The second quest comes to an end.

Level 5 – This one is where level 4 was in the first quest. One last level before getting the magic sword… and dammit, Wizzrobes show their unwelcome faces. The bow’s here, meaning the game’s able to use Gohmas again, and as mentioned in the quest intro, Link has to sneak past one to get the bow. The boss is a three-headed Gleeok, a nice cap to the phase of the game without the magic sword.

These first five levels spell out EALDZ, which I completely failed to grasp the meaning of as a kid. I might have thought of the Z as a 2, which didn’t help. Now, of course, I realize it anagrams to LED Z – A, an endorsement of the production team’s favorite English band. And no, it never seemed strange to me that the Japanese game used English letters until now. Levels 7 and 8 are spirals, and 9 is Ganon’s head. If there’s any meaning in level 6’s design, I don’t get it.

Level 6 – Now we have the magic sword, so they’re throwing everything they have at Link now. Wizzrobes, Like Likes, and Bubbles (including red ones) form the majority of the dungeon’s enemies, with a few token appearances by Vires and Keeses. This culminates in a boss rush: a two-headed Gleeok, a Manhandla, and finally a Gohma. Oh, and after the Gleeok is a room of red Bubbles, with backtracking required to get a blue Bubble if you want it. However, Manhandlas can be defeated with bombs, and Gohmas are immune to the sword anyway, so may as well press on.

Level 7 – At this point, it’s not that the game is hard, but that it’s exhausting. Level 7 is so full of Darknuts that Planters was going to package and sell it until they realized they’re misleadingly named and no one’d want to eat them. The stairways greatly complicate the dungeon path, there are dead ends, two old men demanding payment show up, the boss is a four-headed Gleeok, and the only treasure is the red candle which is so barely useful I’m surprised it wasn’t shuffled to much earlier in the quest.

Level 8 – The dungeon entrances have been hidden for a while now, but the last two have hints pointing at them. This one comes from the sixth dungeon, where an old man says, “South of arrow mark hides a secret.” [1] The layout challenges are still there, but the enemies are mercifully easier than they’ve been at any point since Level 3. It’s all Goriyas, Stalfos, Ropes, Keeses, and Wallmasters, with Minibosses limited to an Aquamentus, Dodongos, and Moldorms. It’s like the game’s saying, “Okay, the last few levels have sucked, and level 9 is going to throw everything there is at you, so have a break.”

Level 9 – The hint for this one came up in Level 4: “If you go in the direction of the arrow.” It seems to be missing a consequence clause, but follow the arrow and bomb everything and eventually the entrance to Death Mountain will appear. There are only a few stairways here, but man this dungeon is still a fscking maze. And Wizzrobes make their final stand in defense of Ganon. After seventeen and a half dungeons, nearly two quests, and one defeated Ganon, I finally had to use a potion to get through this place. I used the second during the Ganon fight. Finally, the Triforce of Power was taken from evil hands, Zelda was rescued, and the epic ending could kick in.

You are great.
LINK – 0
You have an amazing wisdom and power.
End of ‘The Legend of Zelda 1’
©1986 Nintendo

Oh, right. Eight-bit games. A winner is me.

So that’s the first game. It’s hard to look critically at it, between the mix of nostalgia and how much of a classic it is. And there’s a reason for that, it really is good. The difficulty in the second quest is a bit cheap sometimes and gets exhausting, but unlike a lot of classic Nintendo games, I actually finished this one back in the day, so it can’t be too bad. (Battletoads? Ninja Gaiden? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Adventure Island? Mega Man… okay, I did beat that one, but that’s probably the upper limit.)