What is the oldest Zelda you can bring yourself to play?

[Djinn]

Normally lots of people can never really play more than 30 seconds of the original LoZ because they just hate it, the controls annoy them, or it is too hard to attempt. Others that started with later games have a lot of trouble going back further and playing older games than they one they started with. So what is the earliest game in the series you can actually play, and I mean play for a while or play through. Not just 20 minutes of AoL before dying too much becomes grating.

I can play pretty much all of them. I like the first game and every so often will go back and replay it. Problem is that I already know where all the heart containers are so there are almost no surprises.

 

[DekuNut]

I've completed the first quest in the original, and started the second, so there's that.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

link to the past or awakening, more so awakening b/c i like it a bit better than past

 

[Farore's Chosen]

I don't understand. The original Zelda's controls are in no way clunky or difficult. Four cardinal directions, pause, menu, item assigned to a button, no jumping or complicated maneuvers. This isn't Skate or Die 2. It's a simple, intuitive, control scheme.

Whoever tells people that is talking out of their ass.

I was playing it earlier in fact and enjoying myself thoroughly.

 

[Djinn]

Oh I have heard many a complaint about how they hated the controls in LoZ. The type of complaint changes from person to person but apparently it is just not for some people who began in the 5th or 6th generation it seems.

 

[Jirohnagi]

First one i still enjoy it, especially how the difficulty ramps ^^ CURSE YOU DEATH MOUNTAIN. I love the fact theres two paths in Death mountain

 

[the8thark]

LoZ on the NES was a great game. Still is a great game. Easily replayable even today. Second quest can get a little tough though.

The one Zelda game people hate playing and replaying in AOL. I really like AOL but I am in the minority. AOL is not as hard as people make out. You even get more than one life. Almost no other Zelda game gives you extra lives (fairy regeneration excepted).

 

[Soul]

Minish Cap or Twilight Princess, whichever came out first.

 

[Derek Francis]

The original Legend of Zelda (great game).

 

[Night Owl]

My first Zelda was Link's Awakening, so going back to LoZ or AoL isn't that far of a hop.

I actually like the older Zelda's more than some of the modern ones because of the lack of Hand-holding.
It's actually fun to get frustratingly lost when I come back to the games every now and then.
It makes me feel like I'm actually exploring rather than just advancing a plot.

 

[MW7]

I love the original Legend of Zelda and have beaten it at least ten times. The second quest I've only beaten twice or so, and it was a little excessive in terms of randomness/trial and error for me. When you literally have to bomb/burn every inch of the map just to find the dungeons, I think you've gone too far. In the first quest things were hidden, but at least the dungeons were hidden in conspicuous places. A couple of the heart containers and rupees were randomly hidden, but since they are optional, that's not too bad. In the second quest a few dungeons are hidden in ridiculous locations that are confusing even if you look up where they are. The first quest was a good balance between challenge and accessibility, but the second is truly for experts.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Oh I have heard many a complaint about how they hated the controls in LoZ. The type of complaint changes from person to person but apparently it is just not for some people who began in the 5th or 6th generation it seems.

We have all these complex, fancy, awesome looking maneuvers that you need tutorials for and controllers with multiple buttons and some people can't handle the bare bones basics of every controller ever made?

I don't even know what to say to that. I'm not arguing with you at all just so you know, it just sounds like a very bizzare claim.

The first two games are still fantastic games, yes, you can get lost in the first game as the map is a gray block, but each screen is a little different so you can learn your way around the overworld and other then Death Mountain and the last two Palaces, AoL set the tone for all the linear games to come after it.

 

[Salem]

Pretty much the original, this is a weird thread.

 

[Dio]

Ocarina of Time.
I couldn't bear LOZ or AOL and ALTTP I played to see what inspired the rest of the series. I dont really like playing 2D titles anyway so I have no desire to do it again. Therefore the oldest I would go back to would be OOT.

 

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

ALttP is as far as I can go, and even then, I might lose interest pretty quick if other things come up or I get bored. I played through LoZ for novelty's sake once and beat it while religiously following a guide, and I don't have the patience or drive to ever try to beat AoL (I got to the Great Palace once, but gave up - screw Thunderbird).

I always have kind of liked LA more than ALttP, oddly enough. I think the quirkyness really works for handheld Zelda, and the unique setting and characters seems more memorable than ALttP, which was redone quite a bit in subsequent games.