baaske 🗯

Hey folks, Here's a weekend-project I did recently! @infidelity_nes is an awesome programmer who ported Zelda 1 to the Super Nintendo a while ago. I was always surprised that nobody had created a 16 bit version of Zelda 1 yet, so I took a crack at it. Should be a treat for those who are eagerly waiting for the Ocarina of Time Remake to drop. I tried to keep it as authentic as possible and used the graphics from BS Zelda since that gives it that feeling of how Nintendo would've done a Zelda 1 Remake during the early 90s. The goal was to try to do something akin to what Nintendo did with Super Mario All-Stars, but for Zelda. I've long wanted to play Zelda 1 with my 8 year old son, but he really couldn't get over the crude NES graphics and some of the awkward design choices Nintendo made in the mid 80s so I tried to fix all of those and infuse the Remake with my own design sensibilities. Zelda 1 was always a bit of a tragic case: The underlying design was masterful, but some of the obscure design choices they used really made it hard for newcomers to get into it. But funnily enough, the Zelda 1 structure is exactly what Nintendo used to give Zelda a fresh feel with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom - So if you're one of the folks who never actually played Zelda 1 to completion, this project might just finally get you to fill that gap! Obviously, I tried to modernize things a bit: Both Y and B can be mapped to whatever item you want, there's now an in-game map that uses Mode7 and puts markers on the map so you don't have to remember where each cave was. Zelda 1 also had a ton of repetition in their secret caves, so I designed a whole bunch of new items like charms (think Symphony of the Night) and also brought over some stuff from A Link to the Past like the Pegasus Boots. Arrows are real ammo with quiver upgrades. Purses go up to 999 rupees. You start with 10 bombs. A heart container refills every heart and so on and so on. I recorded a little playthrough that shows the whole thing in action - Up to me completing Dungeon 3 and showing off some of what this project is about! Enjoy! 👍 ❤️