"It's dangerous to go alone! Take this." These words started what would come to be a line of the most amazing games ever played. The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition contains 4 great Zelda games: The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda II: Link's Adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. To be able to play these games again has been a great flashback for me. I have played through all of the Zelda games, except the three that came for the Phillips CDI. I'm talking about the three games: Zelda's Adventure, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Link: The Faces of Evil. Even though they were terrible, they were still Zelda games. Having an older brother in the house gave me access to all of the latest video games. Five year old Gina made an attempt at The Legend of Zelda one day, and things haven't been the same since. Having these games on the latest Nintendo system has given me a chance to go back to my roots. Nothing was changed or enhanced, I guess to keep the classic feeling. However, I’ve always wondered why it’s called “The Legend of Zelda” when it’s all about Link. I guess it goes under the same question as Final Fantasy never quite being final.

There is something that people have to remember about the Zelda series. All of the games do not happen in the order that they are released. One of the best things to do is play all of the games in the correct timeline order. According to the timeline, the latest game in the Zelda timeline would be the first one for the NES. If you look back into the storylines of each game, you'll see that they make sense with what you know up to date. That is the greatest part about playing these games over and over again.

The Legend of Zelda has lived in our hearts since 1987. Although the game is dated 1986, it was released in December of 1987. I still remember my brother bringing home the shiny gold cartridge. This took my young eye, since it was a different color than the rest of them. Watching him play, I became interested in video games. I can still remember what the instruction booklet looked like and the warning on one of the pages, as to not complete the dungeons out of order, because a terrible monster awaited you at the end. The Legend of Zelda is not something that the new generation of gamers is used to. You are thrown into a storyline with no explanation or direction. Back in the day, a storyline was given if you left the title screen running long enough. Many years ago, Gannon, the prince of darkness, stole the Triforce of Power. Princess Zelda, who had the Triforce of Wisdom, divided it into eight parts to hide it from Gannon. She was then captured. You must find all eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom and rescue princess Zelda.

Playing The Legend of Zelda again was a treat for me. Sometimes, I find myself trying to get my old Nintendo system to work again because I feel like slapping the old gold cartridge in it. There’s something about the 8-bit Nintendo graphics that make me feel calm. They haven’t changed anything as far as graphics go in the game. Nothing has changed from the Nintendo version, not even the slowdown that occurs in certain areas. At first, I was annoyed by this. If you are going to re-release a game, at least upgrade it a little bit. After awhile, though, I noticed a reason for the slowdown. In some dungeons, you are swarmed with so many enemies, you need the slow down to escape without a scrape. Sounds silly? Well, just look at certain features in Viewtiful Joe. Slow down is an ability in that game. Meanwhile, Link gets it for free. The music isn't something to go wild about. It has about 4 or 5 different tracks and that’s counting the Whistle’s tune. The over world theme, which is legendary, and the dungeon’s there are the two major things that you hear throughout the game. Being so repetitive, it might tend to get on your nerves. However, being a Zelda fan, I just found myself humming along, just like I did when I was a kid. Controls are easy, but they tended to annoy me at times. I would press the wrong button a lot and I growled at the manual for leaving out a few things. Once I got used to them, however, I stopped accidentally resetting my game. When it comes to being fun, nothing tops the first Zelda for me. Pulling my hair out trying to remember where the dungeons were in the second quest was a treat. There’s plenty of replay value. There’s a second quest to go through, as well as a few home challenges. Try going through the game without using a sword if things get too easy for you. If you’ve played this one as a kid, you’ll go back to it a few times. If you’ve never played the first Zelda before, well, now is a great time to start.