It's a solid summary. I will mention that the original game was released with a manual that has, among other things, a guide to reach the first two dungeons, descriptions of every enemy, and a partial overworld map that was helpful for navigation.
The temple of time in twilight princess has so great puzzles. First you fight your way up a tower and then use your new item to control the statutes. Definitely my favorite dungeon!
My experience with the first Zelda was very similar, back on the Gamecube with the “Zelda Special Edition” bonus disk. Growing up with “A Link to the Past” really makes the first part unplayable!
Interestingly I feel this video inadvertently highlights how we interact with games in a different way as adults. The perspective of needing to beat the game. We have so many games nowadays we don't approach them the same way which makes them seem so esoteric. As a kid in the early 2000s on the gamecube I remember spending a sizeable amount of time in Zelda 1 getting a feel for the game but finally beating it as an adult without a guide was satisfying. Also as adults we socialize about games differently. Going to school and talking about games allowed us to get intel. If one person in your group bombed a wall in Zelda 1 then we all know it is possible and then you start to notice many overworld rock walls are suspiciously flat and some bushes are oddly standing out sometimes. These old games have a specific language you eventually learn and pick up, It just takes work and effort alot of time we don't even have sometimes.
It's very interesting that you mention that. I, for one, was always frustrated as a child when I encountered a roadblock that I couldn't overcome. For example, I could never finish Links Awakening on the Gameboy because I didn't get that pillar puzzle in the seventh dungeon! But since you didn't have many games back then, I tried again and again and maybe that's how I built up the resilience that got me through my first Dark Souls run years later. It just never felt right to leave a game unfinished, at least not the ones you fall in love with. And for me, that's still the case today. As for the schoolyard situation you describe, I completely agree with you. I didn't learn most of what I know about Pokemon Gen 1 from the infamous players' guide, but from my classmates and friends. I think that this kind of mutual exchange is what is responsible for the fact that I still have a desire for this kind of communication today. That's why I'm always so happy when friends of mine play the same games as me.
Great video as always!! :) Right now I'm busy playing tears of the kingdom so it's very interesting to see where this famous game series has its roots as I've never played the first few installments. Nevertheless I have to disagree with the point you made about which games use the dark world - light world concept because in my opinion there's at least one more game namely lords of the fallen (the new one from 2023) that make use of this concept intensively where the connection and interaction between the dark and light version of the world is necessary for the player to progress further.
Yes, you are right and most probably others will find more examples here... but my point was to emphasize that it's just funny that these two famous Nintendo franchises have copied from each other!
I played this game for the first time in 1992 and at the time there was really nothing like it. The exploration and challenge was unique at the time. The first 10 hours playing Zelda BOTW for the first time was the closest experience in gaming I’ve had since.
The Zelda 1 manual says you should draw a map for your self. we had an artist friend re draw maps for us. Alot of the fun was learning from each other and getting to share new info / update our map . I don't know if this was a singular experience or not. Going in with out reading the manual and playing totally by yourself may not have been the intended play style. -James
I can imagine that it must have felt great to experience the game like that. Unfortunately, most people today will experience it more like I did, and I think that's a shame! Thanks for your comment!!!
It was definitely unpolished. But it was the first. Later games usually improve gameplay mechanics, story, graphics, etc. but as a true adventure game, this gives you free range to and if you’re smart enough to understand you’re not “supposed” to be there, you’ll leave. But if you’re really good and can beat the game with less abilities and heart points, then good on you. I sometimes don’t like the arrow pointer always telling you EXACTLY where to go and there’s no sense of lost, wonder and exploration because your hand is always held of where to go instead of just figuring it out yourself. If you have to use a game guide, you have no patience or sense of independence. I agree though, A Link to the Past did a great balance of helping enough to get you flowing well.
The game was designed under the assumption you have a guide, the game actually shipped with a guide which contains hints, as well as the NPCs in game giving clues
Yes, but doesn't that further prove the point? Manuals are outdated and if you need one for this game, it's probably outdated too! If you want to play it today via NSO, Nintendo won't give you a digital version of it either, will they?
You totally could have. It came with a manual that would have helped you. Also, the language of video games was different back then. You would have understood more intuitively back in this game's heyday
I played the Alttp first as the Gameboy advance port. And I, a dumb lil child ofc didn't know that that game was already so old. Because it was in no way lacking behind the contemporary titles that came out on the GBA and GBC.
As much as I hate the admit it, the video is mostly right. I'm not sure I would enjoy Zelda 1 as much if I didn't know what to do already. As a kid, I didn't have the manual, but I had cousins who knew what to do, and helped me out at the beginning. Games shouldn't rely on making you look at the manual.
My experience with zelda games comes primarily from the 4 swords and the minish cap. I played a little bit of zelda 2 but it was unplayable without a manual.
I actually owned this for NES a few years back. And is it outdated? Yes. Maybe. But it is FAR from unplayable. I played this game and explored the map without any kind of guide or book and i didnt even get stumped until maybe the 3rd or 4th dungeon. Because, you see, you can figure out a lot on your own if you just explore and try stuff out on your own. Players are so spoiled today because games hand-hold you every second of the way that if you give them a game that doesnt hand-hold them, they think it is broken
First of all, you’re comparing an 8 bit system to a 16 bit system. And, yes! The original Legend of Zelda is a timeless classic, and holds up for all-time! We had something that a lot of millennials lost called imagination!
Lol not gonna lie, there's an extent to which this opinion on Zelda 1 felt like the following: "You know, I keep hearing about this game basketball and how fun it's supposed to be, but I went onto a court by myself and dribbled and shot a little bit by myself and I just don't see what all the fuss is about. But it's still relatively important to the history of sports with balls, even though it feels like a prototype. I can at least appreciate that." Lol if you're not playing Zelda 1 with a notebook beside you, you're not playing it right. And really, if you're not exchanging secrets you find with your friends as you play, you're also missing out. We're so used to being guided and kept on rails by modern video games that we've lost our appreciation of games that expected you to NOT want to be babysat the whole time.
Isn't that exactly the point why the first Zelda nowadays feels not up to date anymore when you really need a notebook beside you or the need of exchanging secrets with your friends, I mean for real how many dudes do you know that possibly randomly play the first Zelda at the same time like you today? Also ironically why is there no other legend of Zelda after this, that requires such methods?
@zilvanzalminator9548 again, though, if you play basketball wrong, it doesn't make much sense to say it's like a prototype. And if I'm not mistaken, one of the single most common complaints about the progression of the series is that it moved away from exactly these methods, hence the design of BOTW.
@@patrickshepherd1341I get your point but in this case the first Zelda literally is the first game of it's kind like a prototype from today's perspective. Obviously someone who wants to play the game these days, needs to know how important the help of a notebook or map and so on is to support in a playthrough. Basketball could be the best sport in the world but it doesn't help you to play it right until someone else maybe explains the rules to you and in the first Zelda there's nobody who tells you to use that extra gear I guess so the most common way to know it is to have it already played years and years ago but how does this help anyone who wants to dive into this experience today for the first time?
I watched his other videos too that's why I can say for sure he plays lots of retro games and also played since he grew up with some of them which made him fall in love with gaming over all. He probably completed more retro games as well as modern games in his life til today than the most people here can claim for themselves. I think there are many games way harder to beat than any legend of Zelda but at least they are beatable only relying on skills and common gaming knowledge. There are games like dark souls where the only hint you get in the game on how to beat it, is "ring two bells somewhere in the world" and you also got no map or anything else that makes the game easier to beat. The only way to progress is to learn the combat system and rely on your natural instinct of exploration to eventually find your way through the game and beat it without the need of an manual to look up where to go. And that's exactly the point he made, why under a modern perspective the first Zelda is unplayable for gamers with today's expectations! I'd suggest to you to watch the full video or even his other videos for a better understanding but I guess therefore you don't have the attention span!
