2-21-1986		8-22-1987
	11-15-1987		-

The Legend of Zelda was a bestseller for Nintendo, selling over 6.5 million copies, and it was the first NES title to sell over 1 million copies. (Yes Mario...Zelda outsold you) The game placed first in the player's poll "Top 30" in Nintendo Power's first issue and continued to dominate the list into the early 1990s. The Legend of Zelda was also voted by Nintendo Power readers as the "Best Challenge" in the Nintendo Power Awards '88. They also listed it as the best Nintendo Entertainment System video game ever created. The save game option was highly praised by many as it did not require a password as many games of its type for the NES did. Of all of the "FIRST titles in the NES age I cover, only Final Fantasy, Zelda, and Dragon Warrior had save features.
On top of all of the success of Zelda when it was released, it was responsible for the Nintendo Power Magazine coming into being, as well as main stream commercials for video games. truly this game impacted the gaming world probably far more than any other title on the NES. And people wonder why exactly was it so popular then, and how has it retained that popularity some almost 30 years later. Really it is very simple.
First of all, the graphics were surprisingly really good. there were very few in the age of NES that pull off memorable graphics. Zelda is certainly one of them. Despite having basic technology to produce the graphics, they made it look spectacular Colors galore, several sprite variations of Link, fantastic and seamless animations. It really was darn good to have such old school "Eye Candy". Some of the areas were a little cheesy like the black void of caves (Kind of like the black void Final Fantasy battles :P), which was blah to say the least. The lands were simple, yet wonderful, and the water looked sharp. A lot of different dungeon textures rounded out some awesome 80's graphiccs.
Gameplay is usually one that made the old school games suffer a bit. But Zelda, it seemed, learned from other folks failures. The controls for this game were very easy to get the hang of. The directional Pad controled the movement and the A and B buttons were you main attack buttons. The select button brought up your menu and your items. And that really is about it. It was great to have a fantastic adventure that did not require a lost 30 minutes to figure out how to play. You jump right in, and take off to save the Princess.
Surprisingly, amazing gameplay. You basically walk around the overworld exploring and killing enemies. There is not a real directive as far as go here, and do that. In some respects, Zelda is the first open exploration game, that you are only limited by your skill. The dungeons are large, and you can spend an hour or more in some of them. Maps are recieved, thus allowing you to locate where you are, and compasses to aid you in finding the boss. The entirety of the gmaeplay is just a great adventure that needed nothing but the game to entertain the begeesus out of you. (Too bad no one gets that now)
Overall, Zelda is and remains an amazing game to play. Finding an NES copy is going to be difficult, but there are a few re-releases of it, as well as having a dowloadable port on the Wii. It is perhaps (And cited by many as so) one of the greatest games to ever be produced. With all it has to offer, everyone will definitely enjoy this game.