The Legend of Zelda (video game)

The Legend of Zelda is the first video game of The Legend of Zelda series. It was first released in Japan, as a launch title of the Famicom Disk System peripheral in 1986. A year later, in 1987, the game saw an overseas release on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and is played from a gold cartridge. The Legend of Zelda is the first home console title with an internal battery for saving game data.

The Legend of Zelda became a bestseller for Nintendo, selling over 6.5 million copies. It is often regarded as one of the greatest video games or most influential. A much different sequel for the same system, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, was first released in Japan less than a year after its predecessor. The Legend of Zelda would eventually spawn more successive titles and spin-offs and become one of Nintendo's most popular and beloved franchises.

Plot
The story of The Legend of Zelda is described in the instruction booklet and in the short prologue after the title screen.

During an age of chaos, a small kingdom of Hyrule is invaded by an army led by Ganon, who steal the Triforce of Power. Ganon, nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness", sought the three pieces of the Triforce to rule over the world with fear and darkness. Fearing his rule, Princess Zelda split the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them around the kingdom. She then commanded her trustworthy nursemaid, Impa, to find someone with the courage to fight Ganon and his forces. Ganon finds out about her plan, so he angrily imprisons Zelda and sends his minions to search for Impa.

Impa fled from Ganon's troops, through forests and mountains. Sometime during her escape, Impa loses all of her energy and gets cornered by Ganon's troops. She is saved by a young hero named Link, whom she retells the whole story of Zelda and Ganon to. Link decides to go on a journey to rescue Zelda and recover each fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom, with he can use to defeat Ganon.

During the course of the tale, Link locates and braves the eight underworld labyrinths, each containing a guardian monster, and retrieves a fragment from each one. With the completed Triforce of Wisdom, Link is able to infiltrate Ganon's hideout in Death Mountain, where he confronts Ganon and destroys him with the Silver Arrow. Link recovers the Triforce of Power from Ganon's ashes, and he returns both the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Wisdom to the rescued Princess Zelda, allowing peace to return into Hyrule.

Gameplay
The Legend of Zelda is notable for incorporating elements from the action, adventure, and role-playing genres. From a top-down perspective, the player can move Link around the Overworld, a large outdoor map with various environments. Link starts his adventure only equipped with a small shield, but he can enter a nearby cave and obtain a sword from the Old Man. Throughout his adventure, Link is aided by several characters who give or sell equipment and clues to him; these characters are found in caves scattered throughout the land. Some are easily accessible, and others are hidden beneath obstacles such as rocks, trees, and waterfalls. The Overworld is divided into sections, and a few enemies spawn in nearly every part of the map. Link must either battle or avoid them as he searches for entrances to large dungeons.

There are nine dungeons, each consisting of a maze which is individually separated into rooms, which are connected by doors and secret passages. The paths are usually closed off, and can only be opened if Link defeats every enemy in the room, or by moving blocks around. There are some unique items that Link can obtain within the dungeon, such as a boomerang. A boss often appears inside a dungeon, and must be defeated by Link to recover a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom.

The Legend of Zelda is also noted for its flexibility meaning the player can decide on the order that they finish the dungeons. However, the dungeons steadily increase in difficulty by number, and a few dungeon entrances from the Overworld can only be entered by using items that are obtained in previous locations.

After completing the game a first time, the player unlocks a harder mode known as the Second Quest. It is essentially a harder version of the first mode, featuring entirely different dungeons, relocated items, and stronger enemies. The Overworld remains largely unchanged except for the relocation of the dungeon entrances.

Alternate versions and re-releases

 * 1986 - Original release on the Famicom Disk System (Japan)
 * 1987 - Original release on the Nintendo Entertainment System (North America/Europe/Australia)
 * 1994 - Back-ported on a Famicom cartridge and renamed to The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda 1 (Japan)
 * 1995/1996 - A remake, titled BS Zelda no Densetsu, was broadcast for the Satellaview add-on of the Super Nintendo in four episodic, weekly installments.
 * 2001 - The original game is unlockable in Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube. It is one of the Forbidden Four, and cannot be accessed in-game without a cheating device.
 * 2003 - The original game is one of the four full games on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
 * 2004 - Ported onto the Game Boy Advance as part of the Classic NES Series
 * 2006 - Ported as one of the first Virtual Console titles on the Wii
 * 2008 - Available as a Masterpiece on Super Smash Bros. Brawl
 * 2011/2012 - Ported on select Nintendo 3DS units as an Ambassador Program title, and later became more widely available with a Virtual Console release in 2012 (December 2011 in Japan).
 * 2013 - Ported on the Wii U as a downloadable Virtual Console title
 * 2014 - Also appears as a Masterpiece on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
 * 2016 - Released as one of the 30 games included on the NES Classic Edition and its Japanese counterpart, Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer.
 * 2018 - Included as a playable title on the Nintendo Switch Online service. A "special save data" version was later released, where the player starts the game with more items and Rupees.