The Zelda developer has never finished the original NES game.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27743
Nintendo bigwig Eiji Aonuma, producer and director of Zelda games since the days of the Nintendo 64, has admitted to never completing the game that launched the series.
In an interview with Game Informer, Aonuma was asked of his thoughts about the original Legend of Zelda.
"I’ve never actually finished it," he said.
"I almost feel like there’s still no game more difficult than it. Every time I try to play it I end up getting 'Game Over' a few too many times and giving up partway through. Certainly after playing the original Zelda for the first time, I didn’t ever think that I wanted to make a game like that."
It was the SNES chapter of Zelda's saga, A Link to the Past, that first drew Aonuma to the series. The open-world exploration hooked him in and heavily influenced the creation of Marvelous: Mohitotsu no Takarajima (Another Treasure Island), the first game he ever produced. Marvelous impressed Miyamoto in such a way that it eventually lead Aonuma to joining the Zelda team.
Immediately after I started playing the original Zelda, I failed to read the movements of the Octoroks that appeared in the field, and my game suddenly came to an end. Even after getting used to the controls, each time the screen scrolled to a new area, new Octoroks appeared, and I thought "Am I going to have to fight these things forever???" Eventually I gave up getting any further in the game.
Well, Nintendo was so convinced that the game would be hard that they included a map with the game and set up a free hotline just for this game (they were so overwhelmed though that they kep expanding the number of operators). The game is OK now, and holds up better than most of the NES games in the Ambassador's Program, but not one of my favorite Zelda games and I can easily see why most people wouldn't beat it.The game wasn't hard, it was new--no one had played an action adventure game before. Information doesn't make the game easier, just less opaque. Besides, hotlines and maps were common up until the mid 90's--nothing surprising about either.
I don't think a lot of people realize how huge NES Zelda became. Cartoons on network TV, breakfast cereal, and merch up the ass. Some people will look at OoT or other games as the pinnacle, but they weren't nearly as popular or ground-breaking as the NES games.
eh.... I think a lot of the Zelda licensing was done by an early Nintendo that didn't quite understand what they were getting into. There was a *lot* less licensing during the SNES-GCN time frame after Nintendo got "burnt" during the NES area. I think the Mario Bros. movie was the turning point of when Nintendo said "what the **** are we doing?" and stopped signing any licensing agreement that came their way.Well to that, sir, I say Pokemon.
During the Wii-era, they've really loosened up again. There's all kinds of Nintendo-themed shirts, toys, candies, etc. I wonder if we'll ever see a Nintendo movie or TV show again though...
eh.... I think a lot of the Zelda licensing was done by an early Nintendo that didn't quite understand what they were getting into. There was a *lot* less licensing during the SNES-GCN time frame after Nintendo got "burnt" during the NES area. I think the Mario Bros. movie was the turning point of when Nintendo said "what the **** are we doing?" and stopped signing any licensing agreement that came their way.Well to that, sir, I say Pokemon.
During the Wii-era, they've really loosened up again. There's all kinds of Nintendo-themed shirts, toys, candies, etc. I wonder if we'll ever see a Nintendo movie or TV show again though...
Nintendo whore's itself out when it has a huge hit--it's just that their 8-bit games seem to produce the megastars.
Nintendo produced games that had huge cultural popularity after Zelda and Mario's reign--that's what I'm pointing out. Pokemon had the TV show, the card game, wide release theatrical movies, toys, etc... Aonuma isn't making Zelda popular. Hell, the "greatest game of all time" (lol) wasn't even that popular. Maybe the people making new (,unpopular,) Zelda games should figure out why the hell old Zelda was so popular and play the fucking game themselves!
Eh... Pokémon is a different beast altogether. Licensing is handled by The Pokémon Company, not Nintendo. That's how you end up with a Pokémon app on the iPhone.
I'm merely saying you can't use Pokémon as an example - while it's commonly considered a "Nintendo Property", it is really something else entirely. I can't really think of an equivalent for what it is.Who owns Pokemon?
I'm merely saying you can't use Pokémon as an example - while it's commonly considered a "Nintendo Property", it is really something else entirely. I can't really think of an equivalent for what it is.Nintendo publishes the games and owns the Pokemon Company/Pokemon Ltd--The Pokemon Game became such a huge phenomenon that it became it's own entity OWNED by Nintendo. It was the success of the game that drove the property to such heights, just like Zelda and Mario.
Actually, The Pokemon Company is not technically owned by Nintendo. Nintendo did create it, but it's an affiliate of Nintendo and not owned by it.It's an affiliate owned by Nintendo.
I'm merely saying you can't use Pokémon as an example - while it's commonly considered a "Nintendo Property", it is really something else entirely. I can't really think of an equivalent for what it is.Nintendo publishes the games and owns the Pokemon Company/Pokemon Ltd--The Pokemon Game became such a huge phenomenon that it became it's own entity OWNED by Nintendo. It was the success of the game that drove the property to such heights, just like Zelda and Mario.
Nintendo produced games that had huge cultural popularity after Zelda and Mario's reign--that's what I'm pointing out. Pokemon had the TV show, the card game, wide release theatrical movies, toys, etc... Aonuma isn't making Zelda popular. Hell, the "greatest game of all time" (lol) wasn't even that popular. Maybe the people making new (,unpopular,) Zelda games should figure out why the hell old Zelda was so popular and play the fucking game themselves!
Nintendo produced games that had huge cultural popularity after Zelda and Mario's reign--that's what I'm pointing out. Pokemon had the TV show, the card game, wide release theatrical movies, toys, etc... Aonuma isn't making Zelda popular. Hell, the "greatest game of all time" (lol) wasn't even that popular. Maybe the people making new (,unpopular,) Zelda games should figure out why the hell old Zelda was so popular and play the fucking game themselves!
Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess both sold over sold 7 million copies compared to the NES original that sold over 6 million. I'm not sure were you learned how to do math, but when something sells over 1 million copies more then the other, that makes it more popular.
Where is the cereal and TV show?
Mario has lost a lot of popularity, too. Galaxy and Galaxy 2 combined didn't sell as much as SMB3. Are you suggesting that Nintendo wouldn't license out popular franchises if there was demand? I see Wii Fit licensed merch often enough. There just isn't the demand for Mario or Zelda like there once was; it has nothing to do with Nintendo being "loose" because they will be "loose" if there's demand. Why is this so hard to understand?Where is the cereal and TV show?
Where's the Mario cereal and TV show?
Again, we've established, Nintendo isn't as loose with their licensing agreements as they once were. Why is this so hard to understand?
@Luigi Dude
Not that I'm claiming wiki as a reliable source, but the numbers for TP are under that of Zelda 1. Where are your numbers for sales of Zelda 1 and TP from?
Mario has lost a lot of popularity, too. Galaxy and Galaxy 2 combined didn't sell as much as SMB3.
I don't think Miyamoto ever said SS would be the last game if not successful.http://www.izelda.net/zelda-news/nintendo-developers-warned-future-zelda/
Nintendo cashes in while their franchises are hot. They are careful, yes, but they'll take the money when it will help their popularity.
Mario Kart is a casual series, anybody can pick it up and play. Zelda is not a casual series. The series has NOT gone down in popularity. Yes there are more people playing games, but not all like the same games. There are many people who play ONLY sports games, or who only play fitness games, etc. And Nintendo is more careful with licensing, you don't think they could have a Zelda cereal and TV show if they wanted to? They are not saturating the franchise and milking it to death. The series is still popular, even more so now.
To me, your argument is like saying "why are TV shows getting more viewers now than they were 30 years ago even though millions more people watch TV". It's because there are more choices for people to watch and not everyone likes the same shows. Yes more people are playing games, but there are far more games to choose from (there used to be like 400 games released a year in the mid-90s, now there are well over 1,000 each year), and many more types of gamers.I don't know what your TV analogy is but I'll just say that the Superbowl is the most watched thing on american TV year after year--does it mean that the Superbowl is gaining popularity or that population growth and cultural saturation ensure that the Superbowl will remain the most watched event every year? If, one year, the superbowl wasn't the most watched event wouldn't that mean that the superbowl (and probably pro football in general) are declining in popularity? I say "of course."
SMB3 Isn't exactly a fair comparison since it was the Best Selling Game of All Time in the Guiness Book of World Records before.Well, it must have been a pretty popular game, I'd say. Mario used to be pretty popular.
Considering the original Zelda is literally impossible to beat without a guide, I'd imagine at least 90% of everyone who's played it never completed the game.This number that you just made up is probably a gross exaggeration. I don't see what's so impossible about the game... it's pretty easy to find where to go with a little exploration. Actually getting there is another matter, but I never had much trouble figuring the game out with a little experimentation. Although the second quest has a few things that are pretty random (it was a while before I figured out the "running through walls" thing introduced then, although it does give you somewhat of a clue by leading you towards the first wall that uses this).
Mario has lost a lot of popularity, too. Galaxy and Galaxy 2 combined didn't sell as much as SMB3.Yet NSMB and NSMBWii have outsold SMB3. So where's mah Mario cereal?
Are you suggesting that Nintendo wouldn't license out popular franchises if there was demand?Yes. Thus there's been no Zelda or Metroid movie, in spite of the fact that there have been very prominent Hollywood-type folks who have wanted to go that direction.
I see Wii Fit licensed merch often enough.Whar's mah Wii Fit Cereal (Part of a balanced board breakfast) and cartoon?
This is a good thread to admit to the public that I have also never completed Zelda 1.I've started doing the same thing with the Ambassador games, though I started with Zelda II. After 19 hours and 86 lives I finished Zelda II. I didn't even bother to use the suspend feature; whenever I turned the game off I started from castle. And since Zelda II is a much more linear adventure, I'd recommend starting with it. I rarely used any guides while playing it, as most of what you need to know can be learned from the towns people.
More than that, I've never played it for more than 10 minute sessions!
Zelda 2 - same deal except for less than 2 minutes.
I am rectifying this thanks to the Ambassador games though! I WILL finish Zelda 1 by years end, guaranteed*
It was a great experience that I'd recommend to any Zelda fans. I'd even go so far to say that Zelda II is now my favorite in the series.
Zelda 2 is just too weird for me, combat just feels wrong, like you "have" to get hit to be successful.
SMB3 Isn't exactly a fair comparison since it was the Best Selling Game of All Time in the Guiness Book of World Records before.
19 hours for Zelda II? Seems like a while. Did you get stuck at any points, or have trouble and retried a few times?I never really got stuck, but I did grind and die a lot.
@ mop and unclebob
http://gonintendo.com/?p=58260
LOL. eat it, nerds.
I know it was a boredom thing with mean and that the carrots really weren't that for apart for say burning all the trees.
You can't just come in here and (1) Link GoNintendo (2) in a way that doesn't really apply to the argument at hand and (3) personally insult two non-obnoxious forum users. In the future, use a more civil tone, and use evidence that is actually applicable in the context from a real web site.I was taking the piss out of a dumb argument continued by two forum users, that while maybe non-obnoxious to you, were being obnoxious. I didn't get lax on my civility until the conversation went to **** ("where's mah cereal") despite the fact that their claims were, at best, baseless and based on enthusiastic ignorance. I really don't know what you read to see it any other way.
I didn't get lax on my civility until the conversation went to **** ("where's mah cereal") despite the fact that their claims were, at best, baseless and based on enthusiastic ignorance.
Where is the cereal and TV show?
I was taking the piss out of a dumb argument started by one forum user, that while maybe non-obnoxious to you, were being obnoxious.FTFY.
