There have been tons of Zelda games released by Nintendo over the past soon to be 30 years and just about each of them takes place in several various parts of a timeline. But here is a very interesting fact. Did you know that the first Zelda game ever released took place near the very end of the timeline? The end of the timeline belongs to its sequel Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. Every game after that kept journeying back in time starting with Zelda 3: Link to the Past and it went on from there. Here's another bombshell to think about. While the timeline has its own branches, this very first Zelda game takes place in a timeline where the Link in Ocarina of Time ended up losing to Ganondorf in the end. I know all this sounds confusing but leave it up to the creators to do a lot of time hopping.
 
OVERVIEW
 
The evil Ganon is in possession of the Triforce of Power and he is looking to claim the Triforce of Wisdom as well. So he goes to claim it but Princess Zelda manages to shatter it into eight fragments and scatter them all across Hyrule to keep it out of his evil hands. Ganon decides to take Zelda hostage as ransom. It is now up to our hero, Link, to collect all eight shards of the Triforce, defeat Ganon once and for all, and rescue Zelda. Until a new game that takes place after Zelda II, he literally does defeat Ganon once and for all in this game unless you get a game over in Zelda II which he makes a cameo appearance and gets resurrected with his signature laugh that gets used in a later game by the name of Mike Tyson's Punch Out.
 
GRAPHICS - A+
 
While Super Mario Bros had set the tone for graphics, it was Legend of Zelda as well another 1986 release called Metroid that got the graphics where the NES graphics started to bare it fangs even though the latter game did it better. The graphics for its time were flawless for its time even though I would downgrade it to nearly flawless today since one of the enemy character's graphics got nerfed by the consoles limitations so it looks nothing like what it is supposed to look like today. That enemy I speak of is called Octorocks. When Zelda 3 came out, it got its proper design. The NES used its color limitations to the best of its ability although some colors had to be left out to be realistic. As with most games, the pallette works in a way that some objects must be the same color as another one. Best known example to name is the Mega Man series. While the weapon-ups are no big deal, the E-Tank color changed along with Mega Man's color scheme as did the extra lives. With Legend of Zelda, both the shopkeeper and Zelda will wear the same color clothes that Link is wearing. If he is in his default green, they too will be in green. Once you get the blue and red rings, they will wear matching colors as well.
 
Stuff like trees, oceans and lakes are panned out perfectly. They even managed to simulate sand by adding red dots to the ground. Normally I would use those red dots to sumulate quicksand but there were no true land hazards in Zelda except if you hurt yourself by using fire from the Candle. Not even the bombs you lay will harm you. Some games will have graphics that will indicate a secret but Zelda is not one of them, you will have to stumble upon most of the secrets to get to places in the game. For example, on the map there is what looks like a dead end towards the upper right with a hollow tree. How was one to know there was a hidden ladder leading to the very top right of the map? I will say that the graphics can still help or hinder you in other ways as far as finding where to go. Lets take the entrance to Level 8, any normal person would have burned that bush because it was in the way but instead it lead to Level 8. For hinderance, the second quest has plenty of those with certain secrets unlocked by blowing a whistle in certain spots. Same was done to find Level 7 in Quest 1 but that was because of a clue given somewhere in the game. If you tried to find Level 3 in Quest  2, without that prior knowledge, you'd be stuck.
 
I'll cover more in the gameplay segment but let me get on with the dungeons. With the consoles, capability, they look like dungeons and with the level design, it may be easy to get lost but sometimes the dungeons will give you clues on what to do next. All the enemies and objects are superb and the game even throughs a neat little treat in there. If you manage to find a secret passage and enter. you might find a needed item but the game will simulate a platformer mode. No you can't jump but gives you a little feel of a platform as you retrieve the item. The game also shows signs of realism as you may notice when Link gets a small item like a bow or arrow, he will lift it up with one hand. For a larger item, he will not act like a He-man and lift it with one arm. He will hold it up with both arms. As with Mario, everything is done to fit an 8 by 8 pixel and it was done better as most character sprites design to move in a cardinal direction, got a sprite to show which direction it was facing. Only large objects in the game were the bosses.
 
MUSIC/SOUND - A+
 
The music was one of the best selling points to the game. While repetitive at times, it was very catchy. Each tune was able to fit the mood of the environment. Overworld sounds adventurous even though the graveyard is an exception. Dungeon sounds creepy like all dungeons would be in real life. The final dungeons is even creepier. If you blow the whistle, you will here a tune that would go on to be used in Super Mario Bros 3 with a similar function if you are in certain spots in the overworld. When the game was being developed, the final dungeon theme was actually meant the main dungeon theme. The sounds are your average ones you would expect to hear in the game. If a secret is found, you will hear a tune that indicates it. This is useful when use a bomb.
 
GAMEPLAY - A+
 
There are times when you will find things to be unfair but you have to get the correct items to remedy those ailments. he first three dungeons are easy to find but every dungeon after that becomes outlandish to find in Quest 1 and even moreso in Quest 2 except for Level 6. Level 4, needs a raft to reach which is no biggie. Level 5, you have to keep going up a ladder that keeps repeating until the dungeon reveals itself. Level 7 needs you to blow the whistle to dry up the lake where there is no fairy. Level 8 requires burning the bush and Level 9 requires you to blow up the left rock where you see two rocks. Not all secrets are good secrets, there is a guy that will charge you for door repairs and you will lose money or rupees as they are called. Lost in translation or shall I say importation is the method to kill the Pols Voice (rabbit looking enemies). The Famicom had a feature to use the microphone on the second controller and you could just make noise to defeat them but the NES had no such feature as the weakness would end up being changed to arrows instead of using the whistle which one would most likely try to use first. The whistle did however work to turn Digdogger to a Digpuppy and make him vulnerable to attack. Ganon himself is not so hard. 3 hits with the Master Sword, and one hit with the silver arrow and he dies.
 
REPLAYABILITY - A+
 
There are several reasons to play this game again and again. Legend of Zelda hides several secrets waiting to be discovered by way of burning bushes, bombing walls, and blowing the whistle in some spots. Some secrets are necessary to beat the game. In the 2nd quest, you will have to walk through walls in order to go into the next room. Some dungeons also required bombing certain walls to go through. In the prototype version, the only wall you could walk through is at the part in Dungeon 9 quest 1 where you are told to bomb the left wall but you call walk through the right wall and this will lead to the silver arrows required to beat Ganon. The released version places them in a reachable room by normal means. As said before, not all secrets are good ones, you can blow up or burn the entrance but as long as you don't go inside, you won't have to worry about the door repair charge. If you see the lady that says pay her and she will talk, don't pay her the most expensive thing unless its 20 rupees or she will rip you off by saying "Boy, you're rich!"
 
OVERALL - A+
 
No doubt, this game is well deserving of an A+. It became a cult classic that caught on quick. Another thing that this game compares to Metroid was the lack of brain cells people had to the main characters' names. People would call Link Zelda and people would call Samus Metroid all because of the game's name. In both games Zelda was the name of the princess needed for rescuing and Metroid was the name of the series main enemy. There were other games like that but I can't remember but anyway's Zelda is a game that will always gets its just due no matter what.