Because so much of the introduction was a series introduction, I’ve still got more to say before getting into the game proper.
Compared to the later Zelda games I’ve played, the open world really stands out here. Aside from two screens only reachable by the raft, the whole map can be reached with no items. The magic shield, blue ring, blue candle, bombs, bait, letter and potions, three heart containers, white sword, and power bracelet are available without visiting any dungeons, leaving only two more heart containers and the magic sword to get later. Any of levels one, two, or three can be done first, and even level eight, although that requires skipping the magic key1, which requires killing a Gohma to access.
On the flip side, there’s no need to explore a good chunk of that open world. It’s rewarding to do so, of course, but I figure it’s possible to miss 25% of the overworld screens without particularly trying, and with a walkthrough/map and determination to see as little of the world as possible, probably seeing only half the world is needed to complete the game and get all the items. In the first quest, the Lost Woods can by bypassed by stepladdering across the river to get to the northeast part of the map. The second quest uses a bit more of the map, but that’s probably to be expected.
There isn’t much in the way of dialogue in this game, but so much of it is memorable2.
“It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.”
Unless you skip the door on the first screen you see – which can only be because you haven’t developed a healthy “go in every door you see, you might find something neat” reflex yet or you’re trying a swordless run – this is the first old man quote you’ll see in the game. It’s one of the series’ most famous quotes, enough to have its own Wikipedia article, and spawning variants like a person holding out a kitten. And there’s I Wanna Be the Guy, which I haven’t even played and know about its take on it.
“Eastmost penninsula is the secret.”
This one stands out as odd for three reasons:
- Peninsula is misspelled, which took me forever to notice.
- It’s not a translation of the Japanese hint, which refers to how the bow won’t work if you don’t have rupees, at all, but an entirely new one.
- Thirty years on, no one’s entirely sure what the hell it’s supposed to mean. After consideration, I think he’s pointing Link to the letter, an important item that’s a good way off the paths between the dungeons. Everything else in the overworld is in shops, hinted at elsewhere, or unnecessary (the power bracelet). Other common guesses are a hidden “secret to everybody” moblin in the far upper right corner and the eastern part of the dungeon where the boss and Triforce piece are; the latter interpretation doesn’t work for me because that’s what the compass is for.
“Secret power is said to be in the arrow.”
This one is also changed from the Japanese, but for good reason: Pols Voices’ weakness changed from making noise into the controller to shooting them with the bow. The person who wrote the manual didn’t get the memo on that, however, so the reference to Pols Voices hating loud noise remained.
It also comes very late in the dungeon; Link can bomb into the room from the last room with Pols Voices, which probably means after the hint he won’t see them again until level 8. No wonder I never connected this hint to their weakness instead of Ganon’s.
“Dodongo dislikes smoke.”
“Digdogger hates certain kind of sound.”
“Aim at the eyes of Gohma.”
“Patra has the map.”
One consistent translation choice is to interpret enemy names as a single creature’s name rather than a species name, even though there’s more than one Dodongo, Digdogger, Gohma, and Patra. For some reason, “Dodongo dislikes smoke” achieved meme status, but IMO it’s the least weird out of all of these. “Certain kind of sound” is an odd phrase, at least without an article before it. Gohmas only have one eye. And the hint about Patras is about three types of useless, although the one it replaced (“Destroy the topmost boundary”) is really not clear either.
“Ones who does not have Triforce can’t go in.”
“Eyes of skull has a secret.”
Despite his reputation, I thought most of the old man’s dialogue is fairly good, if sometimes stilted, English, but sometimes stuff like this happens. I know enough about Japanese to understand why, but it stands out.
“10th enemy has the bomb.”
Wow. This one is so obscure it took twenty years and people ripping apart the game to figure out what the hell he’s on about: If you defeat ten enemies without getting hit, the tenth drops 5 rupees unless you kill it with a bomb in which case it drops bombs. If you make it to sixteen, you get a fairy. And this confusing hint replaces a much more straightforward one about the magic key.
“It’s a secret to everybody.”
Okay, this isn’t the old man, and it’s not a hint, but I can’t leave it out.
Next: The first quest begins.