You're Not Alone in Finding the First Zelda So Hard

It is hard.

I aim to beat it, on dungeon 3 now.

If they are talking about the 2nd quest then yeah that's hard.
The normal quest isn't so bad though.
I'm not gonna say I never got a game over but I have completed it many times.
I bet Anouma would really get frustrated with Adventure of Link.
That one would make anyone give up.

I finished it yesterday for the first time. I actually thought it was pretty easy! Have yet to play the second quest though.

Aomuma didn't direct this game, he wasn't even accepted onto the Zelda team until after A Link to the Past came out. Therefore, this isn't his game.

I'm currently on level 9. I haven't found the game very hard, except for one type of enemy I have trouble with; those stupid blue magician things that hammer you with magic when they face you, who happen to be plentiful in level 9 .

Zelda II is frustratingly hard though.

I must admit that it's a little disappointing to hear him say that he's never bothered to complete the first game in the series. There's a lot to learn from the first 2 Zelda games... I've had a great time replaying them on the 3DS after so many years.

Also, agree with Link79 - the second quest is much harder than the first.

The first Zelda isn't really that hard, but yes you will get a few Game Overs unless you are really experienced with the game. I've finished it a couple of times.

Zelda II is much much more difficult.

I haven't beaten either Zelda, but on both games it's the last dungeon. Zelda 1 I can't even get to Ganon, it's just too long of a dungeon and I lose too much health over it. Zelda 2 I've gotten to the final boss but couldn't beat him... then I learned that there's a cheap trick to beating him so I'm playing it again ;P

Malstrom loves quoting an earlier interview where Aonuma admitted he couldn't even deal with the octoroks.

It is hard, but I've beaten it. Ditto with Adventures of Link. I haven't played them all, but IMO Ocarina of Time's the most difficult.

im still at the 9th dungeon. it think its my fourth run. whenever i die, i need to save my unlocked path. now im lacking keys, so i must buy like 2 or 3. it has so many useless doors, i wasted them fast !

but yeah, NES era was hardcore. games today are softer to us.(looking at ninja gaiden. maybe not all...)

The first Zelda hard? dahahahahahahaha. I can think of over 100 games probably on the NES harder than the original Zelda. The second quest is somewhat hard, but only because its hard to find the last few dungeons.

Gotta say, I'd love a new Zelda that's more in the style of the NES original!

Zelda is not hard at all ... not even the second quest ... seriously. People think it's hard?

Just completed it yesterday XD

It's hard, especially if you play it without a Overworld Map (since there are no clues in which order to complete the dungeons), but not "Hell-how-should-I-complete-this?" hard. Zelda II -> Yes, but also beatable after getting the Life-Magic and Midoro Palace.

I could always make it to Ganon in the second quest. But somehow i couldn't figure out how to damage him. When i'm done with the three more Ambassador games i want to play before it i guess i'll give it another shot.
Had the same final boss problems in Wind Waker and Minish Cap. Looked up the solution for the former in the internet and have still to beat the latter.

a room full of wizrobes or darknuts maybe hard, but most everything in the first is easy, at least when you know where everything is.

Ive beaten zelda 1 and 2 since the ambassador program.

Biggest frustrations:
Zelda 1: The dungeon with all the blue warping magic shooting dudes (dungeons 7? and 9)
Zelda 2: Those freaken bird knight things in last dungeon.

Overall, I think Zelda II is harder.

@SuperOmegaMan No where in the article does it say it was his game.

Regardless, as the current producer, it is required to beat all Zelda games

Zelda and Zelda II are difficult, but with practice, as is most things in life, they can be mastered. I cut Aonuma-san a lotta slack - he is producing the new breed o' Zelda games, he doesn't have time to go screen to screen burning every single green bush in sight just to find a secret stairway and such. D:

(btw, interesting lil bit o' knowledge I think about Aonuma-san, /haha!)

I done, it with Nintendo DS emulator, where you can go back in the time.

Now that I am beating it with ease, I feel special.

I never played it first time round so am finding playing it now so difficult mainly because of how dated it is compared to the modern versions. If someone made a decent re-write of it that better used the available controls I'd give it a bit more of a go.

@warioswoods
You didn't have to take it that way, lol. It's not that he didn't bother, it's that he got frustrated and quit. And the game is legit hard, give him a break, will ya? D:

I think the first one has the best difficulty curve. The 3D games are all cakewalks. (Except Majora's Mask, of course.)

Someone give him a map.

A lot of people go on and on about how hard Zelda II is but I consider the first one darn near unplayable. II really isn't so bad if you just grind and level up well but the first Zelda is grueling, and not in a fun way.

Yeah, it's pretty hard, playing it a bit from time to time but I get frustrated all the time.

That's funny, I remember beating both quests when I was a kid, they were a challange but I don't remember them being that hard. Zelda II I made it all the way to death mountain then gave up, could never find my way around that stupid maze.

Now a days I find both games so frustraiting I can't even play them for very long.

Hard? I don't get it... When it was released in the Wii shop, I snagged it. Didn't get a chance to play it until my next day off, sat down and beat it in a single (if long) session. I walked away thinking to myself "I don't remember it being that easy the first time I played it".

Bah. I've played it through 100% three times now. Aonuma needs to step up his game

I think the second one would be a lot easier to play if it saved your exp. points and not just your level. The first one was hard but it was my first real overhead 2d hack/slash. If you know where to go it gets easy but not knowing where to go with little skill and 3 life is hard.

I think I really have the best perspective on this game being hard or easy. I actually played this game when I was younger, when it first came out, but I didn't own the game so never really got deep into it. Flash forward many years later, for the first time I am attempting to beat the Legend of Zelda. The game is HARD. I have not used any tips or hints and I believe some of you who beat the game long ago new all the tricks (maybe even from guides). I was vaguely aware of the cross trick, but didn't remember how to get around the maze at first. By the way, this is from someone who has beaten Mega Man 1 and Ghouls and Ghosts.

I beat it twice with a walkthrough. Does that count?

It's hard. lol.

Imagine how cool they could make a new isometric Zelda game with modern technology? Much simpler graphics than 3D but a real attention to detail. Just make the map 4x bigger than A Link to the Past and please add more than one town.

@uel No. REAL men beat Zelda blindfolded!

ive had zelda two ever since its release day. and i've never EVER gotten the hammer. im still trying to get the dAmn hammer XDXD its sooo dang hard!! im with ya Aonuma

Interesting

I could never find one of the Keys. Havn't finished it yet because of that one sad fact.

Meh, I've completed both Zelda 1 & 2 a few times in the past (Zelda 2 isn't really any harder than the first one). Neither one of them are as difficult to beat as the original NES Metroid, that's for sure...NES Metroid is confusing as hell with no map and lots of areas looking the same, it's way too easy to get lost.,,,I don't actually enjoy playing it at all, but I do love Metroid: Zero Mission on the GBA

I beat it earlier this year, I did use some help from Zelda dungeon though. It's the only NES game I've beaten without using cheat codes.

@45

Um... buy the key. They put them in the shops for a reason.

LoZ isn't really that hard... ._.
LoZ II is just annoying with leveling up and stuff... grinding is NOT in any way, shape or form, fun.

The only reason that The Legend of Zelda is hard

I spent an entire Summer of my youth burning every tree and blowing up every rock face This game is CLASSIC. It's not THAT difficult. If a ten year old can beat it (me) back in the day, surely this guy can who now oversees Zelda. WTF. It should be a job requirement!!!! Zelda 2, now, there's a hard game. The last 2 levels anyways

It was tough back in 1988 for me as a person still getting comfortable with home videogames, but never impossible. What made it so hard probably is it didn't hold your hand much and the enemies were punishing if you weren't prepared, but heck, that was the fun of the game. Funny this article popped up because a friend and I were just chatting about how he first played Zelda I and just couldn't swing the game for anything. To each their own I guess. Now Zelda II was the one for me that made me actually stop playing the game for a LONG time, then I gathered the courage (no pun intended) to finally recover the Triforce of Courage. Games just aren't what they used to be.

I will now work 2x as hard to beat the last 2 dungeons! Love this game!

Ive only beaten this once, without the blue tunic thing, which I didnt know about

I will aim to beat it 4 times
once on wii once on 3DS
and then the 2nd quest on both

I found the first Zelda more difficult than Zelda 2, I love zelda 2

I have also beaten the first Zelda. It was hard though. I still have to play the second quest.

I have not beaten Zelda 2 yet. It's extremely hard (though I am almost at the end)!

You would think it'd be a requirement for the job. Sample resume:

• Degree in computer science.
• Great communication skills.
• Experience upending tea tables.
• Beat The Legend of Zelda.

Hearing someone say that the first Zelda is hard kind of makes me die a little inside.

Given that games of that time were known for being brutally unforgiving, Zelda is actually quite easy by comparison. That's not to say there aren't some tough spots, but being able to continue as many times as necessary, and get enough heart containers and potions to stave off death for awhile, keeps the challenge reasonable. In my opinion, you can't really call yourself a true Zelda fan if you haven't completed at least the first quest.

Now Zelda II, on the other hand, is a much tougher game and has a lot of annoyances built into it that make it frustrating as well (limited lives, magic meter constantly on the verge of running out, few fairies/regeneration items, etc). I'd be more interested in hearing if he's managed to get anywhere in that one...

I dont blame him! Its a very hard game. I'm stuck on temple 6 because of all the enemes keep killing me! but I'll beat it soon enough!

And I still say y'all be crazy.

I can find my way into the first dungeon of either game; I'm completely lost...

Jeeze what the heck... I've played, enjoyed and beaten some of the hardest games out there. It's been quite a while since I played it last but I could never get past like the fourth dungeon or something in the first game. The second game I didn't get very far at all. I didn't just give up after a few minutes. I died so many times. How can you guys act like these games are child's play?

the 3ds' controls aren't as responsive as the nes or classic controller's, so that doesn't help me this time around. I am having a lot more problems with the ambassador versions

EDIT: completely forgot about the blue ring. Back to being easy.

Blue Darknuts are fail D:

what the heck he means he never finished the first zelda. its not that hard. i was probably like 10 or 11 playing the first zelda game. its a classic none the less. but that game is beatable.

"thanos316"

Keep in mind that it is not strange among game developers to be bad at playing games (It's at least that way at Nintendo). They at least are good at creating games, and that's most important.

Try to beat Nes Battetoads (this one I did) or TMNT ( =( ) and then we will talk

I love this game to death.
I really feel motivated to beat it now!

I used a walkthrough for the whole game, but I got stuck and gave up in the last dungeon....I will go back and finish it sometime

But I found the original MEtroid much easier to beat, although i hand drew my own map as i played through it (although I had to look up the scre attack)

Compare Zelda to the original Mario Brothers. I've beaten Super Mario Brothers more times than I can count, but I've never beaten SMB 2 or 3 without a Game Genie. I never did much like the NES Zeldas though. I played 3D Dot Heroes on PS3, which is supposedly an NES Zelda throwback, and I had an absolute blast!