I just finished a playthrough of these two NES games after having not played them for probably 20 years. Everyone knows they are frequently at the top of the "best" lists, but I wonder if people truly understand how amazing they are, even to this day.

Yea, these are awesome. I've not played them in a long time. Well, Zelda 1 I beat about a year an a half ago, but the others I've not played in a while (Zelda 2, OoT, and MM). I've never even tried the Link to the Past. Someday I'll get the time.

I do however have a bunch of bead art Zelda guys all over my game room.

Horray!

I feel the same way about them Zing. They are easily my two favorite games ever.

Oh, and Swanson, those are pimptastic. I wants

I completely agree about Legend Zelda. I play through it at least once a year, and can almost run through the first play through. I have only beat Adventures of Link twice in my life. Once when I was a kid (with help from my game master mom) and once in 2002 when I got back into NES collecting.

I remember finishing Zelda 2 twice in one day just to see what would happen if you beat it a second time (spoiler: nothing different). I believe I finished the game around a dozen times. I distinctly remember once finishing the game within three hours without continuing.

I've never been able to get into this game for some reason, but since I'm practically doing a Zelda marathon atm, I intend to complete all of them, this included.

i have been playing through all the 2d Zeldas again with my girlfriend because she only played the original and i always forget how great all of those games are. We are working through the oracles right now and have been really impressed by them. i also really enjoyed the minnish cap although it was so short. i don't think you beat the blend of gameplay in these games.

100TH POST!!!!

This is the kind of topic for me.
The old Zelda games never get old. NES are fantastic (still havent done second quest for some reason, and i have only beated Zelda 2 once...), personal favorite is Lttp. and even the Game boy ones are amazing. I loved the Oracle games.

I've still never beat the first Zelda after all these years. I do recall a day I was over at my buddies house and just decided I would beat Zelda II in one sitting and that I did do.

I actually just started the playing the 2nd quest of the first Zelda game. I never actually beat the 2nd quest so I'm going for it now. It is a lot harder than the 1st quest.

I love the games. Adventure of Link can be quite tough in certain sections, but is so rewarding. Of course, the first is a classic. The first Zelda game I ever owned and recall playing was Link's Awakening, and man, I really love it to this day. However, prior to that I remember seeing a cousin of mine playing a Link to the Past and I remember being stunned by the visuals (I was very young).

I also have yet to play through the second quest of the original, but that's for sure something I should get on soon.
Can't say enough about the games... I still get super excited every time I hear about a new one in production.

Yup. Till the day of my death, I will know how to jump str8 to fighting Tyson, get 30 dudes for LifeForce and Contra, and get through the Lost Woods. When I know I'm going to have several days off, with time to burn, I play through one of the Zeldas. Kid Icarus, is great in the same sense. Super challenging, nice long game, although the rewards aren't as satisfying. But you'll be so stoked, once you get the credit card! Hit that one next. Viva La Eggplant!

I guess I'm the odd man out here. I hardly ever replay games, even my favorites. To this day Zelda: OoT is one of my all-time favs and I've beaten it exactly once. Same with Zelda 1 and Zelda II on NES... beaten exactly once.

Don't you guys have a tremendous backlog of games too? There's easily a few hundred games on my shelves that I'd like to play and beat one day. I feel like replaying a classic is a waste of time unless it's for a high score competition / with friends / or some other meaningful purpose.

I've been in the mood to run through AoL again, so this might just encourage me to do it. It might be my favorite Zelda game. The world just felt like it had more meat to it with towns and the varied landscape. Death Mountain was always so tough back in the day and with all the false passages had so much mystery. I wonder why those Alligator enemies never resurfaced? They were beasts!

jonebone, it only takes a couple of hours to run through an NES Zelda game (Second Quest, maybe a little more), so it doesn't really impact the backlog. I will not deny the backlog exists, however. Mainly with the modern games I have bought though, I tend to play the new classic stuff I get long before I get to the modern stuff.

Pretty much every Zelda game I've ever played I've really enjoyed. The first three Zelda games will always hold a special place in my gaming heart. Game backlog or not,the Zelda games get played regardless.

God...Kid Icarus and Tyson...two games of which I will never beat!

Its so cool to still remember those game codes from 20 years ago! I can't imagine something like that happening in today's gaming scene but that's probably because I'm an old man. I'm actually about done on my first quest of Zelda (I've never beaten the game) but I'm making it a point to play through them all minus the handheld releases. Challenging, engaging and fun games like Zelda are few and far between....and the damn kids these days forget all about the originals that changed console gaming!

It's always a good day when Vito posts.

I don't think I stressed enough how much I enjoy making maps for these NES games. The more basic technology means the maps are in a grid layout and easy to map. I had a lot of fun mapping out the overworld in Zelda and dungeons in Zelda II. I gave up on mapping the Zelda II overworld fairly quickly, as there is really nothing to map. It is pretty linear and the "hidden" magic and heart containers are very easy to find.

congratulation man..how many days have you spent? i have the game but never played yet

Zelda 2 still rates up there as one of my favourite NES games. Seems to get an unfair bashing but for the time it really was extraordinary, I'm actually glad they didn't just do a similar sequel to the first game.

Like everybody else, I have fond memories of the both Zelda and Link. Mainly just the two first ones for the NES, and then later, the SNES one.  

Never really did get into any of the ones after the SNES.. Then again, I'm pretty much exclusively into retro-gaming.  Anything post SNES (regardless of the game) rarely gets a second glance from me.

Funny, back in the day, was anybody else like me? I remember before I had enough money to buy Zelda, I'd rent it as often as I can, and try to play (finish) it that way. More times than not, when I'd go to rent it again, my saved game would still be there, along with another renter's saved game. Always interesting to see how far they made it, or what stuff they had managed to find. Of course my parents would always be asking, you want to re-new this game again? Or, didn't we just rent that same game last week??

Great games, great memories!

I never really got into the first Zelda on the NES. While I believe it is a milestone game, and a great one at that, I actually have not finished it to this date. Rather, I got into the Adventure of Link more so as a kid because I liked side scrollers and and the transition to that game from Mario Bros. was easier for me. I have gotten to the very last dungeon, but did not want to put the extra time and effort into beating it. My all time favorite has to be A Link to the Past though for having such an amazing world(s) to explore.

Legend of Zelda was awesome, but I never liked the Adventures of Link. I should probably go back and try to play it again someday. Maybe my opinion will change.

I like the NES Zelda games the best. Yeah Link to the Past is great but it's really just an enhanced Zelda 1. At least to me that's what its always felt like. Plus on the NES we had that 2nd Zelda which was so unlike the first. That idea of diverse sequels and taking a chance on something different was something special about the NES that you really didn't see with any of the consoles afterwards.