The original Legend of Zelda on the NES has been a favorite of mine since I was a child. It's a game I have a lot of early memories playing myself, as well as watching my older brother and father play.

When people talk about Zelda 1 today, there's this very common criticism of "Bomb every wall. Burn every bush." and how this requirement of finding secrets, whose only hints are crude translations really makes the game a struggle to enjoy in a modern setting.

Having had the good fortune of being the youngest person in my family to play the game growing up, I had the luxury of being able to ask my brother and father about any secrets I may have missed, so the frustrations of playing blind never really were an issue for me. After hearing the criticism so many times, I've always wondered just how many secrets were required to complete the game.

So that's my motivation for this playthrough. A lazy Link who will never bomb a wall, burn a bush, or solve any puzzle unless the game requires it. If it has to be uncovered, it will remain covered. This will be bordering on a worst case scenario for the player's abilities. I'm confident anybody opting to play Zelda 1 for the first time in 2016 will have a much easier time than this.

And so it begins. The game's manual includes a walkthrough to get you to the first dungeon, and an incomplete map of the overworld. However, you can very much just wander around the overworld until you stumble onto a dungeon. I pick up my sword and head to level one.

Level 1 - Eagle

The first dungeon greets you with a locked door and two open paths. The left leads to a room full of keese. Killing all of them will give you a key, but a brand new player may just see some bats and no reason to proceed. Heading right is a room with some stalfos. One of which is holding a key which is visible on them. An uninformed player is told there is a key explicitly (provided they can notice it there at least).

A few screens ahead, Link will be locked in a room with more keese and a locked door. If the player did not collect both possible keys from the first two rooms, they will be forced to go back. The player however, now has the knowledge that defeating all the enemies in a room can sometimes cause the room to react. Now they haven't seen a dropped an item, and god forbid a player may think they'll need to buy keys from shops which are an expensive 100 rupees, but with only the first keese room as an option (another unmentioned room contains keese and an already on the ground compass) to find a key, it should be a pretty safe bet they'll return there.

And so I return, defeat the keese, and collect my prize.

The next room after the locked door contains a few gels, a single block, and a locked door. The game has guided you to try to kill all the gels. Doing so does nothing. Oh well, next room.

This room has a map lying on the ground and reveals the shape of the dungeon, letting a player know exactly how much of the dungeon they've left unseen. The only way to go without any keys is north, where another room contains a stalfos with a visible key again, but has its own locked door above, forcing the player to decide where they'll go. If they have the compass, they'll know the triforce piece is to the right. So I opt to turn back and head right. This leads to a room with a new enemy, goriya, who throw boomerangs. I run past them and into the next room, with another new enemy, the wallmaster, who will take Link to the start of the dungeon should he be hit. There's an exposed key on the floor used to access the boss room.

The first boss, Aquamentus is revealed. A dragon who shoots fireballs and is defeated with a few stabs of the sword.

Picking up the first piece of the triforce refills the player's health and exits the dungeon for them. Now the player's out of keys, but still has a locked door in the completed dungeon. In reality, defeating all the stalfos in a previous room would've dropped another key. At some point the player is required to go in those other rooms to obtain the first dungeon's treasure, the bow, which is mandatory for defeating a later boss as well as Ganon.

For my own sake I go right back in and get it. This involves a room of goriya which must be defeated to get another key.

== LEVEL 1 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 0
Blocks Pushed: 0
Rooms Cleared: 3 (bosses are excluded)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Boomerang - Obtained by defeating all the goriya in a room

== MISSED CLUES ==
"Eastmost penninsula is the secret." - Likely hinting at the secret entrance in the northeast corner of the overworld. Found by pushing a block after defeating the zols.

Not having a boomerang is definitely no fun, but I head off for level two, which like level one, is completely exposed and requires just finding it on the overworld.

Level two is still a pain to find despite this. It's very easy to walk right past it as its entrance, and the board leading to its entrance are so enclosed. A new player will probably do a decent amount of wandering, and may even find the entrance to level three first! The game's manual has a walkthrough to get to level one, and a map of the area to guide you towards level two, so it's still possible to minimize exploration.

Level 2 - Moon

Level two opens without any locked doors, so right away the player can go where they please.

Level two is significantly more linear in this challenge. Without any keys lying on the ground, none of the locked doors can be opened, and without defeating all the enemies in one of the first rooms, a door behind a shutter also can't be accessed. Eventually you reach this room, which again, can just be walked on through, but it introduces a miniboss enemy known as Moldorm, who I completely ignore. At the very least, this room certainly looks important.

The room above the moldorms contains a shutter door and a key door. Having no keys, I'm forced to actually fight the enemies. Alternatively, defeating all the enemies in several of the other rooms would also have dropped a key. Either way, a room must be cleared.

The next room contains several goriya and traps the player. This time the fight is forced to be here. This room is notable because defeating the enemies not only opens the shutters, but also gives the player some bombs. This is fortunate as they're required to defeat the boss. It also means that at this point the player has explicitly been told that defeating all the enemies in a room can cause items to drop, even if they had been very slowly purchasing keys from shops up until this point.

The boss of level two is this doofus Dodongo. Now, without exploring the rest of the level, the hint on how to defeat this boss isn't revealed. So this is a good moment telling the player they should really be exploring. The player is free to leave the boss fight at any time, which is also useful if they entered the room without bombs.

What a dork.

That's two dungeons completed. Level two has no items which are mandatory to complete the game, but it does have an optional important one: The magical boomerang. This is my first playthrough without picking up a boomerang at all, so we'll see how much more difficult that makes things for me.

== LEVEL 2 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 0
Blocks Pushed: 0
Rooms Cleared: 4(+1)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Compass - Lying in the open behind a locked door
Map - Lying in the open behind a locked door
Magical Boomerang - Obtained by defeating all the blue goriya in a room

== MISSED CLUES ==
"Dodongo dislikes smoke." - Telling you how to defeat the boss of level two.

Rather than go straight to level three, I feel now's a good time to pick up a few items and do some shopping. This old man towards the northeast of the map gives you the letter which you can show to the old women to buy healing potions from them. Depending on the player's skill, exactly when they'll start finding potions to be a helpful investment will vary. This screen is pretty close to level two however, so I grab it now.

Spoilers: There's a wall you can bomb on this screen, but I bet you won't need to use that many bombs to find it. Alas I'm not allowed to find it in this playthrough and have to move on.

I head to the source of the river, and it's definitely more of a challenge when you don't have a boomerang to stun the lynel.

The cave leads to the location of the white sword. Thankfully fully exposed so I'm allowed to acquire it. The dialog is a funny way of saying "If you're good with a sword, I'll let you have this one". As kids my brother and I always thought it meant that you had to have two pieces of triforce to pick up, but the actual requirement is to have a total of five of more hearts for your life. If you know where secrets are, it's possible to get the white sword before entering the first dungeon. The first two dungeons are pretty simple without it though, but it's much more essential starting with the third level.

Traveling back to the start of the game and heading west lets me pick up a blue candle for 60 rupees. Don't worry, I won't be burning any plant life with it. I'll only be lighting some dark rooms.

Level 3 - Manji

Level three, yet again is fully exposed on the overworld and can be accessed at any time. However, a new player jumping right into this one at the start of the game would be wise to turn away for reasons soon to be seen.

The entrance, for the first time, is completely linear. So where to head is pretty obvious.

The first main room introduces zols. These enemies split into two gels when defeated with the wooden sword, however stronger weapons such as the white sword defeat them outright. Gels can never drop items, so while zols aren't particularly dangerous, a player without the white sword will have a hard time refilling their health in this dungeon. A first key is handed to the player.

The next room contains more zols and several blocks and can be passed straight on through. After that is this room which introduces a new enemy, and one of the most difficult in the game, the darknut. Darknuts have a shield like Link's, which prevents attacks head on, requiring Link to flank and attack from the sides or behind. You can hurt them with bombs, however when the bomb explodes, Link's current facing direction is checked so the bomb blast may still be ignored in some situations.

Fortunately for newcomers, those darknuts can be ignored. Heading north takes you to a room with three locked doors. The dungeons are starting to get more complex in layout at this point. With only one key I make the decision to head to the right, which is another room with some zols, and the dungeon map lying on the ground.

The room afterwards contains a forced fight with some darknuts in order to proceed. This fight can be avoided by bombing the eastern wall in the previous room, but finding (or making in this case) secret passages is not allowed.

The next room is another forced fight. It also introduces bubbles. Enemies that don't hurt Link, but prevent him from using his sword temporarily. Defeating the enemies opens the shutters and causes a five rupee reward to spawn. The bubbles can't be killed, but don't count as enemies to be killed in cases like this.

The next next room is this dungeon's boss, Manhandla.

He's a bit of a pain to this day. You have to defeat all four mouths(?), and with each one destroyed he moves faster. The best strategy is to use bombs as they can take him out in one hit if the positioning is perfect. On a continue I died again, oops.

Third time's the charm. But, much like level one, there's a required item in the dungeon that I skipped.

The return to level three involves defeating all the zols in a room to get a key to drop, then unlocking a door, fighting all the darknuts to open the shutters, then running through a bunch of darknuts to go down some stairs to acquire the raft.

== LEVEL 3 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 0
Blocks Pushed: 0
Rooms Cleared: 8(+4)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Compass - Lying in the open behind a locked door
Map - Lying in the open behind a locked door
Magical Boomerang - Obtained by defeating all the blue goriya in a room

== MISSED CLUES ==
"Did you get the sword from the old man on top of the waterfall?" - Letting you know where to find the white sword. If you're playing dungeons in order, you can definitely use it by this point.

Technically, level four is also exposed. However, to access this screen, you'll have to sail on your raft. The raft can only be launched from docks, of which there are two in the game. The dock is a mere four screens away from the starting screen, so it shouldn't take long to find. Level four's raft requirement also means the game can safely assume a stronger player is entering.

Level 4 - Snake

Back to split paths. The left room contains keese to defeat for a key, which will be required. The next room contains vires, hopping winged creatures which split into keese when if your attack isn't strong enough. However, even the white sword isn't powerful enough so the player will be dealing with lots of keese this level. There's also a locked door to the right which will give the player the compass if they use the key there. The next room contains some keese and a key on the ground.

Following that is the game's first dark room. Without a flame to light the room, the player will be stumbling in the dark. Fortunately blue candles can be purchased at shops easily enough.

This is the same room after using the candle. Skilled players can just memorize the layouts of these rooms and continue onward, but even if you're not going crazy looking for secrets, getting the candle is worthwhile. The following room contains zols and another key on the ground, bringing the player's total to three.

The next room has two locked doors, but what is currently unreachable due to water. Using the first key and moving east leads to another room with vires with a locked door to the north, and a shuttered door to the east. The locked door is actually a trap in that the room it leads to has a large pool of water and the player gains no access to the room's other exits from there, though they can see the dungeon map in the corner teasing them.

Fighting the vires to gain access to the eastern room leads to a seemingly dead end. The room also introduces Like Likes, enemies which can engulf link and eat his large shield if he has one. Defeating the enemies does nothing! This room has the first mandatory block to push in the game, revealing a set of stairs taking you to the treasure room containing the stepladder.

Heading back, the game immediately lets you discover the use of the step ladder, as the previously winding path becomes a straight line to travel. Link can then proceed across the water that blocked him before. The next room connects with the "trap" room from earlier, but this time can obtain the map. Another room locks Link in and forces him to face Manhandla again. Yet again I die because I am bad at this. I buy some bombs for my next attempt, and also arrows since I had the money and would be needing them soon enough anyway.

After a sad amount of more attempts I finally bomb him to death. I also accidentally bombed a secret! It turns out you can bomb walls in this game and find hidden rooms or shortcuts through the dungeons. Who knew?

Ignoring the bombed wall, (it was an accident after all!) The next room is the first dungeon advice that hasn't been missed. The waterfall below the location of the white sword can be walked into and contains a woman who offers information for money.

The next room contains a free key on the ground. Interestingly enough, this dungeon has one more door than key. Unfortunately, if you don't enter this dungeon with a spare key from an earlier level, it's possible to actually hit a locked door and not be able to proceed without purchasing a key. I'd say this is bad design here and that the trap room shouldn't have required a key. Keys cost 100 rupees which is a considerable time investment, especially if you aren't finding hidden secrets which give you large quantities at once. Shame on you Zelda, I'm trying to convince people this game isn't full of stupid design decisions here.

Wait a minute, this is slightly more involved than I thought. If like me you accidentally bombed the wall while fighting Manhandla, you'd discover a secret path. Another bomb to the north would let you pick up this key and open the door to the advice room from the other side. It's still possible to run out of keys early on, but this way would let you only have to purchase one key, and not two, while also demonstrating the concept of secret passages.

Afterwards, it's a continuous path to the boss. This room requires a block to be pushed, and thus defeating the vires.

The boss of level four is Gleeok, a multiheaded dragon. I manage to beat him significantly more easily than Manhandla.

== LEVEL 4 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 0
Blocks Pushed: 2(+2)
Rooms Cleared: 14(+6)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Compass - Lying in the open behind a locked door

== MISSED CLUES ==
None!

I purposely avoided picking up that last key the dungeon gave me, as it's easier to track keys in dungeons if I'm entering them with none to begin with.

With the raft and stepladder, now's a good time to pick up a few things on the overworld that I'm allowed to get. There are two items on the eastern coast to acquire before heading to level five, though both are optional. The first is the other location where the raft can be used.

It leads to a structure with this old man inside. Obviously take the heart container. You can buy potions, even in this playthrough.

Just a few screens south is this wrecked pier which can be crossed using the stepladder to get another heart container. In total there are five of these on the overworld, but the other three all require revealing secrets.

But wait! Where is level five? This screen is suspicious enough, if you go north, south, or east, the screen loops and you remain on the screen. Going west puts you at the waterfall below the white sword location. After picking up half of the triforce pieces, we finally have a legitimate roadblock for a new player...

...Except level four pointed you exactly where you need to go.

"Walk into the waterfall."

Sure enough, you can bribe this woman to get some information. The first two choices merely say that's not enough money for her, but 20 rupees will reveal the secret of the mountain to you.

Sure enough, walking up (albeit, four times, not two) plays the secret jingle and brings you to level five.

Think about the thought put into the placement of these four screens.

You have the top of the waterfall which contains the white sword. Level three has a message telling you to go here if you haven't for a sword. Level four tells you about the waterfall. The next screen not only loops, but does so in such a way that it cuts off this section of the world from the eastern side (You can travel to this screen _from_ the east, but never _to_ the east).

The player is routinely asked to visit this area, and if they were still carrying the wooden sword by this point, they're significantly more likely to pick up the white sword now as it's so close. Even if the player took an unconventional route and played levels three and four first, they're now capable of getting the white sword and completing level five as well while they're here.

Level 5 - Lizard

This dungeon has 7 keys and 6 locked doors. Two paths from the start. The eastern one leads to a room with a new enemy, Pol's Voice, which has a lot of health, but can easily be defeated with arrows if you've purchased them by now (and found the bow back in level one).

The northern room introduces another new enemy, gibdo. They move slowly, have no projectiles, and won't be a problem for Link. However they take four hits with the white sword to kill, and a whopping seven with the wooden sword. Perhaps this is meant to really hammer it in to the player that they shouldn't have the wooden sword still? In fact, if you have beaten the first four levels, and acquired all five overworld heart containers, it's possible to have the magical sword for this dungeon and defeat them in two hits.

All of them have to be defeated here to proceed into a room with three dodongos. There's a locked door here that will take you to the map room, but it can be skipped. To the right is an open door which follows the main path of the dungeon, but there's no reason to continue on that path just yet, as the boss requires an item acquired elsewhere.

Instead, all the dodongos have to be defeated, which will take 3-6 bombs depending on how they're killed. Otherwise a secret passage needs to be used. Fortunately, defeating the dodongos causes more bombs to drop.

The next room contains a few zols that when defeated give you a key. Worth noting is there are lava flows to cross with the stepladder in this room as well, cutting off the dungeon's main path unless you have the stepladder, preventing you from beating level five before four and three.

Entering this room locks you in, and even defeating the enemies won't open the door. One of the gibdo has bombs which are visible like the stalfos in level one with a key. Here there's some mandatory bomb usage. You;ll need to bomb left to proceed towards this dungeon's item, and also to the right to escape back to the first gibdo room. Theoretically, you can use all your bombs in this room and trap yourself, forcing you to restart.

The mandatory secret features blue darknuts, faster and stronger than the red ones seen in level three. They can be extremely difficult for new players to deal with. They also take off two hearts per hit. A player who hasn't found any hidden heart containers (and also hasn't found the blue ring) will die in 4 hits from full health.

But even when they're defeated, the player doesn't get treasure. Now the dungeons are becoming more complex, and are split into different areas only accessible via stairs.

The next room has two locked doors. The wrong door gives you another key on the ground however. It also holds the first optional bomb upgrade to increase how many you can hold, provided you bomb into the secret room.

The correct door contains even more blue darknuts which have to be defeated before a block can be pushed to take you to the dungeon's treasure room. I wound up dying to them multiple times, spoiled by always having a blue ring by this point which halves damage. I wound up buying a potion, which of course meant on the third attempt that I didn't take a single hit in either of the blue darknut rooms.

This dungeon's treasure is the recorder. A magic instrument that has three different uses in the game which will be seen shortly. With it, I can get back on the main path of the dungeon which is pretty straightforward and consists of nothing but rooms of gibdos, keese, and Pol's voices. Some of which have key drops, and one has a key just lying on the ground again.

The boss of level five is Digdogger. He's invincible unless you play the recorder, which causes him to split in smaller versions of himself that can be harmed normally.

He is very easy to beat.

== LEVEL 5 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 2(+2)
Blocks Pushed: 5(+3)
Rooms Cleared: 18(+4)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Map - Behind a locked door
Compass - Requires defeating all the red darknuts in a later room that can otherwise be ignored
Bomb Upgrade - Requires opening a locked door and bombing a wall

== MISSED CLUES ==
"Digdogger hates certain kinds of sound." - Letting you know how to beat the boss of level five. This is found behind a locked door or bombing into the room.
"Secret power is said to be in the arrow." - Either meaning arrows can be used to effectively kill the Pol's voices in this dungeon, or letting you know that Ganon can only be defeated with the silver arrows.

Having finished level five, the player can now make their way directly to level six. Having obtained the recorder, its second use comes into play here. Using it on the overworld causes a tornado to fly in. If it picks up Link, he'll be warped to the entrance of a previously completed dungeon.

Now, level six, like levels one, two, three, four, and five is also completely exposed and once you walk onto the screen with it, you're free to go inside. You won't be able to finish the level without the stepladder, not that you'd particularly want to do this level early on to begin with.

Level six is located in the western half of Hyrule, a secluded area which is cut off from the rest of the map at two different points, to try and keep new players out. The first way there is to use the stepladder to cross the river that's in the area near level five. This can be done immediately after finishing level four.

The second way, is by navigating through the lost woods, a looping screen similar to the mountain climb for level five. Of course, you need to know the solution to this maze to take this route.

And so once more, the solution is given by an old woman who wants money who is close to the location where that information is useful. The woman is located in an open cave in the southwestern corner of the map, two rooms away from the lost woods.

30 rupees is all it takes to get this solution at any point in the game. So you can clumsily stumble your way into level six very early on. Assuming you can make it past the several lynels in the screens after the lost woods which I believe can one shot a starting player. (For the curious, paying 50 rupees results in the woman just saying "Boy, you're rich!" which is a dick move.)

Level six is past the graveyard, which uses whites and grays and looks pretty cool. Level six is a contender for the most difficult level in the game, and I'm not looking forward to doing it with ten hearts instead of effectively twenty-six from the other three heart containers and the blue ring's damage halving properties. This is the level to bring a potion for.

Level 6 - Dragon

A starting split. It's possible to have extra keys from level five if you don't open every door, but do collect enough keys. But I need to head right.

And this level introduces wizzrobes. Horrible teleporting wizards that shoot beams of magic at you. You'll have to defeat all of them to get a key.

Going north however, is just a room with an old man giving advice. If you go in here, and don't have a spare key, you're stuck purchasing one. Boo.

This dungeon start off as a straight line. The first two screens are avoidable combat, but this room is mandatory, and also gives you a key.

Two screens ahead is another forced fight. This one introduces blue wizzrobes which glide around rapidly including through walls and will shoot at you when they have a shot lined up. Their shots take off 3 hearts and they are terrifying. The general strategy is to stay between tiles as they won't shoot if you're between them, but it's easy to be slightly off center, or have other enemies walk into you while you're dancing around.

After several deaths, I make it through this room and onto the next!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Thankfully I clear this room my first attempt. If only I could try bombing the right wall instead...

And then another fight with Gleeok, who now has a third head. This triple gauntlet is the sort of thing that makes level six a contender for the most difficult in the game.

Gleeok is not a wizzrobe at least. The next room is a welcome respite. The eastern path can be explored but won't do me any good. There's an advice room at the end of it, but it involves clearing another room completely to access, and that room has more wizzrobes of both colors.

The north path also has wizzrobes, but more of a purpose as it leads to this dungeon's treasure, the wand, which shoots magic like the wizzrobes do for damage equal to the white sword. It's a very useful item as it's a ranged attack that can be used indefinitely. I have to skip it. Don't worry though, wizzrobes are immune to it so it wouldn't help me out any here.

Heading south leads to a room with wizzrobes that can be skipped, and a key on the ground. After that a room with vires which have to be defeated to proceed or head back.

The next room contains yet another forced fight with wizzrobes. Afterwards the block can be pushed to reveal stairs to the rest of the dungeon.

A few more screens, and a single locked door which can be bypassed with that key found out in the open, and you'll find the boss, Gohma.

Gohma dies in a single hit from an arrow, its only weakness. The wizzrobes are the real boss here. Unless you skipped getting the bow way back in level one, then you just have to die and curse Nintendo.

And that's level six! It's awful!

== LEVEL 6 TOTALS ==
Bushes Burned: 0
Walls Bombed: 2
Blocks Pushed: 6(+1)
Rooms Cleared: 25(+7)

== MISSED ITEMS ==
Map - Requires defeating all the enemies in the room after Gleeok (no wizzrobes though!)
Compass - Requires defeating all the zols in one of the first rooms
Wand - Requires another key from a room with red wizzrobes, defeating all the red and blue wizzrobes in the locked room, and pushing a block.

== MISSED CLUES ==
"There are secrets where fairies don't live" - I'm going to have words to say on this very shortly.

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.