The Magic of the First Legend of Zelda 

I love how little you drew attention to the phrase 'magic croissant'

This channel is so fucking high quality

My dad and I played this game for hours on end and beat it with all the hearts, with no internet (early 90s) and no guides. It was such a great feeling once we beat it.

The opposite of hand holding is feet dropping.

You didn't even mention probably it's most influential aspect, YOU COULD SAVE YOUR PROGRESS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! This game could not have worked without such an innovation!

When he said he was about to spoil it I was like "That's ok it's an old game" then two minutes in I had to stop it 'cause I definitely need to actually play this game.

The thing people miss about the first game is that you weren't meant to play it blind. It came with a map that detailed where to find the first 6 dungeons and the manual contained hints on how to find the last 3. You were meant to use it as a guide and take notes on it. Later rereleases of the game have frustratingly never included this map which makes the game way harder than it was ever intended to be.

There was this sense of wonder and mystery when exploring the screens of the first game. It was rewarding in a way that most games I've played completely miss.

That quote communicating with your friends is pretty interesting. A couple of my friends and I all picked up BOTW when it launched and we were constantly talking to each other, trying to figure out secrets and such. They really did go back to their roots

Coming back to this a bit before botw 2 is coming out. I gotta say, I think they nailed it. They went back to their roots with breath of the wild and absolutely nailed it.

This video made me pick up Breath of the Wild again and finally complete the game. I had about 50 hours into the game and for whatever reason had completed zero Divine Beasts (was trying to do it all myself w/ zero help), so the quote from Miyamoto saying he actually wanted other players to collaborate got me asking around as to how to find stuff. Instead of being frustrated with it as I was before, I ended up really enjoying the game. Thank you!

9:57 I remember when this game came out. We all looked for answers everywhere we could. But the funnest way WAS meeting at the park and everyone exchanging information. Some of my most vivid memories were playing at the park with other kids and everyone talking about the game and secrets. It was a moment in time that I don't think ever came before or since. The internet is great, but those budding days of exploration in hard games were epic.

Had to pause at "Magic croissant"

"This game isn't going to hand them anything on a silver platter." *instantly gets a sword from a random old guy*

Maybe it is weird to say but for me one of the best things about the original loz is the game manual. The Zelda universe came to life because of it. The game manual had backstory, lore and great artwork. Also the hints and a piece of the overworld map they included were great. I spend hours of reading the game manual (I was very young lol). I can't imagine playing the loz without the game manual.

This game was absolutely mind blowing back in the 80s.. I was just 4 when it came out and had no idea wtf to do, couldn't even read but still made some fond memories running around stabbing bad guys... Breath of the wild comes out in one week and I really hope it takes me to the same place.

It's The Legend of Zelda and it's pretty rad.

Love the maps that accompany the explanations on this channel.

"...but the real test will be with Breath of the Wild" And I'd say they passed with flying colors.

The Legend of Zelda Title Theme so perfectly captures the spirit of the franchise, thank you, Koji Kondo

I completed this game on mini nes for the first time ever in 2017. Im 38 and just never finished it back in the day. Absolutely amazing game. Aged so well.

im glad you made this video. if you didnt i would have one day. Thanks for this!

Actually the original Legend of Zelda had a companion character, it was called Nintendo Power. It also had a comeback in the second title!

I wish you had mentioned the "Second Quest". After you beat the game, you can start the game again to play a much more advanced version where the dungeons are very well hidden, with totally different layouts from the first quest. Hints are more vague (or even misleading), there are entirely new enemies, new game mechanics, and it's just overall a version of the same game set to an adult difficulty level, with almost a bizarro dream world feeling. Beating Zelda 1, Second Quest, with no guidance, is an amazing experience. I was usually able to make at least one new discovery every session that I played, but not always. Try it!

Zelda kind of HAD to depart from its roots when it moved into 3d. They couldn't have made an open world zelda game in the n64 or gamecube era without sacrificing the polish that they require of this series. Only now is it possible for them to return to their roots and maintain the same quality.

Breath of the Wild definitely did go back to its roots. It strikes me as a much more in depth and modern version of the original game with its "go anywhere, any time...as long as you can survive" ways.

While the game may seem oblique upon first play, you have to remember the difference between the way games were presented back then versus today. Back then, with rom sizes and system resources being limited, a great deal of the adventure is told to you in the accompanying full-color instruction manual. It was amazing how much that little booklet and even Nintendo's strategy guide made the game seem far more expansive than it actually was. It felt like you being given a document that guides you into the world of Hyrule, and the golden game cartridge itself seemed like a treasure that was part of the experience. It's certainly a far different experience than simply playing it via the Virtual Console.

YES! I played The Legend of Zelda back in 1986 when it first came out and I try to explain this to everyone who didn't get to experience this themselves. Going to play the game, exploring and finding a new area, getting stuck or getting lost and then going to school the next day to talk to your friends and ask them where they are, swap information, new tricks. This was something that was an amazing culmination of a beautiful adventure game and pre-internet formats that allowed us to have the mystery we wanted while encouraging the conversation and collaboration with our peers. This is what made a single player game into an event that built, or further enforced, real world friendships. I used to say that this was a magic that was lost and could never be had again, but I've never tried any of the games listed in your video. Guess I know what games to buy and check out now, if for nothing else than to have a small taste of that nostalgic feeling once again.

Miyamoto said you could take on the final boss in the first 15 minutes if you wish so maybe it will be a "here, do what you want" game

People who don't need notifications because they check their subscription feed every ten minutes squad!

11:02 11 days later, Breath of The Wild is released

It's awesome to see you have so much love for the original legend of Zelda when you've only first played it in the last couple of months. It's hard for me to imagine a fan of the original NES game and not having it be one of their childhood staples. I was 4 years old when I first played it, and I was 7 or 8 when I finally beat it. And yes, it did involve me putting bombs and flames pretty much everywhere to finally figure out where to go next. It was a completely incredible experience playing it as a kid, you should've been there man!

This 'work out the mystery' thing is just how RPGs worked back then. Adventure on the 2600 was a "figure it out" game, as was the first dragon quest and phantasy star.

This video makes me wish I could forget everything I know about Zelda 1, so I could replay it totally blind.

If you have the original version 1.0 on FDS u can whistle to the 9th dungeon in the 2nd quest only

I find it funny how accurately you were able to describe breath of the wild, without even playing it. I love so many things about it, but the music is really just beautiful, I could go on and on about how their so contextual, the nostalgia they provoke in long time players, the feeling of elation when you hear a song from an earlier game and how the songs always seem to be just right for any moment. It's just damn lovely

Croissant magique hon hon hon hon

I agree that more current Zelda games strayed away from the "open world" approach. That being said, I still like them and Twilight Princess is still my favorite overall. If the dungeons are fun and I like the characters then I don't mind linearity at all.

I wish my copy of Breath of the Wild came with a manual! Where'd those things go?... I used to read the whole thing before I played any game.

Wow. This video was absolutely brilliant. Hit a particular note with me, as I always recall gettiing Zelda for NES for Christmas back when I was 6. My older siblings admittedly took the drivers seat while I "helped" with the map. There was just NOTHING like it at the time. Especially with on Internet, and living in a relatively quiet town in Australia. What a time to be alive. This video hit all those reasons and more, on what that game done well, as well as what seems to be missing with the current "hand holding" iterations. Thanks again for this.

Mark, your unique way of presenting Zelda's designs means I experience several epiphanies in every video. Props to you!

I heard somewhere that you can literally go to Ganon's castle in the beginning of the game in Breath of the Wild.

Mr. Brown, I love your work! Keep being awesome! You've inspired me to analyze the design in some of my own favorite games - most recently the Rockman and Metroid franchises - and it has been an eye opening experience. This channel is my favorite thing on youtube; and for other fans, I encourage picking a series or genre you love, and putting in the time and effort to reverse engineer its design, to see what makes it tick.

I’m 43 and here is how me and a few of my friends at school dominated this game as kids. I was 9 when I got that shiny golden cartridge and 2 of my best friends at school also got it around the same time. We used a copier at school to make a copy of the map and each of us had that photocopy that we would make notes on as we played. One guy would discover one secret another guy would discover another one, etc. and then after a couple of days of playing, we would bring our maps back to school, and compare notes, share secrets, and we also used graph paper to draw out the dungeon maps as well as all of the secrets they contained. We ended up doing the same thing with Zelda II which was much more difficult because there wasn't any sort of map included with the game so we sort of sketched out the overworld and made notes of where caves and stuff were located, what was in them, etc and for the palaces we used graph paper again and made notes where keys and other items were, dead ends, etc. I still keep in touch with one of the guys and we had fun sharing various experiences and findings with BOTW and TOTK.

i beat zelda 1 when i was a child. it was magical. recently i played it again. with my own rules. no outside help. no asking anyone. no looking anything up. it was tough. but i managed to beat the game. one thing i had completely forgotten is that it had teleportation chambers.....i took copious notes and made my own map of the overworld. i also noticed that game basically has just 5/6 songs: title overworld dungeon final dungeon game over/ end and you spend the vast majority of your time with just overworld and normal dungeon music, but it didnt feel boring. ones question i've always asked myself....the guy who gives you the second sword once you reach 5 hearts.....would he give you the sword even if you dont have the first sword?

Less than two weeks! AAAH!

I played Zelda when it first came out. It really was like you said. The emotions it produced have rarely been matched since. Your insight on what made the game great is amazing for somebody who didn't grow up with it (that blue Darknut room in level 5 held us back for a very long time). Probably the best Zelda video I've ever seen. Well done, and thank you.

Music from Hyper Light Drifter!! One of the best soundtracks ever.

It was fun watching this video today. I've seen it before, but I just randomly felt like speedrunning through the game a few times and it made me want to play BotW again. The question you pose at the end about whether or not BotW will be like the original. I think it's safe to say that the series did go back to its roots.

Oh, man, Breath of the Wild is on the horizon!!

4:08 it was, incredible!!! Playing it for the first time, the vastness, the secrets, & the sheer adventures of it all.

It's mind-blowing how the quality of this video from 3 years ago is the exact same as the videos in 2020 (and totally amazing). 👏

I played Zelda in 1991 when I was 8 and it took me 3 years to complete. It was for me the game that turned me into a gamer. It's the biggest masterpiece ever designed.

A couple sequels is the funniest shit I've heard all day, and that includes magic croissant.

I love your channel, and I can't wait for each new video to come out. Especially Zelda episodes! Keep it up!

The exploring in this game and the early Final Fantasy titles is what makes old games special

I will never get over hearing "fart" said with a British accent..

I thought breath of the wild was going to be more of the wordless adventure of old, granted with npc's to dump information, but the cutscenes has me wondering how that'll clash with the tone and what new tone will be made as a result. I hope it actually works and doesn't become jarring, but I'll probably enjoy the retro freedom either way. There's just something about cutscenes that make the world seem staged and waiting for you instead of alive without you. And I'm not sure they can get around that.

dude, you're so good man. your videos utterly inspire me, I dunno why.

You are quickly becoming one of my top 10 channels

I've played the first Zelda for the first time only a couple of months ago and I was pleasantly surprised, I actually found it to be pretty amazing. I did tihnk that without a walk through certain things are pretty plain impossible to find out. But I'm on your side with this.

"This game isn't going to hand you anything on a silver platter" Immediately hands over sword on a silver platter.

4:16 Let me tell you... as a 5 year old boy I could only make it to level 3. It was seriously like a moon shot level task for me and my friends. We never beat it... we just made it to the last level and got rocked for hours a day. I beat it in front of my own son the first time a few years ago. I was pretty emotional. He didn't understand but he watched me play and that was enough for me.

I'm actual remaking the Overworld map in 3rd person. It's awesome remembering the areas I explored way back when.

I absolutely loved Zelda 1 and it's non-linear structure, but I have to say, linear does not always equal bad and non-linear does not always equal good. The Legend of Zelda series is by far my favorite, and I love every entry regardless of how linear it is (Skyward Sword is one of my favorites, just behind Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess) or how non-linear it is (I loved the first Zelda and am certain that Breath of the Wild will take Twilight Princess' place as my favorite Zelda game).

Darn pet peeve, when people ask me to leave their videos because I now have the Responsibility to go out into the world acquire the missing information before I can enjoy your great video. I will be back & I will finish this video

I bought the first Zelda when it came out. I was a teenager, and I remember that it completely blew my mind and made me realize that video games would never, ever, be the same. This game, with a nod to metroid as well, introduced the concept of epic adventure in video games. Before this, games were still just as linear as they were in the arcade. Of course I bought every Zelda game at launch after that, and here we are 30 years later. The day BotW came out, I played it all day and remarked at how playing it made me feel like the first time I played the gold NES cartridge all those years ago. While the two games are different in an infinite number of ways, Nintendo did manage to re-capture that feeling of overwhelming awe and excitement in a huge adventure. The comparison is spot on.

The Faron Forest musical theme in the background from Skyward Sword is a nice touch.

After watching the video, it seems like whether Zelda 1 is a great game or a terrible one (in 2017, specifically) hinges a _lot_ on whether going and reading the manual, asking your friends, or going to any other source of information should be considered "part of the game". In the modern era with its entire internet, that's generally a "no" because of how instantly the entire game can be completely spoiled, not just with the information floating around your school, but all the information everywhere, ever. Notable exceptions where spoilers are fine (or encouranged) include highly competitive PvP games, ARGs, and Minecraft-likes which often require a wiki walk - but in general there's an implicit contract today, which didn't exist in the 80s when Zelda 1 was created, that the video game shall have everything the players needs to play it, no instruction manual required. The importance of that expectation and the acceptability of breaking it will vary from player to player. If I die too much in an action game and feel like I'm not making headway, I have no problem turning down the difficulty. On the other hand, after wandering around for a couple hours in Zelda 1 without getting a new item or beating a dungeon, or enduring a 30-minute slog of a battle with some skeletons at the outset of Dark Souls, my first impulse is not to "turn down the difficulty" by cracking open a GameFAQ and finding out where to go next; when I have to resort to human sources outside the game, it feels (to me personally) like an abject failure of the design, and I generally stop playing the game altogether. Again, this will vary dramatically from person to person, but generally that "with your friends" aspect of gaming seems to have drifted, with the rise of the internet, more toward direct gameplay mechanics like trading Pokémon, and away from anything that can be found with a simple Google search. What I'm getting at is that going this "open" with the adventure, saying, "I dunno, here's the game, go... run around in it or something," like a negligent babysitter, is probably never going to have the same broad appeal as a more directed experience. It often leads to very successful works, with die-hard fans, but "die-hard" tends to be the only kind of fan that such games have - for everyone else, it doesn't even _begin_ to click. Small wonder that Nintendo has gravitated towards games that kids have a decent chance at getting through without needing to risk having anything "spoiled" by the internet. I don't doubt Nintendo can "pull off" a game like Zelda 1; the real question is, do they have the genuine desire to, given the risk of a reduced market that such a design often brings?

I love how basically ever rpg game designer aspires to capture Zelda 1's energy

its pretty cool to see the organization and purpose of this video match perfectly with your analysis on the actual game months latter.

I remember playing this game with my brother. We were a little too old for the NES but my mom bought one at a garage sale in '96 we struggled with it but we beat it. We did have a little bit of help and hints from one of my friends older brothers but for the most part is just my brother and I exploring this game getting lost and having fun.

Do you ever wonder when it comes to typical controllers, how or why the left hand is used to control movement?

Wait, you just played this right now *this year*?? Holy crap! But to answer your question, yes this game was amazing in the 80s for us kids (who are now old guys). It's one of my favorite games still, and something I can just fire up and play through today and still have fun with it.

Your content is some of the best i have ever seen. This is amazing

amazing video, you really got down to the point and nailed it definitely subbing

Am I the only one who think that the legend of zelda on NES would be a great title for a remake?

you got any plans for a separated RE7 episode

Hey Mark, I stumbled in your channel 2 days ago and I just can't stop watching all the high quality videos you made. you're the gaming youtuber I'm always begging for. You got solid contents, clear explanations, point of view with depth, great editing.... instead of screaming like a central-wanna-be kid in kindergarten.

Amazing video, extremely high quality!

5:24 Dots.

Like you say I really think the Dark Souls series is in some ways the continuation of this style. Little to no explanation, and you should collaborate with other players for hints and ideas. And a maze of exploration...

i've played zelda 1 for the first time in 2015 and to this day it's one of the games i think about more often and miss the most

this video is so good that I could add it to my music playlist

Breath of the Wild has done a really good job of that go-anywhere feel. People do tell you what is where and so on, but not directing you in any direction. It's great, I'm off to Hyrule now, PEACE!

Despite more recent Zelda games being more linear and story driven, I still experienced that sense of adventure and exploration. Ocarina of Time was my first and it also had secrets for me to discover, new areas to explore, and maze like dungeons to navigate. I often had to refer to the strategy guide for help because there were certain points in the game when I just couldn't figure out how to progress. Yeah, there were some times when the game told me where to go next but I still had the freedom to figure out how to get there on my own and what to do before then. I do agree however that Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword restricted your freedom the most.

I remember playing this when it came out. It was so awe inspiring it's difficult to explain. I had just finished Super Mario Bros and then went into this. I never beat it as a child but I remember my parents playing it for hours and finally beating it.

Wow that video was a unexpected high quality type of content. Just found this channel and well... i guess i have something todo this night :D

Don't forget LoZ came with an instruction manual and a map in the box. Its not quite as cryptic as youre making it out to be.

did you forget that the game came with an instruction manual?

The original Zelda rocked Honolulu, Hawaii back when it first came out. Nearly everyone on a military base and off were fully aware of the game even if they didn't have a NES. And if they didn't have a NES, they quickly got one. "Hey, it's Didi Ah Yo and away we go, with another great adventure from Creative Holidays!"

Great episode. Can't wait till the next boss keys!!!

I have too much fomo to play this amount of open world. I can handle Pokemon, Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy games, where you can literally explore every nook and cranny to find chests, books, npcs who give you items etc. I can't handle this "go anywhere, see what you find" - am I the only one? :(

I liked Skyward Sword. What's wrong with me?? (/s bc idc)

Oh my god, Your pacing through this video is so good

Nov. 21, 2020: I've been playing this game for over 30 years (I'm old) and just finished a run of this game...this morning. I learned new things this playthrough, too.

I'm not being impatient but when could we expect the next entry in bosskeys?

Damn, i started playing Zelda 1 yesterday and it's kicking my ass, and people say Dark Souls 1 is hard

I suppose younger gamers will never realize how insane this was back when it came out. It paved the way for almost every genre of game we have today, excluding puzzle games like Tetris. The freedom and exploration was something that just blew our minds. All these new items! New dungeons! Crazy enemies! It was really fun. Thanks to word of mouth at school and some Nintendo Power secret tips, we always figured out everything. It was ridiculous. Months went into this, and when my dad helped me beat Ganon, it was so damn satisfying.

Excellent video. An Adventure game that gives you a sense of freedom instead of being force to go a certain route. This is the reason why the first Zelda is still my favorite. Simon's Quest and the originial Resident Evil also game me the same feeling.