The Legend of Zelda was an innovative game for its time. In Zelda, one will acquire a lot of gear, hearts, and weapons, but what made this game groundbreaking for its time is you can carry those items over to your next playthrough thanks to a save feature. Having a game which you could play for an hour or two, and were able to progress slowly over several days, weeks, or even months was the kind of game the creators were trying to make, and for its time, this was groundbreaking. In order to have a save system make sense however, the game would have to be long, and while a pro can beat the Legend of Zelda in a half-hour, a beginner will take a week or more to complete the game. Once you complete the game, guess what? There's another game which is not just a harder version of the first game, but rather a remix of the game which contains new dungeons that are much more difficult-- some with multiple bosses throughout!
The dungeon crawling in this game requires one to equip themselves properly, and be able to solve puzzles throughout the dungeons. The puzzles can be cryptic at times, but none of them are so difficult that you would be unable to solve them. In fact, one of the game's biggest puzzles is what order things should be done, as there is no one correct solution to solving Zelda. That being said, while you could spend weeks figuring out how to progress and where every secret is in the game, it is probably a better and certainly less frustrating of a game experience if you were to use a guide. This game was practically built for one-- in fact, the original cartridge came with an overworld map which was very helpful, especially for finding the first few dungeons. Don't let the arcane design of Zelda discourage you from playing the game however, because this game still holds up today.
The Good:
- A save feature which allows one to slowly make progress at the game over several days or weeks.
- Fun and lengthy dungeons, all with puzzles which should be solvable without the use of a guide.
- Plenty of weapons, heart containers, and other gear to improve your character in preparation for harder dungeons.
- After beating the game, there is a second quest with new dungeons!
The Bad:
- Some of the secrets-- especially hidden heart containers are so well hidden that I cannot imagine anyone finding them without the usage of a guide.
- Game doesn't tell you where you need to go; however, the cartridge did come with an overworld map which gave plenty of hints.
- Even though everything is solvable without a guide, it is probably a better experience and certainly less frustrating to use one.