LogFAQs > #967401792

You people and your 'virtually unbeatable without a guide', sheesh, now I see why Tunic was so unpopular

I beat Zelda 1 just fine as a kid, it took me a really long time to figure out how to get to level 5 but once I did that the rest was fine. It's not actually that cryptic a game at all - most of the hints make sense and there's a hint for how to get to every major thing in the game. I think people get tricked into thinking that it's cryptic because the single most cryptic hint in the game, "EASTMOST PENNINSULA (sic) IS THE SECRET", is one of the very first ones you see, and it's so cryptic that Zelda 1 experts can't even agree on what it means (the hint is not in the Japanese version of the game). But almost every hint after that tells you what to do if you follow its directions!

Zelda 1 is still a juggernaut of a game in my opinion. A truly open world with combat that's easy to understand but challenging to master and a wide array of items that are actually useful, with dungeons that are sprawling and complex but not overwhelming. Some of the decisions they made with bombable walls on the overworld are a bit perplexing (I don't know how anyone is supposed to find the burn bush that leads to the game's final heart container - I never found it as a kid), but other than that everything in the game has aged like a fine wine, in my opinion; only better with time. Zelda 1 randomizer is still the best randomizer that exists because of how well everything in the game works when shuffled around; the modular design of the dungeons make randomizing them incredibly fun.

Super Mario Bros still kicks ass too. Metroid is a little more rough around the edges (starting with 30 health each time, oof) but I still think it has something to offer; I love how challenging the world is to navigate safely, it really makes the deeper recesses of the world feel dangerous and thrilling to explore.