Legend of Zelda - NES - EN

In one of the darkest times of the Kingdom of Hyrule, a young, pointy-eared boy named Link embarks on an epic quest to restore the shattered Triforce of Wisdom and rescue Princess Zelda from the clutches of the evil, power-hungry Ganon. The Legend of Zelda is the first title in the Zelda series. Players must make their way through the various forests, graveyards, plains and deserts of the overworld to find the secret entrances of the eight dungeons and attempt to reassemble the shattered Triforce. Once all pieces are put together, Link can enter Death Mountain, the home of Ganon and the prison of Princess Zelda. The game is drawn in a top-down perspective. Link begins his quest in the overworld, which consists of forests, mountains and lakes and is divided into multiple screens. Link can freely explore the overworld, but when he enters a screen, he encounters multiple enemies. He can attack them with his sword. When Link is at full health, he can throw his sword to attack enemies from a distance, but when he is injured, even slightly, he can only fight in close combat. Link's health is represented by hearts; initially he can have a maximum of three hearts, but as he progresses through the game he will find heart containers that increase his maximum health. Enemies are diverse – some attack from close range, others shoot projectiles. When killed, they often leave behind an item – a heart to restore energy, rupees which serve as money (and with which you can shop in various shops in the overworld), or bombs which you can pick up and throw to attack enemies or destroy some walls. Some items serve as weapons or armour, while others are used to solve puzzles. When enemies are killed, they remain dead and do not reappear when the screen is re-entered. To find the pieces of the Triforce, Link must explore dungeons. Once he has found an entrance to a dungeon and entered it, he must explore the rooms, fight enemies and collect keys until he finds the boss monster he must defeat. Then he can collect a piece of the Triforce and permanently increase his health. However, once he does this, all monsters in the overworld come back to life. If Link dies on his quest, he can continue it; he then returns to his starting position in the overworld (or to the entrance of a dungeon), but with the items he has collected up to that point. Once Link has completed his adventure, the player can play the "second adventure", which is essentially a more difficult version of the game. The Legend of Zelda stood out through several factors that were advanced for its time: a continuous world that could be freely explored, power-ups that permanently improved the abilities of the main character, and a save function that allowed the player to keep his progress instead of having to start over. The gameplay offered a balanced mix of frequent action sequences and discovery, secrets and exploration.