Comparing The First 4 The Legend of Zelda Games
I’m a cozy gamer as standard. I farm, I fish, I decorate, I collect, all the usual things you’d expect in farming sims and life sims. But recently I’ve wanted to expand my gaming experiences and challenge myself with some new genres. One of the first video games I ever played was The Legend of Zelda, Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS. And while this game drove me mental, it had one of the best stories and most engaging gameplay I’d experienced to that point.
Since purchasing my Switch in 2018, I’ve devoured countless games, mostly in the cozy genre and RPGs. I’ve played all new Zelda titles that have been released on the Switch, but the Links Awakening Remaster opened something up in me and I became obsessed. With the new release of Echoes of Wisdom, the first ever Legend of Zelda title with Zelda as the main protagonist in the same top down format that I love, I thought it’d be a great time to go back and play the 4 games that made the legend what it is today, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II Link’s Adventure, A Link to The Past, and Link’s Awakening. Here is my comparison of the first 4 titles in The Legend of Zelda series.
There’s an interesting evolution in gameplay throughout the 4 games. There’s a lot of core establishment for the entire franchise In the Legend of Zelda. The 8 dungeon structure doesn’t differ for the most part across all 4 games and beyond.
The use of fairy fountains begins in this game too, as well as the beginnings of the key items, the power bracelet, the boomerang and the fire and ice rods.
The Adventure of Link stands out a little here, with less of the usual items to collect to progress, and a different format away from the top down linear progression into a more structured path. But it still has the feel of Zelda, with enemies you would recognise and certainly the music used in Adventure of Link fits the Zelda aesthetic.
As the technology developed from NES to SNES to Gameboy, it’s great to see how the visuals develop from 8 bit to 16 bit worlds, as well as a more pointed use of colour.
The Legend of Zelda theme music is established in the first title, and then is used in some form throughout all the games. But each game has their own music that relates to each game, while still fitting with each other to create an amazing Zelda themed soundtrack collectively.
A lot of the enemies, moblins, zoras, octoroks and lynels all make a first appearance in the first game, and it’s great fun to watch their design evolutions throughout the games.
A Link to The Past certainly leads to a welcomed depth of narrative, with a more complex and developed story that is truly unique and curious, in comparison to the simplistic stories of the first two in the series. Link’s Awakening certainly continues that, with another creative and original story that is delightful to uncover.
It is interesting how much was established in The Legend of Zelda that returns in A Link to The Past. The Adventure of Link is a bold shift for sure, but there are definitely elements that I enjoyed that would have been interesting to see if they would continue, such as the levelling up system, or more use of magic spells, although I am happy to see the back of the random encounter battles. But for the most part, it seems like the core essence of The Legend of Zelda was effectively accomplished from the offset, and with that cemented, it gave the games space to develop and advance on top of that with increasingly more imaginative and detailed stories, characters and adventures in future titles.
