Game B1 : The Legend of Zelda - Introduction

Do The Legend of Zelda really need an introduction? If you've never heard of it, there is a pretty good chance you're waking up from a 25-years long coma or have been cryogenized in the North Pole since the fifties. In that case, what are you doing here, reading a blog? Get out! Discover the world! Girls wear miniskirts now!

Better than blogging.

Every one else has heard of Zelda a few times, and if you're reading it, chances are that you have played at least one or twenty of them. The Legend of Zelda was created by Shigeru Miyamoto (also called "God" in some circles) and is supposed to be reminiscent of his childhood adventure reveries in the forest next to his home. In a then struggling industry, it proved that video games were able to produce grand scales adventures that were more than quick arcade pleasures fixes. It was the first game for the NES system to include a battery save system (opposed to the overly complicated passwords that were the usual back then.

The game shifted a few millions copies and was reissued a few times in various compilations. It is, with Super Mario Bros one of the more iconic game of the NES, Nintendo, and video games in general.

As for the story, Every one knows it too. The prince of Darkness, Ganon (who appears here as a huge pig-like being), has obtained the Trifoce of Power, one of the three parts of an extremely powerful magical artefact. To hide it from him, the Princess Zelda splits the Triforce of Wisdom in eight pieces and scatters it in eight dungeons all over the land of Hyrule. Ganon then proceeds to kidnap princess Zelda and retain her in his own dungeon. Prior to her capture, Zelda sends her maid, Impa, to get help. Impa is then attacked by Ganon's minions, but is saved by a warrior, Link, who is the hero of this quest. At the start of the game, Link sets on his quest to obtain the Triforce of Wisdom, in order to confront Ganon and free the princess Zelda.

Yeah, you know the music that goes with it. Look! It's already playing in your head!

The Legend of Zelda is a free-form action-adventure game. You battle bad guys, explore dungeons and progressively gain power. Even without experience points, Link gains more health and more weapons over the course of the adventure, starting as a weakling and getting more and more powerful. It's considered one of the precursors of Console RPGs.

So let's see what it's got, 25 years after its release. To Hyrule we go!