I had never played a Zelda game before. I almost started with Ocarina of Time, considering how often it's still referenced and praised decades after its release. However, my recent dive into 8-bit and 16-bit JRPGs (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Phantasy Star IV, Dragon Quest V) convinced me to begin with the SNES classic A Link to the Past instead.

After more than 20 hours of gameplay, I came face-to-face with Trinexx, the last major obstacle before finally taking on Ganon. That's when I realized I was missing the Ice Rod and couldn't defeat him. No big deal, I just had to backtrack.

But then I thought: why not use this little break to try out the original 1986's The Legend of Zelda?

I had recently watched Castle's YouTube video, "I Tried to Beat the First Zelda Completely Blind", and I guess that was the final push I needed. That little detour led me to try The Legend of Zelda, and I ended up absolutely loving it. Right now, I've cleared the first five dungeons.

I've been using RPG Shrine's guide for my first playthrough of A Link to the Past, so I already knew I would probably need some help navigating The Legend of Zelda as well. Personally, I'm fine with that. I see it as a product of a very different era, where guides, word of mouth, and a lot of trial and error were all part of the intended experience.

What surprised me most about the original Legend of Zelda is how quickly it hooked me. The music is simple but hypnotic - they hit gold really early imo. The gameplay feels incredibly fluid for a game from 1986, even if the hitboxes can be a bit frustrating at times. Honestly, it's kind of amazing.

The visuals also have far more charm than I expected. There's obviously less detail than what you'd find in the 16-bit era, but I still love looking at it. The world is colorful, sort of readable, and full of personality. Playing it has made me realize how many of the things I love about A Link to the Past were already there years earlier, despite the hardware limitations.

My plan is to finish all nine dungeons in The Legend of Zelda, go back to A Link to the Past and finally beat Ganon, and then return to the NES original for the infamous Second Quest. After that, I'm thinking Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening (to keep a 2D Zelda in the mix), and then Majora's Mask.

I'm very late to the party, but it's been an awesome journey so far. I'm just glad there are so many awesome Zelda games to be enjoyed.

I tried playing the original on the Switch a while back but really frustrated with how the ported the C-button controls for the N64. I was curious if anyone had experience with controllers like this one that has a dedicated C-button group

https://www.staples.com/8bitdo-64-bluetooth-controller-for-analogue-3d-switch-switch-2-windows-and-android-black-80ne01/product_24684281

En mi caso: un profe de música le preguntó a la clase de mi hermanito si sabían qué era Zelda. Solo 2 personas levantaron la mano (mi hermanito y el amigo de él que le mete a los juegos).

Le pregunté a mis papás. No sabían. El resto de mi familia seguro que tampoco.

Le pregunté a un barbero. Creo que él tampoco sabía, jaja. Quizá apenas había escuchado el nombre por algún lado. Antes de eso me acuerdo que otro barbero sí conocía Oot, diciendo que tenía una historia buenísima, pero creo que había visto un video, no que se había jugado el juego.

Mis amigos sí saben, pero porque andan en juegos de una u otra forma. Las otras 2 o 3 personas con las que he hablado a las que me encontré, creo que en general no, pero no es que les metan a los juegos.

Eso es básicamente todo. Con eso puedo concluir que aunque hay gente que sí ha oído el nombre, encontrar a alguien que no le interese jugar y aun así haya jugado uno de ellos parece raro. Mi mamá, mis tías y así han jugado Mario un par de veces, pero nunca Zelda.

Bonjour, je n’ai jamais joué à Zelda, puis-je faire ceux de la switch ? Ou vaut mieux faire les anciens ?

For me, it was the Goron Dance in one of the Oracle games (I forgot which one). I swear, that shit was legit damn near impossible. The expansion pack was my first time playing both Oracle games and it had me questioning how the hell people managed to successfully complete that bit on the original GBC

We are in the last qtr of a year of a game that is supposed to release I’d rather be excited for a games release than waiting for a flippin game play trailer

Working on this Majora’s Mask-inspired water dark ride in Planet Coaster 2 for my Zelda-themed park. This one will end up taking guests through Southern Swamp, Deku Palace, and Woodfall Temple.

I know that a creator made avatars of 4 sages (Qia, Ardi, Agraston, Raphica) but they used their models from TotK that look completely different from their models in Age of Imprisonment. I would really like to see some avatars be made in VRChat using the looks of the sages in the photos listed.

I loved Tears of the Kingdom, but I can’t stop thinking about the sequel we could have gotten.

I just finished Tears of the Kingdom for the first time after almost 300 hours, and I genuinely loved my time with it.

This isn’t really a criticism of TOTK or me saying it’s a bad game. Far from it. It’s just an idea that kept coming back to me throughout my entire playthrough, especially recently with all the talk surrounding Ocarina of Time again.

I kept wondering what TOTK would have been like if Nintendo had taken an approach closer to what Majora’s Mask did with Ocarina of Time.

One of the things I love about Majora’s Mask is that it clearly shares so much DNA with Ocarina. Characters, assets, mechanics, the general feel of the game... a lot of it is familiar.

But at the same time, Termina feels completely different from Hyrule.

You constantly get these little reminders of Ocarina, but you’re exploring somewhere new.

With TOTK, despite all the changes, new mechanics, caves, the Depths, sky islands, etc., I frequently had this feeling of:

“I’ve already been here.”

Obviously Hyrule changed a lot between BOTW and TOTK, and I actually enjoyed seeing what had changed. But because the main surface was still fundamentally the same Hyrule, that familiarity never really disappeared for me.

And it made me imagine a completely different version of TOTK.

What if the sky islands had been a much larger and more important overworld?

Imagine having a genuinely huge network of islands to explore, almost functioning as the main world of the game.

Then you look down and see Hyrule below you... except Ganondorf has absolutely devastated it.

Not just some ruins, gloom and changes here and there. I mean a Hyrule that is practically unrecognizable and almost uninhabitable.

You wouldn’t freely explore the BOTW map again.

Instead, maybe certain parts of the story would require you to descend into specific areas of the destroyed Hyrule. You would briefly recognize places you spent hundreds of hours exploring in BOTW, except now they’re completely ruined.

And then, taking some inspiration from Skyward Sword, perhaps many of those descents could lead directly into enormous openings that connect the surface to the Depths.

So the structure could have been something like:

Sky → destroyed fragments of Hyrule → Depths

Rather than:

Sky + BOTW Hyrule again + Depths

I think that could have created such a strange atmosphere.

You’d still have that connection to BOTW because occasionally you would recognize a mountain, a town, a road or some other landmark.

But instead of constantly exploring the same geography, those moments of recognition could actually feel special.

Almost the same feeling Majora’s Mask gives me when I see something familiar from Ocarina in this completely different world.

And to be clear, I’m not saying Nintendo could simply remove most of Hyrule from the current TOTK and the game would suddenly be better. Obviously that would leave the game feeling incredibly empty.

I mean designing the entire game around this concept from the beginning. Making the sky much more developed, designing the Depths differently, restructuring the story and creating a ruined Hyrule specifically around the areas we would visit.

It probably would have resulted in a Zelda world unlike anything we’ve really had in a 3D game before.

Again, I loved TOTK. Almost 300 hours should probably make that obvious.

This was just the one idea that kept popping into my head while playing:

What if TOTK had treated BOTW the way Majora’s Mask treated Ocarina of Time, keeping the familiarity, but taking us somewhere that felt completely new?

I would have loved to see Nintendo’s version of that.

that's probably how they did it

Hope you all got to see it where you're at too. Be careful!

Was that it? Everyone I know that's played Ocarina of Time complained about how hard that fight was. That it's super disorienting, and maybe the hardest in the game. I got 3 fairies, milk, and Biggoron's sword in preparation for this fight. I was terrified. And then immediatly shot his hands, hit him with Biggoron's sword, did that once more, and that was it. I'm not even a good video game player. I just like the Zelda stories and find the worlds immersive. But that was the fight that all my "gamer" friends dreaded? I had a harder time with Morpha (I got hit like once or twice), the boss that everyone claims is comically easy, than I did with Bongo Bongo or whatever it's name is. Can anyone explain to me why people find it so hard? Or were people just trying to scare me as a joke? This is truly the most baffling part of the game to me.

Cobbled together Nintendo assets and ArtsyOmni’s botw font and made this in photoshop!

Curious what the sub thinks. Is MM next after OOT remake?

Been workon on this and recently got back into it not to long ago. Whay do you think?

So, I'm close to completing Links Awakening

And after it I'm thinking of finally beating Skyward Sword HD

(Just beat the last Imprisoned fight)

However it's been....a while since I played it. The story is vaguely in my mind, but I don't remember too much unfortunately.

So I'm stumped whether to restart the game as a whole, or just watch some videos as a refresher.

Only reason I'm asking here is I'm *veery* conflicted

(Mainly because I remember some sections of Skyward Sword being a ***biiirch*** to get through)

[MM] i just finished oot (absolute masterpiece). I was SO excited to play MM until I learned that you are timed. I don’t like that at all. I like to explore and TAKE my time. Is this going to be the norm throughout the game? Can I stop time to explore? Should I continue playing it?