard for me to get into having already played the 2019 remake of "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" (which felt very similar to "A Link to the Past" to me). However, I was able to get through the original game, and thus, I'm here to review it. The original game is obviously iconic: it started one of the greatest and most consistent franchises in gaming, and it was innovative for its genre and for the medium as a whole. And having finally played through it myself...well, I see its influence, but sadly, I can't say it's one of my all-time favorite games.
"The Legend of Zelda" was obviously a massively significant game. It changed the fabric of the medium and the action-adventure genre, serving as a grandiose adventure for its time. Even to this day, the visual design is pretty amazing, the music is iconic, and the dungeon design is extremely intriguing. For a game on the NES, this is an incredibly deep, rich, and rewarding game that is loaded to the absolute brim with content and features that make it pretty fantastic. It's pretty to see how impactful and influential this game would be on future action/RPG games, and I think that, in and of itself, the history lesson that playing this game would give you can make it worth at least trying.
Unfortunately, while it does a lot of things right, there are things to this game that just don't grab me as much. For starters, I at times found the control scheme and combat to feel a bit wonky, and I feel that's one of the biggest things to the game that hasn't aged as well. I also think some odd design elements frustrated me while playing the game; the less I have to talk about being locked into an unwinnable situation on the final boss, the better. I think the biggest thing that made me stop at "liking" the game as opposed to "loving" it is, quite simply, the fact that it's the first installment. While playing the game is a great history lesson, this is a classic case where the sequels improved upon the original in so many ways to where jumping back to the first might not feel all that essential. I see how it was amazing for its time, but I don't think it's the most essential game today.
Overall, I definitely wouldn't call "The Legend of Zelda" overrated (partially because I kinda hate using the word "overrated" as it is). It's the type of game that many titles wouldn't exist without, and its influence is unbelievable. However, I just can't say it's a game that feels as amazing to play now as it probably did in the 80s. I get the idea of judging certain media "for its time," but I think it's worth remembering in those cases that...we don't live in its time anymore. Art and media are not static, and as time goes on, standards continue to improve and increase. Thus, while "The Legend of Zelda" absolutely deserves to be appreciated for the impact that it's had on gaming as a whole, I don't find it to be the most essential game to go back to. With what we have from the "Zelda" series now, I wouldn't blame you if you skipped ahead to the 3D entries in the series. Even so, perhaps the original could still be worth a go, if only to see its historical impact on its series, and on gaming as a whole.
Final rating: 7 out of 10 "Good"