The first ever Legend of Zelda is a piece of gaming history that is currently regarded as a very good attempt at an adventure game for the time, but now it's just like any other NES title: it's either way too hard or way too confusing. It basically requires an online guide to know where to go, which kind of defeats the purpose of playing a game all about exploration. It's not too bad at first, since you'll likely try to explore for yourself before going after some help, but you soon realize how small the world map is. I felt like I was going in circles for the majority of my playthrough, visiting the same places over and over again and still not knowing what to do.

Dungeons are mediocre, but it's hard to ignore how influential they are. Near the end they become way too hard (even worse if you don't use guides and/or savestates), mainly because there are too many enemies that are hard to kill and make traversing the rooms something way more troublesome than it has any right to be. Of course, I'm talking about darknuts. Maybe it's not THAT bad considering I, someone who's not really good at retro games, still managed to finish it. Still, I can say for certain it wasn't enjoyable.

If you compare it to the amount of garbage that existed back then, it's easier to realize how much Zelda holds up decently. I mean, you'll only play it if you know what to expect, anyway. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone unless you're a big Zelda fan, though.

Gameplay: B
Level design: C
Visuals: C
Music: TAAAN TADADADADAN DADAAAN
Difficulty: Obnoxious