The Legend of Zelda/Zelda no Densetsu (NES, 1986/1987)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7 Story-6
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-8
Overall Score-6.5
+
Interesting mechanics (overworld/dungeon concept, gain new items in dungeons to access new areas in other parts of the game, burn down bushes/bomb holes in walls, bridge item, boomerang (freezes most enemies), the flute (random warping to visited dungeon entrances as well as some puzzle solving))
Weapon/item inventory
Some good puzzles
Second quest (an unlockable hard mode of sorts, requires a lot of bombing and burning without hints though)
Save feature (you also keep your collecting and dungeon progression progress after dying and continuing)
Good length for the time
Collectable HP upgrades (heart pieces)
Overworld and dungeon map systems (the first of which is very simple but the other one fills in as you explore and shows each room's regular exits)
Shoot lasers with your sword when fully healed
Weapon and armor upgrades
Block projectiles with your shield (upgrade to block stronger ones)
A few shortcuts/warps (none in the southeast or southwest though)
Some good bosses (hydra, patra)
Decent use of samples (as ambience in dungeons to make them more creepy)
Enemies are usually weak to one of your weapons (sometimes too weak)
Audio cue when near a boss room - Dungeons of Daggorath, AD&D: Cloudy Mountain
+/-
Fairly non-linear structure (adds some replay value but you're better off doing most of the dungeons in the correct order first time around or you'll be missing items and/or facing difficulty spikes)
No towns and only one side quest (very basic fetch quest)
Some ammo based weapons
You can often skip fighting enemies unless you need to grind (the focus is on exploration, key searching and puzzle solving) or are in a dungeon
One mini-game (basic gambling house)
Off screen enemy respawning (can be partly controlled by not killing every enemy on a screen though which makes only the ones you didn't kill respawn, still gets tedious in some dungeons)
No journal/log feature
Huge knockback on enemies
Somewhat forgiving hit detection overall (unforgiving when picking up items though)
Need the manual for item descriptions
Bomb blasts don't hurt you (but candle flames do!)
Stop watch lasts until you leave the screen (overpowered)
Can only carry 255 rupees and 8 bombs (the latter can be upgraded to 12 and 16 but you need to pay the old men in the fifth and sixth dungeon 100 rupees each)
Can't use the raft unless there's a dock connecting to the water
Doesn't show boss HP
Bow and arrow costs rupees to shoot with
Can't destroy all bushes (would've made finding caves much harder without visual clues but otoh could've been used for shortcuts and the clues could've been better)
Gameplay pauses while in the inventory
-
Health grinding (the game always starts you with three hearts after you die)
Poor dialogue/translation overall
Only four full music tracks in the entire game
Annoying beeping sound when low on health
Repeats enemies and backgrounds a lot
Need to start off grinding for money and bombs unless you know where to look (northeasternmost screen) or want to gamble
Trial & error (you can enter ganon's room without the silver arrows (not being able to beat him nor exit the room), old men telling you to master your sword means you need five or more heart containers to get a sword upgrade), thieves in some caves (can't get the money back), finding the bracelet, figuring out what the quiet women want to the N of the third dungeon and E of the graveyard, some caves lack proper clues (visual or otherwise - 30 rupees cave in the south west, potion woman's cave to the E of the graveyard, heart container to the E of the 4th dungeon, etc.), ghosts hit immediately when touching a grave, paying the old woman the right amount to get directions through the forest maze (otherwise she'll steal the money), )
Mostly simple bosses (few and basic puzzle style fights here) and enemies
Some control and interface issues (need to hit the bush you're trying to burn with the final part of the candle flame's trajectory or you won't discover a cave underneath, need to re-enter shop caves to buy additional items, can't place a bomb while facing a wall, no knockback on enemies if you hit them from the side while they're moving, can't attack/use items facing into a screen when too close to its edge - such as when you've just entered a screen, can't speed up dialogue text (and can't move until a sentence is almost finished when entering a room with a talking NPC, dialogue also triggers automatically))
Can't bomb bushes
Some really vague clues (to finding the old man in the graveyard - need to search 72 graves to find him, )
Some annoying enemies (sword and shield knights, helicopters, awakened statues)
No boss music
Some backtracking (keys and bombs, start on the beginning screen of the overworld map when you save (or die on the overworld)
The blue candle becomes redundant after you get the red one (which also becomes redundant once you get the magic book to upgrade the magic rod) and it's annoying how you can only use it once each time you enter a screen (so you have to re-enter the screen to keep exploring with it)
Can't place bombs when too many enemies are on screen
Very slow health refill from potions (pauses gameplay)
Notes:
-Above screenshot is from a romhack of the game replacing the graphics with tiles from the gameboy games
-Dungeon progression options/non-linearity: Of the nine dungeons, four can be completed as your first level (1, 2, 3, & 8). Level 4 is locked behind Level 3, while Levels 5 & 6 are locked behind L4, and Level 7 is locked behind L5. Level 9 is finally unlocked after completing the other eight dungeons
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8 Fun-6.5 Originality-8
Overall Score-6.5
+
Interesting mechanics (overworld/dungeon concept, gain new items in dungeons to access new areas in other parts of the game, burn down bushes/bomb holes in walls, bridge item, boomerang (freezes most enemies), the flute (random warping to visited dungeon entrances as well as some puzzle solving))
Weapon/item inventory
Some good puzzles
Second quest (an unlockable hard mode of sorts, requires a lot of bombing and burning without hints though)
Save feature (you also keep your collecting and dungeon progression progress after dying and continuing)
Good length for the time
Collectable HP upgrades (heart pieces)
Overworld and dungeon map systems (the first of which is very simple but the other one fills in as you explore and shows each room's regular exits)
Shoot lasers with your sword when fully healed
Weapon and armor upgrades
Block projectiles with your shield (upgrade to block stronger ones)
A few shortcuts/warps (none in the southeast or southwest though)
Some good bosses (hydra, patra)
Decent use of samples (as ambience in dungeons to make them more creepy)
Enemies are usually weak to one of your weapons (sometimes too weak)
Audio cue when near a boss room - Dungeons of Daggorath, AD&D: Cloudy Mountain
+/-
Fairly non-linear structure (adds some replay value but you're better off doing most of the dungeons in the correct order first time around or you'll be missing items and/or facing difficulty spikes)
No towns and only one side quest (very basic fetch quest)
Some ammo based weapons
You can often skip fighting enemies unless you need to grind (the focus is on exploration, key searching and puzzle solving) or are in a dungeon
One mini-game (basic gambling house)
Off screen enemy respawning (can be partly controlled by not killing every enemy on a screen though which makes only the ones you didn't kill respawn, still gets tedious in some dungeons)
No journal/log feature
Huge knockback on enemies
Somewhat forgiving hit detection overall (unforgiving when picking up items though)
Need the manual for item descriptions
Bomb blasts don't hurt you (but candle flames do!)
Stop watch lasts until you leave the screen (overpowered)
Can only carry 255 rupees and 8 bombs (the latter can be upgraded to 12 and 16 but you need to pay the old men in the fifth and sixth dungeon 100 rupees each)
Can't use the raft unless there's a dock connecting to the water
Doesn't show boss HP
Bow and arrow costs rupees to shoot with
Can't destroy all bushes (would've made finding caves much harder without visual clues but otoh could've been used for shortcuts and the clues could've been better)
Gameplay pauses while in the inventory
-
Health grinding (the game always starts you with three hearts after you die)
Poor dialogue/translation overall
Only four full music tracks in the entire game
Annoying beeping sound when low on health
Repeats enemies and backgrounds a lot
Need to start off grinding for money and bombs unless you know where to look (northeasternmost screen) or want to gamble
Trial & error (you can enter ganon's room without the silver arrows (not being able to beat him nor exit the room), old men telling you to master your sword means you need five or more heart containers to get a sword upgrade), thieves in some caves (can't get the money back), finding the bracelet, figuring out what the quiet women want to the N of the third dungeon and E of the graveyard, some caves lack proper clues (visual or otherwise - 30 rupees cave in the south west, potion woman's cave to the E of the graveyard, heart container to the E of the 4th dungeon, etc.), ghosts hit immediately when touching a grave, paying the old woman the right amount to get directions through the forest maze (otherwise she'll steal the money), )
Mostly simple bosses (few and basic puzzle style fights here) and enemies
Some control and interface issues (need to hit the bush you're trying to burn with the final part of the candle flame's trajectory or you won't discover a cave underneath, need to re-enter shop caves to buy additional items, can't place a bomb while facing a wall, no knockback on enemies if you hit them from the side while they're moving, can't attack/use items facing into a screen when too close to its edge - such as when you've just entered a screen, can't speed up dialogue text (and can't move until a sentence is almost finished when entering a room with a talking NPC, dialogue also triggers automatically))
Can't bomb bushes
Some really vague clues (to finding the old man in the graveyard - need to search 72 graves to find him, )
Some annoying enemies (sword and shield knights, helicopters, awakened statues)
No boss music
Some backtracking (keys and bombs, start on the beginning screen of the overworld map when you save (or die on the overworld)
The blue candle becomes redundant after you get the red one (which also becomes redundant once you get the magic book to upgrade the magic rod) and it's annoying how you can only use it once each time you enter a screen (so you have to re-enter the screen to keep exploring with it)
Can't place bombs when too many enemies are on screen
Very slow health refill from potions (pauses gameplay)
Notes:
-Above screenshot is from a romhack of the game replacing the graphics with tiles from the gameboy games
-Dungeon progression options/non-linearity: Of the nine dungeons, four can be completed as your first level (1, 2, 3, & 8). Level 4 is locked behind Level 3, while Levels 5 & 6 are locked behind L4, and Level 7 is locked behind L5. Level 9 is finally unlocked after completing the other eight dungeons