Retro Corner: The Legend of Zelda (NES) Review · 2:41am Mar 21st, 2021
I have an old edition of Retro Corner Reviews, and it was the time we went over the original Zelda on the NES. I went over this back in the Summer of 2016 when Nintendo revealed a beta of Breath of the Wild at E3. The first Zelda by today's standards is outdated, and I think hasn't aged that well since its release in 1987. Even though it's still playable in some form, the graphics and presentation are just bland. The gameplay hasn't aged that good either, but it still offers innovation that set several standards in exploration and puzzle solving. That's the lineage to where most of today's games series such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts got their concepts from. Surprisingly, the first game is still on the 3DS and Wii U’s eShops despite its availability, on the NES app for the Nintendo Switch. There are other non-digital versions like the NES cartridge, the disc collection on GameCube and the GBA port. However, don’t try finding the classic gold cartridge unless you're a collector as the battery in those are most likely expired. The same goes for the two other editions that will cost a fortune to get. Other than that, this game is definitely something you should check out due to its historical purposes.
Another thing about the first game of a series is its continuity is never explained in detail at first. In other series such as Kingdom Hearts it never gave full details, and a backstory about why the Heartless or better yet, the Keyblade existed. We didn't know of its power, and what exactly could the Keyblade do to other worlds if it were used for darkness. We also didn't understand if nobodies or unversed existed in the series—that was an example of what I am trying to say about the Zelda series. It wouldn't be until A Link to the Past on the Super NES where a full backstory on Hyrule and the Triforce was given an explanation. That is where the series gave a complete backstory narrative on the Triforce's exact purpose and what it's capable of. To celebrate the series—something Nintendo won’t do as of now—I will repost links to my old Zelda reviews from when this site started.
