Legend of Zelda 1987 By: Nintendo

Overview:

You don't know how many times I read this "magical" story as a child. I used to pretend I really was this Link character. The Legend of Zelda was the first installment in one of the biggest video game sagas ever. If you have never played this game, you've probably played one of the later installments. If you've never played any Legend of Zelda game, just leave now. I say that because I know the number of people that are going to be looking at this page AND have never played a Legend of Zelda game is too small to worry about. That's how popular this video game series is.
This game started it all for the adventure/rpg genre. With two different quests, it had plenty of gameplay time. There was also a good replay value, with the ability to go in any direction you want. It was one of the first games to be open-ended in that there were several different ways to go. For example, did you know that you can have the White Sword before you even enter the first level? If you've never played this game, kick yourself, then pay homage to the king of adventure/rpg by clicking the Play Now button.

Directions:

Fight and think your way through all eight dungeons to collect all the pieces of Triforce, so that you can get into Death Mountain to defeat Gannon and save the Princess Zelda. Go to the first cave you see to grab your sword, you're useless without it. After that, it's kinda open ended. Basically you want to beat all the dungeons and then Gannon to win, but you could spend your time looking for secrets. There are several secret caves to find where you could find hidden shops, shortcuts, free money, heart containers, or even a gambling game.

There are several significant items in this game. Hearts refill your life by one heart. Rupees are the currency in Hyrule. Bombs are used to blow up secret cave entrances, shortcuts, and enemies. Fairies will give you three hearts. Clocks will stop all enemies on screen from moving until you kill them, or leave the screen. These items can be collected from dead enemies. These are the items you will be collecting over and over again. Most of the rest will be gotten one time and then it's yours for the remainder of the game.
There are Three swords, wooden, steel, and magic. The wooden sword is the one you will start with, it does the least damage. The steel sword can be obtained after you have 5 heart containers (the number of heart containers you have is your max life). This sword deals double damage. You can get the magic sword when you have 12 heart containers. This sword deals quad damage. All three swords will shoot while your life is full.

The blue candle has to be bought at a store. When you do get it, you can start looking for secrets by burning trees. Some of them will have a secret staircase behind them. Be careful though, because some of the staircases lead to a guy that charges you for door repairs. You can only use the blue candle one time, then you have to go into another screen before it will work again. The large shield has to be bought from a store also. It blocks a lot of things the small shield won't. Watch out for the hamburger-looking enemies as they will eat your large shield, setting you back however much you paid for it. The arrow also has to be bought at a shop. Once you find the bow, you can buy an arrow. After that, every time you shoot you will be docked one rupee. Essentially, however many rupees you have, that's how many times you can fire your bow. Bait also must be bought at the store. You can use it to lure your enemies where you want them, or sometimes, bargain with them. The blue water of life will refill your life completely. After finding his secret location, and old man will give you a letter. You can give it to the old woman for a red potion of life that will fill your life up twice. The blue ring is the last item you will have to purchase to obtain. Once you buy it, the amount of damage you take per hit will be reduced by half.

Every dungeon has five important items in it, a compass, a map, a secret treasure, and a piece of the ever-coveted Triforce. Some levels have two secret treasures in them. It will be wise to obtain every one of these from every dungeon. The compass will give you the location of the boss in the dungeon. The map will let you know the layout of the dungeon. The secret treasures are the bow, the boomerang, the magic boomerang, the raft, the stepladder, the recorder, the wand, the power bracelet, the red candle, the magic book, the magic key, the red ring, and the silver arrows. To use these items, you will need to equip them in the menu that appears when you press start. Select the item you want to use and press B after returning from the menu. The bow will be useless until you buy arrows. When you do, you will be able to shoot your enemies in line of sight. The boomerang can be thrown at your enemies, but will only stun most of them. Larger enemies aren't even affected by the boomerang, while smaller ones may be killed. The stun technique will be useful, and maybe even necessary sometimes, in defeating some enemies. The magic boomerang is the same except it goes all the way across the screen. The raft will carry you from one dock to another dock across the water. You don't get to drive it, you just go straight across. The ladder will allow you to span a body of water that is as wide as the ladder itself is. That way, you will be able to cross small streams. The recorder is used to warp to any level that you have beaten already. There are also secret places to blow the recorder to make marvelous things happen! The wand is a handy ranged weapon. It will kill almost anything, and it never runs out. The magic book makes the wand's charge start a fire. This makes it easier to light up a room, tree, enemy, or even yourself if you're not careful. The red candle should be gotten before the book, as it allows you to light a fire an unlimited amount of times. The power bracelet allows you to move some large rocks and statues that you couldn't before. The magic key will unlock any door in any dungeon, too bad you get it near the end... The red ring will reduce your damage by half again so you'll be even tougher. The silver arrows will be required to defeat Gannon. Happy hunting!