Great Games: The Legend Of Zelda
NOTE: This essay was originally published to commemorate 30 years of The Legend of Zelda.
“Nintendo was worried about how an American audience would respond to this very different game, and when you think about it, the trepidation was justified. At the time, the most successful games in the States had been linear action titles providing instant gratification. The Legend of Zelda was a free-roaming title with strange game mechanics. It took hours to learn, and so much time to finish the cartridge had to have an internal battery to allow for game saves. It didn’t take long for Nintendo to find that the US was indeed ready to experience an adventure like Zelda. So ready, in fact, that over a million copies of the cartridge were sold within six months of its 1987 release. To music that no one can forget, players take the role of Link, and guide him on his quest to find the pieces of the Tri-Force, defeat the evil Ganon, and rescue the princess Zelda. On this unforgettable adventure, one travels an incredibly huge overworld, explores nine labyrinthine dungeons, earns new weapons, and discovers secret areas aplenty. Gameplay alone made Zelda addicting, but the way Miyamoto structured the world caused people to play it ravenously. You could see items and new areas on the edge of the screen, yet you could not get to them. Obtaining access to these things drove interest in the game from high to obsessive. Most pleasantly surprising of all, once the game is beaten, an entirely different and more difficult quest opens up. The Legend of Zelda is the ubiquitous experience of video games — it’s not a question of if you’ve played it, but how much.”
- Jeff Cork, Game Informer’s Top 100 Games Of All Time.
Nintendo’s inaugural Legend of Zelda is similar to its predecessor Super Mario Bros, in many ways. The fact that both were directed by Shigeru Miyamoto may be an obvious clue. As in Mario, Miyamoto gave Zelda adventure, playability, colorful graphics, hidden treasures, and had Kenji Kondo supply an iconic musical score. Zelda, like Mario, not only became a defining game for the NES system and Nintendo in general, but also became an enduring symbol, par excellence, for video games. The Legend of Zelda, it appears, is just that to gamers. A legend.
Unlike the side-scrolling Mario, Zelda offered a view from above. As such, it was far less linear. Whereas Mario offered a challenging trek from point A to point B, Zelda leaves the player completely free to explore at their own will. The only starting advice you’re given in the game is from an old man in a cave who says, “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!” You are then equipped with a measly wooden sword, in a world of Octoroks and Tektites. Not an ideal starting weapon, but much like Metal Gear Solid, you start naked, slowly gathering and updating an arsenal of defenses. It’s a tiresome, labyrinthine odyssey, where, as in Metroid, you’re given virtually no directions where to go. Indeed, Nintendo marketed the game as an “endless adventure.”
I first encountered Zelda in the fifth grade. At the middle school, it was one of the few games on the school computer that could be played early before class. In those days, I didn’t have a strategy guide or easy access to the Internet, so much of the discovery had to be done with my own wits. I got surprisingly far for my age, but was never able to find that pesky sixth dungeon.
This emphasis on forcing the player to rely on their gathered intelligence to triumph fits well within the game’s mythos. The story is set in Hyrule, which is kept in balance by the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Wisdom. Ganon, the Prince of Darkness, stole the Triforce of Power. Before being captured by Ganon, Hyrule’s Princess Zelda split remaining Triforce into eight pieces to protect it from him. Each piece is hidden in a dungeon with a variety of traps and monsters, which ensures that the person who wins the completed Triforce is truly wise. This is what makes Zelda, in my view, a more fascinating princess than Mario’s Peach. (Being named after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s flapper wife certainly didn’t hurt, either). All the gruesome challenges you face in the dungeons are Zelda’s test of your courage as well as your thinking. Indeed, Zelda goes beyond Mario, in which rescuing the princess isn’t just for a peck on the cheek, but about restoring balance to a world torn asunder.
Zelda’s inspiration came from Shigeru Miyamoto’s own adventures exploring as a child. Since Nintendo was working on Mario at the exact same time as Zelda, Miyamoto said he wanted Zelda to be “the total opposite” of Mario’s linear format. His goal with Zelda was to expand the concept of a “world” in gaming, as described by GameSpot,
“With Zelda, Miyamoto wanted to take the idea of a game “world” even further. In his own words, the intent of the original Zelda game (and every Zelda title since) was to give players a “miniature garden that they can put inside their drawer.” His inspiration came from the fields, woods, and caves outside Kyoto that he had explored as a boy, and he has always tried to impart this sense of exploration and limitless wonder to players through his Zelda titles.”
This rather open approach was risky, given that players at the time weren’t used to such an open format. In a later interview, Miyamoto admitted that he was fearful about how gamers would react,
“Yes, I remember that we were very nervous, because The Legend of Zelda was our first game that forced the players to think about what they should do next. We were afraid that gamers would become bored and stressed by the new concept.”
Nintendo pulled out all the stops for the game’s release. The NES cartridge was encased in gold, and players were encouraged to sign up for Nintendo’s newsletters, where tips and secrets about the arcane title were divulged. They even had video game hotlines, where players could call up and ask experts about how to do such and such. I’d go so far as to say that the game is near impossible to win without some sort of strategy guide.
Of course, there are those hilarious American Zelda commercials full of all the 80’s camp you could wish for. The first one featured a corny Zelda rap between two nerds and the other featured an eccentric man desperately crying out for Zelda in a dark room. I think that the first commercial represents gamer expectations, while the latter commercial represents the frantic state gamers will be put into. Don’t think for a second that Japan was exempt from this silliness. A commercial for the later Link To The Past featured a female Link in a dance troupe with a full scale puppet of Ganon.
Regardless, the game sold a total of 6.5 million copies. Highly popular on its release, Zelda proved to be great influence on RPG video games, even though it technically isn’t one. The sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link, seems more in line with the RPG genre, having experience points and random encounters. However, it was the original that paved the way for fantasy storytelling, as well as saving in-game to permit longer adventures. GameSpot has written,
“Zelda was the biggest thing to happen to the burgeoning industry in the early years of 8-bit gaming, and its influence was immediately felt. After it was released, games that allowed for character development, equipment gathering, and game saving were a possibility, and subsequent years brought with them a bevy of games that included these features. Console RPGs were born in this era, as were traditional console adventures. In truth, any game that boasts battery backup — or even a password feature — owes its very existence to Zelda. And in the days before memory cards and Memory Paks, this meant all RPGs, most simulation and strategy games, and almost any console game that let you save and restore your progress.”
Thirty years after its release, Zelda still holds up as a fun game. Unlike RPGs, the battles don’t require turn-taking, and instead allow you to strike instantly. Indeed, compared to some modern games, the controls are still rather fluid. I had little trouble switching between items and using them in battle, from setting creatures aflame with the magic wand or blowing them to bits with your bombs. These weapons have other uses, as well, the fires can burn away bushes to reveal secret staircases, while bombs are essential to creating new passages in the dungeon walls. The bosses in these dungeons are also clever, the new items you’ve acquired are often necessary to defeat them. Ganon, for instance, can only be turned to ash with the silver arrows you gain in that dungeon. Encouraging you through each stage is Kenji Kondo’s classic score, one of video gaming’s most lauded. The main theme is perfect for the 8-bit system, simple tune, but one that stays in the ear. Orchestral renditions are nothing short of beauty.
Link, only an eight year old boy in this installment, went on to be one of the most iconic characters in gaming. His signature green cap and tunic are as recognizable as Mario’s red hat and blue overalls. He doesn’t say a word, and yet, much like the aforementioned Mario, gamers can identify with his courage and goodwill. Of course, this is Miyamoto’s intent, as he once remarked in an interview,
“Link is a regular boy when the game begin, but destiny make him fight evil, and I think many people dream about becoming heroes. For me it has always been important that the gamers grow together with Link, that there is a strong relationship between the one who holds the controller and the person who is on the screen. I have always tried to create the feeling that you really are in Hyrule. If you don’t feel that way, it will lose some of its magic.”
Thirty years later, the legend lives on.
Originally published at http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com on May 31, 2016.
