Asking for Hints and Zelda 1 Appreciation

[Anonymous No.4591984]

So I have finally started playing Zelda 1 blind with no knowledge of the game using only my wits and a PDF of the manual because I wanted to try and grasp what playing the game originally would have been like. I know part of the original design idea of the game was people talking and sharing secrets they had found with each other so rather than look up a guide on what to do to progress I figured I would make a thread asking for hints.

>Included picture is of my game progress so far after 13 hours

Also to make this thread not useless and help prevent it turning into a shitty Game FAQ I guess also its a Zelda 1 appreciation thread.

[Anonymous No.4591990]

>>4591984
Also because I know you guys would probably appreciate it here is a picture of my hand written notes with marks showing that I think i figured out what they mean. I couldn't make a map because of my lack of graph paper so this was the next best thing

[Anonymous No.4591991]

I have been wanting to do this as well.

[Anonymous No.4591994]

>>4591984
Pretty good progress for 13 hours.

[Anonymous No.4591998]

>>4591991
I recommend it. I can honestly say the story's of this games difficulty where exaggerated I can imagine how playing it as a kid could have been mind boggling but as an adult with the ability to read context clues it's surprising how straightforward it is for the most part.

[Anonymous No.4592006]

And now through the power of trying every item I have figured out what the secret where fairy's lie is.

[Anonymous No.4592038]

Is it really a super weird thing to RTFM and not use a walkthrough? Well good for you anyway OP, it's a pretty great game.

[Anonymous No.4592040]

>>4591998
I just started playing nes games a couple days ago working through super Mario atm and thinking of Zelda next. Don't know any secrets for any of these games so it's an experience for sure

[Anonymous No.4592054]

>>4591990
I won't spoil too much, but one of the unsolved quotes here is fairly important and the solution to it is quite clever. Really think about things and how they relate to what you've seen in the game so far and experiment around that.

It's honestly one of my favorite puzzles in the whole series.

[Anonymous No.4592076]

>>4592038
I would say its not weird if you are older and grew up with useful manuals, but as a kid who grew up with PS2\Gamecube for me manuals always seemed like printed tutorials and as a kid I would rather have just played through the games built in tutorial. It actually took me years before I found out that old game manuals had tons of helpful information in them.

On the note of walkthroughs growing up I never used them much but I always wanted them on hand in case I got stuck (I was the terrible combination of stupid, impatient, and quickly frustrated as a kid ended up ruining a lot of games for myself by just quickly hunting for the right answer rather than trying to figure out the puzzles myself.)

[Anonymous No.4592085]

>>4592076
Even if they don't contain critical information that is essential to finish the game, old manuals are still super interesting

[Anonymous No.4592196]

>>4592006
I just spent way to long trying trying to bomb walls on dungeon sevens grumble grumble and now after figuring it out I feel simultaneously like a idiot and a genius.

[Anonymous No.4592224]

>>4592196
That's my favorite bombable wall. It really makes you aware of map lay-out. You can intuit the solution if you look at how the shape of the map ends up but it still has enough uncertainty to leave you surprised.

[Anonymous No.4592234]

>13 hours
Man, you really suck at this game. The first Zelda is a breeze, namely because the technical limitations keep the dungeon layouts so small. After solving the first few dungeon puzzles, you've figured out what actions trigger the appearances of keys and stairwells. Later dungeons don't deviate from this basic formula at all.

Anyway, when you're exploring the overworld just make sure to burn every bush and bomb every wall. You'll eventually uncover all the secret entrances. And yes, we absolutely had to do this with every square inch of the map back when this game was released and we didn't have access to the Internet. Although 1-900 tip lines were a thing. But those were too expensive.

[Anonymous No.4592372]

>>4591984
Cleared Dungeon seven and found dungeon eight. I find it interesting how easy dungeon seven was compared to dungeon six. I'm excited only one more dungeon and then I will be on to death mountain.

[Anonymous No.4592482]

>>4592234
>Anyway, when you're exploring the overworld just make sure to burn every bush and bomb every wall.
The best way, especially for bombs, is to try to lay them on the seam between tiles so that the explosion covers two squares and reduces the number of bombs you need to use.

Each screen has one entrance or secret at most, so you can move on after finding it.

[Anonymous No.4592649]

Wow man. That final dungeon is killer with the hidden rooms and then the series of rooms that lock behind you, and the stairs into Wizzrobe rooms. I gotta say feeling very satisfied having finished the game using only the manual and tips from you guys. If anybody else hasn't played this game before I strongly recommend you do it like this it is far more interesting to wander around thinking "Oh that looks suspicious better bomb it" than to have someone tell you where something is.

[Anonymous No.4593948]

>>4592372
Dungeon 6 is the hardest dungeon in the game for some reason. It doesn't really make sense.

[Anonymous No.4594067]

13 hours? Damn. I did it blind just a few years ago. There were some complications for sure, but I don't remember taking that damn long.

In any case /vr/, any games similar to this entry in the series? I know there are some clones out there like Neutopia, but anything that can come really close to it would be good.

[Anonymous No.4594085]

>>4591990
That's pretty neat OP, here's notes I took on the final dungeon and how to get to Ganon (I misspelled it) for once you get there

[Anonymous No.4594114]

>>4594067
Startropics and Zelda randomizer as far as I know

[Anonymous No.4594120]

>>4594114
I completely forgot about Startropics, thanks

[Anonymous No.4594159]

>>4594067
Here is the only recommendations chart I have on Zelda-like games

[Anonymous No.4594167]

>>4594159
What about Hydlide? I know much AVGN hated it, but even in his review it looked like a decent game

[Anonymous No.4594396]

>>4594167
Hydlide predates Zelda by many years and tends to have a bad rap in the west because the NES port came out like 5 years too late.

It's an okay-ish game. Way too short for its own good, maybe 20 screens total.

[Anonymous No.4594505]

>>4594167
It's not good but people want to give it a little credit for predating Zelda... supposedly the NES port is not the best version

[Anonymous No.4594614]

>>4592649
You're not done yet, op. Make a file with ZELDA as the name to start the second quest. You've only just gotten out of training mode.

[Anonymous No.4594619]

Love seeing threads like this. I did the same thing around 8 years ago when I was in high school. It's a really cool experience.

[Anonymous No.4594636]

>>4594067
There's a homebrew NES game called Legends of Owlia that's basically "what if Zelda's boomerang were an owl."
Instead of getting new items, your owlerang gets new abilities.
http://www.gradualgames.com/p/the-legends-of-owlia_1.html

[Anonymous No.4594668]

>>4591984
When I played this game as a kid I literally pushed every rock, bombed every wall, and burned every bush to get 100%.

[Anonymous No.4594674]

>>4594636
Why are indie devs incapable of proper movement, even when using original hardware? I just don't get it.

[Anonymous No.4596140]

>>4591984
Doing the same with Dragon Quest III recently. It's good shit.

[Anonymous No.4596197]

>>4592649
Like >>4594614 said, you really should play second quest as well. It's even more fun if you can beat that mode blindly.

[Anonymous No.4596206]

>>4594636
It looks more like something like Willow, Startropics or Crystalis than the original Zelda.

[Anonymous No.4596216]

>>4594636
the artwork makes it look like a bootleg

[Anonymous No.4596219]

You can kill Dodongos with your sword by dropping a second bomb as they're swallowing the first to get four bombs. That and the Power Bracelet are the only real secrets in Zelda 1.

[Anonymous No.4596587]

>browsing youtube
>this number 2 zelda fan is doing a zelda playthrough
>watch a few minutes of it
>he's terrible, dies like 6 times in a minute
>watch the Dlovell31 guide
>It's less than 2 hours long and is worthless
>come here
>See a Zelda 'blind' playthrough
>13 hours and the game's not beaten
Is everyone who picks up this game these days fucking retarded?

[Anonymous No.4597528]

>>4596587
Let us know when you pick it up.

[Anonymous No.4597654]

>>4596587

>watching a Youtube playthrough rather than actually playing the game.

[Anonymous No.4597664]

>>4596587
you're gay lol

[Anonymous No.4598028]

>>4596587
Took me most of a year to beat it.

when I was 4

[Anonymous No.4598095]

>>4597654

You wouldn't happen to have the page that Tails is from would you? Looks like some sweet context.

[Anonymous No.4598102]

>>4592076

Modern manuals are shit. It's not even that they don't have anything useful in them, it's that they tend to not exist. If they do they're black and white with boring uninteresting stuff. Old manuals could have have full colour good images and nice formatting with fun stuff that wasn't even shown in the game, like names of enemies or other stuff to add a little personality to things. Of course some old manuals were shit too, but at least you could find good ones. Now I'm pissed every time I buy a game and it has no manual at all.

[Anonymous No.4598145]

>>4591990
Your last hint note is wrong.
You probably won't figure it out unless you fix it first.

[Anonymous No.4598524]

>>4592054
Yeah that one blew my 7-year-old mind.

[Anonymous No.4598529]

>>4591991
The first time I played Zelda 1 was in college, with no map or walk through. Extremely rewarding.

[Anonymous No.4598534]

>>4592649
Great job anon. Just fyi you did miss at least one item upgrade in the first quest.

[Anonymous No.4599230]

>>4598529
I will get to it. I had an nes in the 80s but never got more than Mario. I'm going through now and playing things in launch order. I'll get to Zelda and I'm excited for when I do

[Anonymous No.4599409]

I pussied out and used a guide when I played it years ago. I cheated myself out of the experience of playing it blind. I've never touched the second quest, though. Does the second have all new secrets like the Level 7 entrance thing, or does stuff like that carry over from the first quest? Is that dungeon in the same location, with the same way to enter it, or is it all new? I wish I hadn't looked up that secret.

[Anonymous No.4599420]

>>4599409
The dungeon entrance locations and layouts in the second quest are all different. Some of the entrances are hidden really well in obscure places.

Remember to always bring some rupees with you into dungeons in the second quest. There are some trap rooms where you have to pay rupees or give up a whole permanent heart container to get out, although you can do the Controller 2 save trick to bail out of that in an emergency.

There are also solid red and blue bubbles in the second quest. Touching a red one completely disables your sword until you touch a blue one. You can also fix your sword status by using a potion or visiting a fairy.

[Anonymous No.4599479]

>>4594674
Lack of proper knowledge of assembly, maybe.

As for newer indie games, incompetence (most aren't professionals yet after all).