The original Zelda was the first RPG for the Nintendo Entertainment System in America. It was also the first ever game to feature a battery back-up for saving your progress. It came as a fancy gold cartridge (with a cardboard cuttout in the case so that you could actually see that it was gold) and was diffrent from all other NES games at the time. It also came with a mini fold-out poster that included a partially complete world map, some tips and monster profiles for the game, and maps of the first six dungeons.

Zelda went on to become Nintendo's first ever million selling game-pack in the United States. Something that back then, would take many months to accomplish!

STORY

In a small kingdom in the land of Hyrule, an army led by Ganon, the Prince of Darkness, attacks the peaceful land and steals the Triforce of Power, a golden triangle possessing mystical powers. Fearing his wicked rule, Zelda, the princess of the land, divides the remaining Triforce (the Triforce of Wisdom) into eight fragments and hides them in dungeons across the land. She then sends Impa to find someone with enough courage to destroy Ganon and retrieve the Triforce. Angered, Ganon imprisons the princess and sends out a search party to find Impa. Impa gets caught, and just as she's about to be axed by Ganons henchmen, a young lad appears, drives off Ganon's men and saves Impa. His name is Link!

THE OUTCOME

After Link makes his way through two quests, with nine dungeons in each quest, Link finally finds and defeats Ganon. Princess Zelda is saved and the Triforce is recovered. The land of Hyrule is safe again. For now...

THE JAPANESE VERSION

-RELEASE DATE- Febuary 21st, 1986 (Disk) Note- The Legend of Zelda was released on a disk first for the super Famicom, a disk based add-on for the NES that was never released in the United States. Febuary 19th, 1994 (cartridge) -ORIGINAL TITLE- The Hyrule Fantasy Zelda No Densetsu (The Hyrule Fantasy The Legend of Zelda)

-ABOUT THE JAPANESE VERSION- There were only minor differences between the Japanese and U.S. versions. The text was thinner and not as big as in the U.S. version (you can see it on the back of the U.S. versions packaging, in the screenshots. There was also diffrent sound effects, such as the sound of the Links sword being thrown when your hearts are full. Also, the "Magic Book", from the U.S. version; is known as the "Bible" in the Japanese version of the origanal disk game. Also years later, in 1994, Nintendo finally decided to release The Legend of Zelda, on cartridge, in Japan. It was basically just the U.S. version with the English text translated into Japanese. It was originally supposed to be released in 1992, but Nintendo delayed it's release until February of 1994 to coincide with the launch of the redesigned Famicom (just like the redesigned NES that was released in the United States).