Remember 100% completing the first quest and then once I rescued Zelda I didn’t realize it just restarts your save file, aka you basically lose all of your progress…. So yeah other than bragging rights there really isn’t a reason to 100% the game because it will just automatically erase your save file every time you beat the game😅
As a fellow ‘80’s kid, I got chills & goosebumps just from the intro. Now to watch you cover my all time favorite NES game that I have probably played more than any other because of the memories it always brings back to me with every single play through. This is the one single game that I can easily play for a couple hours and never get bored. That music alone takes me back to being 6-8 years old and sitting at the foot of my bed for hours playing this and all the other classics from that time. What a magical time before life took over.
Can't believe New Game+ is coming to an end. I still remember exactly where I was when you announced the project and it's amazing to see how much has happened over the years and how there were some absolutely incredible episodes.
As a kid, that moment you planted a bomb or burned a bush and heard that secret-found song bit - such a rush. Easily one of my all time favorite games then and now.
The one that started it all. A legendary start to a legendary series that’s still going strong to this day. It may be old, but it’s a classic and still holds up. It also takes place in a universe where link died to Ganon in ocarina of time
Who would’ve thought getting a game over would mean getting ALTTP. Did you know that the lost woods where you get the master sword in ALTTP is actually the temple of time which became a forest over time?
One of my first memories is playing this game and being amazed. I'm currently playing through this with my girlfriend for her first time and it's so magical.
Legend of Zelda nes was the very first video game I ever played and I've kept it to thus day! I actually recompleted this game many years later when I found jirards show for the first time! A legend in the title and in its place in gaming forever
I have fond memories of this game and how you had to use the manual in order to make sense of the story. One of my first games which i still haven't beaten, and i think i never will. I just want it to live in my mind as a great childhood memory
Man those old school video game booklets seem like they would be really cool to get now. Especially if they were included with Collection Editions or Remakes of older games.
@@GameTimeWhy They didn't forget, it's that the publishers just don't care about anything except money anymore, and those extra things would just cost them more money to produce, so they don't do it.
@@GameTimeWhy Well you didn't say digital, you said the stuff we used to get with games, which were physical booklets. However, even digital booklets cost money to produce, to pay the artists, authors, and designers of them.
@@L33PL4Y it's far less cost to make a digital booklet though. I was meaning more in general but I do miss my physical booklets. I think the Witcher 3 was the last one I got that had a shit ton of physical goodies. Got a map, CD of the music, monster book, and I think it had a DVD of the musical performance too.
You are SO right, Jirard. When completing the game on the second quest at the age of 11 I burned every bush and bombed every wall and still couldn't find dungeon 8. Thus I called the Nintendo hotline and they gave me the vital clue to bomb the walls near the stream next to the waterfall. I never felt SO satisfied in all my 35 years of gaming and with the modern internet and walkthroughs I will never experience something similar ever again; even if I replay the game every 4 years or so and there are now many better Zelda games. Truly a marker of an era, not really possible to replicate it
Wow, crazy timing. I just finished playing through this game for the first time a couple of days ago. I surprised myself by actually having fun with it. I started playing it just thinking of it as a novelty or rite of passage as a Zelda fan. But the gameplay progression started sucking me in. It was genuinely exciting to find a new item or to finally track down a dungeon I had accidentally skipped. Did it without a guide and loved it!
@@joshmay2944 Thanks for the suggestion! I've gotten about halfway through LttP a couple of times now. I enjoy it, but I always seem to lose steam at some point. Maybe with this new perspective on the old games I'll finish it next time!
@@joshmay2944 I wouldn't say it's more Zelda than the original. It lost much of the key aspect of open nonlinear exploration because they wanted more story, but didn't see how they could implement that with the open world style. I also think that Link to the Past simply lacks some of the mystery that made the original magical. It's great for entirely different reasons from its 2 predecessors.
@@fowlerds3032 How did you manage to find things like burning JUST the right bushes and blowing up JUST the right spots on walls in the overworld without a guide?
I never played the original growing up, and it was even hard for me to get into back in the Virtual Console days, but ever since I got the Game&Watch it's my favorite game to take with me and dive into when I'm taking a break or end up in a long wait. No disrespect on Link's Awakening which is also on the Game&Watch, but the simplicity of LoZ just makes it feel perfect to dip in, choose a thing to do, do it, and dip out. Despite how collectible the Anniversary Game&Watches are, they're still pretty easily available at Walmart and Target. And even though they're already the most affordable Game&Watches on the market, they're often on sale for as little as $30! A perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer! This comment is not brought to you by Nintendo #NotAnAd #Game&Watch. Happy Zelda Month; Every One! 🥳
I love the you pointed out the "special edition" Monopoly. They'll make a monopoly special edition out of anything. Later this year we get Flavortown special edition Monopoly. 😂😂😂
I was born in 86' and Zelda (Link to the Past) was the very first game I "Fell in love with", I link Zelda and Link to my love for RPG's today. Before I played Zelda, I had only ever played Arcade and Platforming games. I didn't know there was a whole world of games that you played a STORY! You were the hero, you were the one fighting. I was 8 and was a avid reader already, but I had no idea games could be books too. Zelda holds a very special place in my heart.
As usual, excellent video. And I can relate to the second quest; do it later, not back-to-back for most enjoyment. I've been looking forward to this New Game + and it didn't disappoint!
The Collector's Edition for the Gamecube is honestly my most remembered and favorite Christmas present. I so badly wanted to play Majora's Mask and didn't have it on the N64 or even an N64 to play it on but my uncle went to like half a dozen stores and found a copy somehow. I played the other games on it, yeah. But Majora's Mask will always be my all-time favorite.
My first experience with this game was interesting. I was 9, maybe 10 at that point, and had beaten BotW for the first time, which blew my mind and made me fall in love with Zelda. My dad brought home an NES mini a few days later and I started The Legend of Zelda. It was much too hard for my small brain but I was still having fun, and honestly the game blew my mind all over again, especially when my dad told me how old it was. To this day I haven't beaten it but mark my words, one day I'll best this game and I'll have a damn good time doing it
I'm glad you enjoy/appreciate it! :) I'm 25 and a big Zelda fan, I've played them all. And I'm always hesitant to recommend the original Legend of Zelda to young newcomers; due to how old the game is, it's an experience unlike anything you're used to, and you have to consciously be aware that the game was made in 1986 so you can allow yourself to tolerate it's inconveniences - it simply wouldn't get made today, most people your age dismiss this game as "aged poorly". But like you, when I first played this game I was pleasantly surprised just how FUN it is! It's so easy to pick up and play - because it starts immediately, and it's very fast-paced and action-packed. Like BotW, every play session is slightly different; you're free to just choose a direction to head in, your own objectives to do, and no matter what you end up doing it'll probably be worth it. It blows my mind this game was released in 1986! It's truly a technological achievement (no password system here, you can literally save your game - that's actually a BIG deal) and as a video game it's LEAGUES better than anything released by that time. People are still playing it today, that's a testament to how unique everybody's experience is with Legend of Zelda NES One of the best and most influential games ever made - but it's just... super old. Hope you beat it one day and have a blast doing so! :) (and do feel free to use a walkthrough sometimes)
@@The_Sage_of_Six_Paths I like older games a lot, especially now since a lot of games come out unfinished. Small and fun and finished is better than big and boring and buggy
@@hotcocoabomb_ great point! I was just talking with a friend the other day about how developers (for console games) didn't have the ability to constantly update their software once it was released. That undoubtedly caused the to focus much sharper on their work. With the limited resources of the respective times, there where some really impressive things accomplished in the 80s-90s.
One of the greatest games ever, I got into this game after playing A Link to the Past and Wind Waker in 2002/2003, and I played it on my GameCube in 2004. I got hooked on the game all summer. I beat it at least 3 times a week that summer, and found new secrets every time. Went back and bought the game on the NES and every digital storefront I could, got into the modding community, and I just kept falling more and more in love with this game. The original Legend of Zelda is truly a very unique game with a magic that is unlike any other game ever made. The definition of a masterpiece. I hope future generations continue to discover this game (and that Nintendo eventually gives us a Zelda Maker Game!!!).
10:24, I'd say yes, especially as someone overwhelmed by open world games and making decisions, I'm good at multitasking, maybe cause of my ADHD, but also because of that it causes problems for my OCD, and I end up in the middle of too many quests in open worlds or Metroidvanias, as a result I get confused and overwhelmed because I need to focus on 1 thing at a time, and I might not know which quest is the story one, either so I can take that or so I can avoid it and save best for last. Despite this, revisiting an open world game, especially early ones like Zelda, after you've already been a completionist about it... is super fun. If anyone feels that way too, I encourage revisiting games and just playing through it as is without being a completionist, especially if it's a game you can have multiple saves (thus why I sometimes buy both copies of Pokémon games, 1 is completionist the other is replay value... not on the Switch that'd get expensive (though if you got 2 Nintendo accounts no need to buy a 2nd copy), gen 5 was last time I did this I have 2 blacks because I love Reshiram, but I have Black and White 2, because XY didn't have a 3rd game, Sun after I beat it and US came out became my replay game while US my completionist file... sorry for this long side note). Point being open worlds should not be meant for completionists if you're hindered like me, but once you've done that, don't be afraid to revisit the game, might have been fearful on 1st playthrough, but you did it once don't need to complete again, and for Zelda 1, it's even less daunting. It's actually nice, and yeah just for wandering in this magical world, inspired by Miyamoto doing that as a child, heck a lot of games are that way, Pokemon too, 1 of the 3 inspirations for Pokemon's inception is a kid that wandered in forests, caves, behind every tree, on top of every mountain, a world to see, collecting bugs, just adventuring and collecting, having fun in nature as kids do.
Just a small correction. The Zelda Collection on Gamecube was NOT a pre-order bonus for Wind Waker, it was bundled with Gamecubes around the 2003 holiday season but was also given away by Nintendo Power, given as an insensitive to register your games, or even purchased through Club Nintendo. What was given as a pre-order bonus for Wind Waker was the Ocarina of Time & Master Quest Bonus Disc.
Man, I got this on the Wii and boy did the VC manual not prepare you for the game. I didn’t even know you could block projectiles with the shield, so I died in the overworld- a lot. I ended up only beating the first and third dungeons before giving up and not touching it until five years later when I used a guide to beat it. After beating it, I’ve probably replayed it at least two dozen times. One of my favorite games to replay.
There's a VR 3d doom mod of The Legend of Zelda. It's one of the coolest things I have ever seen. There's a playthrough somewhere on youtube...definitely watch it
Totally disagree with the rating of “Finish It.” But I am speaking from the vantage point of playing in 1987/1988. When the game ended and you found out there was a Second Quest and the items were in different places and the dungeons were completely different - IT WAS REVOLUTIONARY. You didn’t want the game to end and it didn’t. Feels like the 2 run-throughs are truly beating the game.
How crazy it is that we came so far, from the original The Legend of Zelda to Elden Ring in videogame media. As one born in 1986, is trully incredible. Great video as always
I always wanted a sort of remix or remaster for this entry in particular. You know, have some quality of life improvements added to make things go smoother.
> If you kill 10 enemies in a row without taking damage, you are guaranteed a bomb drop IF you kill the last enemy with a bomb, and if you didn't get the forced fairy drop from the 16-count. You are welcome.
My grandmother used this game to help teach me how to read. I have a tattoo of the Old Man offering Link his sword in the cave, in her honor. What a special game this is.
Best wishes, Jirard. You sounded a little off in this video, so I hope things are going alright. I know the G4 cancellation was rough, but you should know that you can take a break if you need one. I didn't know that New Game Plus was almost finished when I watched this on a whim, and doing all that again is an incredible act of will.
Jirard over here playing on the emotional impact of having so much classic Zelda music playing through the whole video. I see you, Dragonrider. Or I would, but there seems to be an infernal mist clouding this witchy gamer's eyes!
7:35 i still remember when i was a kid, every time i would get a new game, i would read through the entire manual on the way home from the store, and wouldn't let myself even start the game until i'd finished it. so disappointing when games went to simple jewel case inserts, and eventually even those went away
We never had games at home when I was a kid, but when I was 10 or so my uncle lent me their NES and Zelda. It was the first game I ever completed and started a lifelong love of adventure RPGs and gaming. Nothing compares to what this game did for me.
This is one of five NES games I actually have CIB. The other four being Metroid and the Castlevania trilogy. I mean, I have games like Rygar, TMNT, Dragon Warrior, Crystalis, and all three Mario games that I have cart only and I'm fine with that. That's how highly I regard this game. I wont settle for anything less than having everything that came with it (including the map) because I love it that much. I remember seeing it for the first time at a friend's house when it came out and there are very few games that have ever existed that blew my mind like this did. Changed my idea of what a video game and the experience from one could even be like. I can't think of anything that effected me on that level again until Doom came out in 93. Yeah, it seems quaint by today's standards, but when it was new. Just wow.
I still to this day beat both quests at least twice a year. And at all times, somewhere in my brain, the theme song is always playing. No I'm not listening to you speak. I'm jamming out to the original tune of Hyrule. Priorities.
While I did play Ocarina of Time first, I had a pretty particular playthrough of this game. One day my internet died. I was playing MMOs at the time so I didn't have much time for other things. The problem was severe so I didn't have internet for a while. I saw that nice pre-order disc on my shelves and decided to play Zelda 1. Mobile internet wasn't a thing still, so I essencially got to play that game as it was intended, without any help or guides. It was a great time. Finding the next dungeon after wandering for a while is a great feeling.
Every now and then when im cleaning out my tech drawers (the ones with tons of wires and other PC and video game stuff) i come across my NES controller and Zelda 1 instruction book that i have in a small box. Mine is missing some pages but i still love looking at it every year or so.
This is a very good game, which I use to own in the 90's. The irony is that I never could beat it back then, because I flat out couldn't find the 4th dungeon. It wasn't until Nintendo Switch Online launched and Legend of Zelda hit the NES app that I managed to beat the game. Thus the game joins Final Fantasy (original game) as a game I couldn't beat until it was rereleased.
I'm doing a Zelda marathon right now and beat this game last week. I still think it's pretty good, but it's one game I'd recommend playing with a guide.
As a kid I got a used Wii for my birthday one year and the previous owners bought the original legend of the Zelda and Mario 3 off the virtual console and it was my first time playing a Zelda game I thought the games world goes on forever and when I beat the first dungeon I thought I beat the game my dad also grew up with the original Legend of Zelda so I would tell him about my experience with the game and all the cool secrets I found while playing it
Just completed it myself. Very good. I can see how important the manual is to make sense of the game. My only gripe was that you respawned with only 3 hearts
I first played Link to the past. MUCH respect to you completionist, for playing the games i cannot. I weep my nostalgia tears to you kind sir! Stay awesome bro ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
Nice to see some genuine love for Zelda II. It's so sad how much hate that game gets just because people aren't open-minded enough to think any bigger than "IT DIFFERENT SO IT BAD." It's a fantastic action-RPG on its own merit.
I've beaten the main game about 5 times and the 2nd quest only once and this is still my favorite game of all time. I can play this game for an hour or so and not save, then start all over again and not care because I love this game so much. My only real gripe I have with the game is that you get the magic boomerang too early. It should've been somewhere in level 5 or 6.
I recently bought a massive tome of knowledge namely the definitive guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games by bitmap books and reading through it it made me appreciate the early Era of jrpgs much more with the first legend of Zelda included and watching your video makes me want to go back and play it! Thanks for sharing your story with us.
I played this game so much on a faulty cartridge. It couldn't save, it took me six years, and borrowing a friend's copy, to finally beat the game. But I got to where I could confidently go all the way up to dungeon 6 in one sitting. And I thoroughly miss manuals like what this and the first Final Fantasy had. But this is a game that defined a good part of my childhood.
i actually played zelda 1 early this year for my own silly little projects. honestly? its very fun it is a NES game a the end of the day, theres no getting around that. there is some stuff that is frustrating, theres no getting around that as well. but at the end of the day this game is a fun experience for a multitude of reasons. and on top of that, its a fun lil game!!!
I remember my brother playing the HECK out of this when I was a kid. It was almost a mythical thing to me as a little kid. Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda I ever got into as a kid, but this was like the big boy, OG version of that.
The Completionist, I never played the original Zelda as I started with Link's Awakening. However I'm making up for it now as I'm working my way through "Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition" in completing it entirely just like how you've done( am roughly 700 hours into it and nearly finished of initially opening up all 9 maps entirely as I just have Termina and Lorule left of a few squares to open up). I also have a new bed I bought a couple years ago being a Sealy Lincoln Euro Plush Top Queen-sized bed that is literally HEAVENLY COMFORTABLE!!
Two minor quibbles considering how many times you played it. 1) You don't need to swap the raft in to use it 2) There is an indication you beat the first quest, your character lifts his sword
after i finished breath of the wild, i kinda sat and realized that i never had beaten or really even played any other zelda game, so i just started a quest (that ill eventually make into a video) to go through and beat every single zelda game. i stared with this one and i got to dungeon 6 so far, and even though i know the ending and junk, im still having so much fun. this game is 17 years older than me but i still am loving it
Wow, can't believe only 10 games left in New Game Plus after... the incident, been a wild ride, I think we've hit ones I was most excited for like Shovel Knight and especially Sonic 06, but then a video comes along I say oh yeah that was NG+ like Mario 2 or this, and like visiting an old friend. I don't think NG+ is off the table to continue if you wanted it to continue Jirard, even if you completed those 1st 120 games, the curtain may close but the theater remain open, because who knows maybe there's other games you'd like to revisit with updates or something in the future. Whether its remakes like RE4, maybe you just want to revisit an older newer friend like Sonic Mania, I think it's possible the series could continue just in much smaller doses, not regularly, just whenever you feel in a nostalgic mood for something, but if the book does close, and the story ends, then that's equally as fine, I have no complaints, just making suggestions, and it's been a wild ride. Is this comment a bit premature with 10 games still remaining?... yeah maybe, but 1 I think it should be said now more than later, in case you do want some feedback to toss ideas around, and 2... I'll probably forget all this later because my memory is so bad, and when that final video comes I won't know what to say in that moment. Regardless of what happens, thank you Jirard, for all this as an older fan that did experience those older videos, and I'm sure newer fans appreciate your opinions on these games. Once again, been fun and a wild ride, happy I got to go on it, and this trip down memory lane.
