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About

The Legend of Zelda came out on February 21, 1986 for Family Computer Disk System, then for Nintendo Entertainment System on August 22, 1987 and for Family Computer on February 19, 1994. The main story takes about 9.5 hours.

The Legend of Zelda is the first title in the Zelda series, it has marked the history of video games particularly for it's game mechanics and universe. The player controls Link and must make his way through the forests, graveyards, plains and deserts of the Otherworld to find the secret entrances to the eight dungeons and try to restore the broken Triforce. Among the game's mechanics, it was the first time we saw a continuous world that could be freely explored, power-ups that permanently enhanced the main character's abilities and a battery save feature that allowed players to keep their progress instead of having to start over. The gameplay balanced action sequences with discovery, secrets and exploration.

Story

In one of the darkest times in the Kingdom of Hyrule, a young boy named Link takes on an epic quest to restore the fragmented Triforce of Wisdom and save the Princess Zelda from the clutches of the evil Ganon.

How long to beat The Legend of Zelda

from 5 players
Main storyrushing through the story
9.5 h
Main + extrasstory plus side content
7 h
Completionisteverything the game has
8.5 h

More in the The Legend of Zelda series

All 16 games in order

Games like The Legend of Zelda

same kind of game, other series

Media

The Legend of Zelda screenshot

Trailers

Releases

Platform
Date
August 22, 1987 (North America first)
February 19, 1994
November 19, 2006 (North America first)
December 22, 2011 (Japan first)
August 28, 2013 (Japan first)

Earliest full release on each platform; regional dates can differ.