Before heading to level seven, there's one last mandatory purchase to be made. You'll need some food in order to get past a specific room in the dungeon. Food can only be purchased from shops, and every shop that sells it, is in fact hidden. There are five of these shops. Two can be accessed by bombing walls, two by burning bushes, and the last by pushing an armos statue revealing it. So uh spoilers, a new player would have to discover one of these secrets:
So of these five secrets, I think the most likely to be found is the armos statue, as you don't require any resources to activate them like you need to have a candle or bombs for the others. (Though if you've played Wario Ware on the GBA, perhaps the second one will look familiar to you.)
The blue candle can only be used once per screen, meaning systemically burning bushes involves constantly walking to the next screen and turning around. Bombs can be used as much as you like, but require enemy drops or money to keep up with a limited supply. Though, the player may think to not touch armos knights as they'll wake up and attack, so really the area after level six but before finishing level seven is probably the biggest roadblock in the game. The armos statue shop has the benefit of offering food at 60 rupees instead of 100, and also holds the blue ring. I could justify purchasing it for myself since you need to unconver some store with food at some point...
So this one. This line is somewhat iconic as a bad clue. There are two screens on the overworld which have a fairy who will heal you to full health.
Like so.
This is the entrance to level seven. Exactly one screen to the right, is one of the fairy lakes shown previously. Additionally, a single moblin is encountered on this screen, much like how every previous dungeon's entrance screen has had a single enemy on it.
So the food situation, not the best. Some tedium is probably involved there.
Finding the screen which contains level seven, I feel is handled well. Going from the clue to this empty lake is not a huge leap, and a player who noticed the pattern of single enemies on screens with dungeons can further confirm their suspicions with the moblin.
Where it falls apart it actually getting into the dungeon.
You have to play the recorder on this screen to drain the lake and reveal the entrance. It is the only body of water that can be drained. It is a function of the recorder never mentioned in game or in the manual. To stumble onto this, you have to be on this screen, and decide to warp to a previous level for fast travel. If it had been something to uncover with bombs or fire, I think it would be acceptable.
Level 7 - Demon
If the challenge of level six was to make it to the boss, then the challenge of level seven is merely finding it. This dungeon is defintely more secrets than fights, and most of the enemies are just goryia and ropes, enemies found way back in level two. Several rooms can be accessed early on, but ultimately Link is trapped in a small section of the dungeon until the player decides to use bombs on walls.
One of these easily accessed rooms contains stalfos including one with a key.
After bombing into a room with some goryia, one of the paths leads to this room where another key is lying on the ground. Only a few rooms in and the player already has the keys they'll need to finish the dungeon.
Mandatory combat occurs here in this room that divides the bottom half of the dungeon from the top. It leads to a linear path which takes us to this level's "puzzle".
"Grumble, grumble..." is all you're told while a goryia blocks your way and cannot be killed. This is where you'll need to have the food. There was some skipped advice in an earlier locked room, but it doesn't provide any hints on finding food, or that food will be needed to proceed.
Simply use the food and the roadblock goes away.
The very next room contains the map, something which hasn't been available in this playthrough for quite some time.
The next two rooms require bombing your way across them. The stairs lead to the red candle, which lets you use fire on a screen as often as you like. If you're still looking for secrets on the overworld, finding burnable bushes is now significantly faster. Though once you have a rough idea of where things are in this game, by the time you can get it you'll have no use for it. It requires clearing a room, so it's ignored here.
And then I realized I miscounted and need another key. I need to go back to the room before the red candle, defeated the goriya, proceed to the next room, defeat the goriya, and then proceed to a third room, where there's a key on the ground.
Except to escape it, I need to defeat the goriya.
Our old friend Digdogger shows up again. There's another one in the earlier skipped portion of this dungeon too. Defeating him allows the player to proceed.
Skipping over a room with dodongos by bombing the wall (as you must), the next room involves luring out wallmasters and defeating them in order to be able to push a block to reveal the stairs to the boss.
Taking the stairs leads to the final room of the dungeon, where yet again a wall must be bombed to proceed.
And the boss of level seven is revealed to be Aquamentus who now has to fight a significantly stronger Link.
Level seven very much feels like it's meant to be a "look how far you've come" dungeon. All of the enemies inside are found in the game's first two levels, and if you have the magical sword, you're pretty much one shotting everything here.
== LEVEL 7 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 7(+5)
Blocks Pushed: 8(+2, I'm counting the armos statue to buy food for this)
Rooms Cleared: 30(+5)
Whistles Tooted: 1(+1)
== MISSED ITEMS ==
Red Candle - Requires defeating the goriya in a non-optional room of the dungeon, so the game very much expects you to pick it up.
Compass - Requires defeating a stalfos holding it in a room that can only be entered by defeating enemies in a previous one or bombing your way inside.
Bomb Upgrade - Requires using another key and 100 rupees to purchase.
== MISSED CLUES ==
"There's a secret in the tip of the nose." - Referring to the pushable block to reveal the stairs to the boss' lair.
So with that there's just a single piece of triforce to collect! Much like level seven, level eight is also hidden and not immediately accessible. It's a good thing they gave you the red candle in level seven because to find level eight you'll need to burn a bush.
Good news, the bush to burn is the single most obviously meant to be burned bush in the entire game. It is the only bush that blocks the player.
Level 8 - Lion
Level eight is another scary one. Possibly as bad as level six. The vast majority of this dungeon is skippable when you're not collecting everything however. So hopefully it's a quick one for me.
To the north is this room with a Manhandla. Fortunately you can avoid the fight entirely and just bomb the north wall to proceed.
Into the first blue darknut gauntlet room. Also the statues are shooting at you. Defeating all of them gives you a key and opens the shutters letting the player continue on ahead.
Continuing north two screens through a locked door leads to the second blue darknut gauntlet.
The right door leads to this mess, which can be walked right past to make it immediately to the stairs.
This room borders the boss room, and you have to bomb into it from here or another adjacent room. There's also an extra key here. I accidentally picked one up earlier in a room that was avoidable so I'm going to ignore it.
The boss of level eight is Gleeok once more. This time with four heads.
The bulk of level eight is in the optional items you can find. Beelining through it made the dungeon even shorter than level one.
== LEVEL 8 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 1(+1)
Walls Bombed: 9(+2)
Blocks Pushed: 8
Rooms Cleared: 32(+2)
Whistles Tooted: 1
== MISSED ITEMS ==
Book of Magic - Involves fighting a manhandla and then clearing a room with some darknuts and gibdos
Skeleton Key - Requires bombing above the second darknut gauntlet room, opening a locked door, defeating a blue ghoma, and then defeating a room with darknuts and Pol's voices.
Compass - Unlock a door east of the compass room and defeat the Pol's voices inside.
Map - Defeat the manhandla north of the second darknut gauntlet room
== MISSED CLUES ==
"Spectacle Rock is an entrance to death." - Letting you know where to find level nine. Requires defeating a blue ghoma on a side path from the first gauntlet room.
"10th enemy has the bomb." - This one was unknown for years after the game's release. In the Japanese version the advice mentions to get the skeleton key, and it was assumed to be some really botched translation of that. In reality it has to do with a method to force bomb drops by killing 10 enemies in a row without getting hit and killing the 10th with a bomb. This TAS submission offers detailed info.
Before going to level nine, let's take a look at all unique things that were missed.
"It's a secret to everybody" - Various hidden entrances around the overworld lead to friendly moblins who give link some cash. The amount given is set per cave, but ranges from 10 to 100 rupees. These can definitely be useful. You'll only need to buy arrows and food to beat the game. In reality a player will also want to invest in a large shield, blue candle, potions, and the blue ring. They'll probably also pick up some bombs at some point instead of trying to get some from random drops.
The magic sword is also hidden away, and requires twelve hearts to obtain. It doesn't require a bomb or fire to uncover this secret.
Then there's this jerk. Not all secrets are good, and sometimes you'll have to pay 20 rupees to fix this guy's door that you just burned down or blew up. (If you don't have enough, he'll just take all of them, or none at all if you're broke!) There's really no reason for them to be in the game, it just punishes the player for looking for secrets, sending a message that goes against the game's themes of exploration and discovery.
Lastly is this underground tunnel network. These tunnels require you to find the power bracelet (hidden on the overworld) and then you can push certain rocks to open the passageways. It's somewhat defeated by the fact that you'll likely have or soon acquire the recorder after getting this, which allows fast travel from anywhere on the overworld (except the entrance to level seven where you'll just drain the lake again).
Spectacle rock, as the hint in level eight says is an entrance to death. It is the third and final hidden dungeon level requiring a bomb to reveal. This screen (as well as the surrounding ones) are full of blue lynels, definitely marking it as a very dangerous place with some very iconic geography. The hunt for level nine could take a long time, but I'd trust a typical player to know something is up with this screen.
Level 9 - Skull
The final level of the game is as massive as it is maze-like. It consists of 57 rooms. Level eight had 25. There are also six sets of stairs just for transportation around the dungeon, as well as two more for the two treasures within, one of which is mandatory to defeat Ganon.
I'm going to be sparse with my descriptions of navigating the level because it would be very difficult to actually follow without looking at a map in the first place. It's also an extremely fun challenge. As a child whenever my older brother or father would make it this far, I'd help them draw a map since it was so easy to get lost in. (Even if you collect the dungeon map in game, since that doesn't mention stairs at all).
After defeating some like likes and zols (in one of the few rooms without a miniboss or wizzrobes) bombing a wall leads to the first staircase, guarded by Lanmola.
Shortly after, another new enemy Patra is in a very bombable room that I'll need to detour to in order to get the keys I'll need. Since I picked up a spare in level eight, I can get away with walking into a room with some wizzrobes and bubbles, and grab a key off the ground. If I hadn't, I'd have to go into another wizzrobe room as well and actually defeat all of them.
I then listen to this old man.
I don't like the next room. To proceed, the wizzrobes must be defeated and a block pushed to reveal a hidden staircase.
That was close. I managed to forgot to buy a big shield which would let me block wizzrobe's shots as well as other projectiles the regular shield can't block. Going through the stairs takes me to the room I'll need my final key for.
Just wanted to share this spooky bat room.
The Patra in this room has to be defeated to proceed via the stairs. Free key, but I don't even need to pick it up.
The stairs take you to what seems to be a dead end.
Until you reveal the next room with more wizzrobes, and bubbles for good measure. Defeating all of them will let you push a block to reveal another staircase.
Allowing the player to get the silver arrows necessary to defeat Ganon! Which unfortunately means backtracking and defeating the other room of wizzrobes to be able to take those stairs back to the patra room.
Traveling a few rooms deeper and bombing a wall takes the player to this room containing a few wall traps and yet more wizzrobes to defeat.
But I died! Time to get some cash and buy a potion and a proper shield. My constant forgetting of the large shield is from misconceptions my family had about the item when I was a kid. We noticed it sometimes went away, and originally figured it had a certain number of shots it could block, which we figured was tied to the price since you could get the shield at different prices in different shops. Later on I realized the game probably wasn't tracking this and figured it would go away after a set amount. At some point I realized, no, it's just that being engulfed by a like like causes you to lose your shield like in modern Zelda games. So oops, be sure to buy a shield. It's also why there are so many like likes whenever there aren't wizzrobes in level 9, to make sure that shield goes away when you need it most.
I make it back with both potions unused and a new shield.
Getting through puts me outside Ganon's room where I have to fight a Patra in close quarters.
And there's the triforce of power we've heard so much about.
After you fight Ganon, you've won! That's all there is to it.
== LEVEL 9 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 1
Walls Bombed: 14(+5)
Blocks Pushed: 13(+5)
Rooms Cleared: 42(+10, including one that i skipped in my playthrough due to picking up that extra key in level 8)
Whistles Tooted: 1
== MISSED ITEMS ==
Red Ring - Bomb a wall in a certain room. Then, in the newly revealed room, bomb a wall. Then, in the newly revealed room, bomb a wall. Then kill some wizzrobes to be able to push a block and take the stairs.
Compass - Bomb a wall in a certain room. Then, in the newly revealed room, bomb a wall. Then get the compass in a room of wizzrobes.
Map - Bomb a wall in a certain room. Then, in the newly revealed room, kill the patra.
== MISSED CLUES ==
"Patra has the map." - Letting you know you'll get the map by defeating a certain Patra.
"Eyes of skull has a secret." - Letting you know the skull shaped level's eyes are important. One has the compass, the other has Zelda herself.
So that's the original Legend of Zelda. Look at those numbers, we've gone from "burn every bush" to "burn a single really obvious bush". Additionally, every wall bombed was in a dungeon except for the entrance to the final level. In dungeons there at at most four places a bomb could open a passage per room, and finding a dungeon map can increase your odds of finding the right spots to bomb early. As for blocks, with no resource required to try to push one, it's not all that difficult to find them when you need one. There are eight (non-dungeon entrance) screens on the overworld with Armos Knights. Five of them have something under them.
I cannot justify the use of the whistle to drain the lake to enter level seven. If there was a hint in a dungeon about it, I think it would be much more reasonable.
The game's difficulty without any secrets is definitely higher than I think a new player would necessarily prefer, but not to an extent that the game becomes unfun. Having no boomerang, wand, magic sword, and blue ring is a bit extreme, and I can't imagine a typical player going through the game with none of these tools. The magical boomerang in level two would be especially difficult to miss. The room is wide open, has a few blue goriya and statues shooting at you. It stands out quite a bit compared to the tame difficulty of the rest of that dungeon.
I grew up completely unaware that A Link to the Past existed, and genuinely believed Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda game since the 80s for many years. Having only extensively played the original, when people talked about the Zelda series' puzzles, I never really understood what they were getting at. Zelda 1's puzzles are all "Okay, which block do I push this time?". I only played LttP in its entirety for the first time in 2015 where the puzzle elements were considerably more complex. What I want most from a Zelda game is satisfying combat, and I think the original's really holds up. Level geometry, and creative combinations of enemy placement lead to a lot of fun fights.
What impresses me the most about the game, is that after all these years the world still feels big. The overworld is 16x8, totaling 128 screens. Combat is engaging enough, and money is useful enough, that getting from point A to point B isn't merely walking from one edge of the screen to the next. By the time traveling might be wearing out its welcome, you'll have access to the recorder's fast travel. There's almost no repetition on overworld screens, and most screens have a secret to uncover whether you opt to hunt them down or just burn a random bush while passing through. The world is very cohesive as well, clearly split into identifible regions. You'll get lost exploring the world your first few times, but still always make progress.
If you've made it this far, you know more than enough to play through the game without using a guide at all. I really hope you'll give it a try, especially without having a walkthrough at your side. See how far you can get! I'm sure it'll be farther than you'd think. The Legend of Zelda is a game that does so much on a system with so limited capabilities. Despite those limitations, you'll find a game which is truly special even today.