Aonuma never finished Legend of Zelda

By Tom Phillips Published 8 September, 2011

"No game more difficult than it."

Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma is not a fan of the franchise's origins - namely Legend of Zelda on NES.

Aonuma found the game too difficult and has never completed it, despite several attempts.

"I've never actually finished it," Aonuma explained to Game Informer. "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," he said. "Certainly after playing the original Zelda for the first time, I didn't ever think that I wanted to make a game like that."

Aonuma only became a Zelda fan after playing SNES title A Link to the Past. "That sense of exploration of the world itself was really where I latched on to the series," Aonuma explained.

The original Legend of Zelda for NES features an unrelenting and vast screen-scrolling overworld, devoid of many features now familiar in Zelda games.

Nevertheless, the game introduced the series template for dungeon structure, enemies, and story, alongside weapons such as the bow and boomerang.

Aonuma is currently adding finishing touches to forthcoming Wii title Zelda: Skyward Sword, which launches 18th November in Europe.

The latest Zelda: Skyward Sword footage.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 8 months ago

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  • CrispyXUK64 #1 9 months ago

    It's not the easiest game, granted.

  • marmaduke #2 9 months ago

    Please let this game not be as dull and formulaic as the trailers make it out to be.

  • shirotsku #3 9 months ago

    It's okay. I've never finished it either.

  • Yuroko #4 9 months ago

    I completed it when I was like 10, back when I had mad skills. I'd be surprised if I could do the first dungeon nowadays.

  • Canyarion #5 9 months ago

    What a noob.
    I'm glad I'm not alone. :D

    But it's still on my to-do list... together with beating the boss of Zelda 2.

  • TonyHarrison #6 9 months ago

    It's easier now, with the assistance of the internet, but back then you had people going to the lengths of drawing each screen and then putting them together to make a massive map.

    And then you had that infuriating friend who'd tell you about some secret he'd discovered if you bombed a particular part of the screen, only for you to realise after a few attempts that he was winding you up...

  • ring_piece #7 9 months ago

    @shirotsku

    Sure, but Nintendo never asked you to make a string of sequels to it though. ;-)

    I get the feeling that after 2 years of delays for this game, if this doesn't sell big, then this is not going to be one of the Nintendo flagship brands in the future. -Not saying this will be another M, but it would hurt Nintendo to lose this brand to blandness.

  • the_dudefather #8 9 months ago

    The actual Dungeons and fighting isn't too bad, it's just finding the bloody things that's tough

    You basically needed to either push every single block, set fire to every bush, and dump bombs everywhere on the overworld to find anything, or read a magazine and let them tell you. Some of the things stood out a bit more or you might be able to decipher a badly translated clue, but it did require a lot of brute force bashing to figure out the game.

    Still a great game though, managed to finish it on my olde NES when I was visiting home earlier this year

  • Pwnsweet #9 9 months ago

    It's massively hard, and I don't just mean figuring out where to go next. I haven't finished it either, nor have I finished Zelda 2

  • Der_tolle_Emil #10 9 months ago

    I know I finished it even though I did not understand a single word of English back then, I was like 7 years old. It was the game that got me into learning English though. Looking forward to playing it again on the 3ds and check out how difficult it really was :)

  • SwashbucklingStuff #11 9 months ago

    The hardest Zelda ever, in terms of getting your head round it, was Majora's Mask. I tried so many times but even when you're sure someone or something is definitely going to be there, it pretty much never was.

  • ollyn #12 9 months ago

    Zelda games have never been one for drawing a line in the sand to follow. I get stuck or lost in most of them from time to time and spend ages just trawling my ass across the map in search of a destination.

    Strangely I was more excited about Ocarina 3D (suppose nostalgia has something to do with it) than Skyward Sword. Don't get me wrong I still want to play it, but I can't help feeling that a 2011 home console Zelda should be a large open world with lush open planes and seas. What i've seen of Skyward sword looks like a series of small floating islands. Just hoping it's more than a waggle enabled series of mini dungeons. HD would't go amiss either with a more vivid colour pallet, Skyward sword looks strangely water colour and faded.

    I'm sure it will be good but can't help feeling it could be so much more. 3 Years ago this would have been great, but now it looks a little shaky. Maybe it was a mistake showing me a WiiU zelda mock up :).

  • H_D_Swagger #13 9 months ago

    "I almost feel like there's still no game more difficult than it."

    Hopefully for his sake he never tries to play F zero GX, because if he thnks Zelda is that difficult he'll have a heart attack with F zero.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 9 months ago

    I finished it, but I have a slight feeling that the free Club Nintendo magazine you got back then might have granted a helping hand.

    And when you finished it, of course, it started again - but even harder!

  • xuiton #15 9 months ago

    I couldn't finish it because I couldn't damage the last boss as I never found all 20 seashells. I only found 18, but seriously they are just placed randomly all over the world, how the hell are you supposed to find them.

  • Toothball #16 9 months ago

    I've been trying to play this one a bit on the bus to work. Usually I manage to fit in a few screens of wandering before I get killed. After four or five goes at that I generally get bored of dying without having made any progress, close my 3DS and stare into space as that's generally more fulfilling.

    I didn't have a NES the first time around, instead getting on board with a SNES. I've had a few opportunities to play Zelda over the years, and so far all attempts have ended shortly after they began. This time I'm trying to force myself to go back to it, maybe to at least find the second dungeon.

  • KDR_11k #17 9 months ago

    Explains why the difficulty in Zelda has been on a downward trend and why the puzzles are brain dead as well ("use grapple with grapple point";). And then they replaced the overworld with trains. The most Zelda-y game I played recently? That Ludum Dare entry by Notch. Completely felt like a mixture of NES and SNES Zelda even though it was in first person.

  • Dyason #18 9 months ago

    I finished this at the age of 11. Seriously people. Yes it's not the easiest game now but back then it was among them. Yes it was long, yes there was obscurity to it, but impossibly difficult it was not.

    Maybe gamers are just spoon fed every game now to the point where if it isn't completed then it's not a good game. Games like Solstice, Rad Gravity, Solar Jetpac and Bubble Bobble took my time up then, and they're more difficult and have a longer playtime than any of the current games.

  • muscleblade #19 9 months ago

    @Dyason

    Agree. At the time it was among the easiest games. Those other games you mentioned. Those where hard.

    Rygar and Faxanau also took me ages to complete. Ninja gaiden on the NES was actually pretty easy compared to most other games at the time too.

  • DrMGinius #20 9 months ago

    Well, Tetris is harder.

  • MattyD #21 9 months ago

    Who else remembers getting stuck on this and having to phone a premium rate Nintendo Hotline to find out where level 7 was hidden? No online faqs in those days!

  • DrStrangelove #22 9 months ago

    I also gave Zelda 1 a few attempts, but always became frustrated too quickly. I preferred the Master System clone Golden Axe Warrior by far. I hated Zelda 2, but Zelda 3 was an absolute masterpiece. I finished that one, dunno, a few dozen times with 100% secrets and items, including speed runs against friends to see who finishes it in the least time, and 100% playthroughs without saving, so I had a 0 standing at the profile picture. I was a lot cooler than my friends for that reason alone.

  • SG #23 9 months ago

    Yeah ALttP is often seen as the point at which they got 'the mix' right - there is so much lacking compared to modern Zeldas, whereas ALttP still stands up just as strong.

    xuition
    08/09/11 @ 12:36

    I couldn't finish it because I couldn't damage the last boss as I never found all 20 seashells. I only found 18, but seriously they are just placed randomly all over the world, how the hell are you supposed to find them.

    Dude... there are no seashells in the original Zelda - you must be talking about Link's Awakening. The game that came after ALttP and was far more similar to it than to the original Zelda. You don't need the level 2 sword to fight the bad guy at the end, the normal one will do. And there are more than 20 actual shell locations, but once you have 20 the other shells turn into 5 rupees.
    Edited by SG at 08/09/11 @ 15:05

  • Bander #24 9 months ago

    I didn't finish Link to the Past. Because I got bored of it. Seemed a bit rubbish compared to Landstalker which I'd played just before it.

    The first Zelda wasn't really that good either. It played as though it was designed to make people call helplines at premium rates, and sell Nintendo Power subscriptions. It certainly worked to get young gamers hooked. But there were better action RPGs on systems like the MSX. I suspect the Zelda franchise would have fizzled out before the SNES game if it wasn't for the cartoon and time invested in it by the players.

  • Lebowski #25 9 months ago

    It's difficult, but it's no Airwolf.
    Edited by Lebowski at 08/09/11 @ 16:45

  • Averice #26 9 months ago

    No surprise, the original is boring as nuts. I couldn't stand more than 15 minutes of it.

  • Pasco #27 9 months ago

    I had plenty of games on the Spectrum that could never be finished by any human being. Since many games didn't have beta testers back then, they probably weren't played through by anyone before being shipped.

  • Vice.Destroyer #28 9 months ago

    @MattyD I didn't call the Nintendo hotline as far back as then. I remember calling it for some help on Link to the Past and I got just about the rudest cunt I have ever spoken to on the phone. He still vexes me, the wanker.

  • Anciegher #29 9 months ago

    I guess he is shit at games. I finished it when I was 10.

  • Marshall2008 #30 9 months ago

    Never played a nes game apart from duck hunt when I was in Dixons. I had a zx spectrum, Atari 800xl, Amiga (various ones), snes, mega drive.

    Completed link to the past on snes a few times.

  • Bullet_Tunnel #31 9 months ago

    Ive never finished a complete sente.......

  • Mayhem64 #32 9 months ago

    I didn't like the NES versions of Zelda or Metroid at all. Just as well I love the SNES versions to death...

  • Kaminari #33 9 months ago

    If you find Zelda 1 difficult, you should stop videogaming right away.

  • CaoSlayer #34 9 months ago

    I still have nightmares with Zelda 2, I never was able to find the third theme 20 years ago...

    And those bastards of Nintendo gives it free for 3DS and I can't still find it.

  • Climhazzard #35 9 months ago

    A Link to the Past was the first I played also and is probably 2nd or 3rd on my fave games ever list. Still as fantastic now as it was then. Not played first one though.

  • madeinbeats #36 9 months ago

    IMO, being delayed for 2 years means it is going be a super well polished game. I mean, this is Nintendo and Zelda we are talking about here, not EA.

  • ShiroBen #37 9 months ago

    If the newer Zelda games were more like Link To The Past I'd probably enjoy them more. The thing I loved about that game was all the completely optional stuff--if you found a cave by bombing a likely bit of wall or whatever it was more likely than not that you'd find something cool instead of just another piece of heart.

    Although I did like collecting the bugs in Twilight Princess. That was fun.

  • redcrayon #38 9 months ago

    Dungeon 8 on the original LOZ was the only one that was a pig to find for me, as the others all have a clue in the previous dungeon. The d8 clue I found early in the game and forgot about.

    Finally finished it this week, I'd advise anyone trying it new to make a map and jot down the clues as they go, there's only half a dozen, but a couple are a bit cryptic by todays standards. The dungeon walls are a bit fragile by today's underworld building standards too.

    This is what you get when you use moblin work crews.

  • metalangel #39 9 months ago

    Grumble grumble

  • dean0null #40 8 months ago

    I didn't finish Link to the Past. Because I got bored of it. Seemed a bit rubbish compared to Landstalker which I'd played just before it.

    The first Zelda wasn't really that good either. It played as though it was designed to make people call helplines at premium rates, and sell Nintendo Power subscriptions. It certainly worked to get young gamers hooked. But there were better action RPGs on systems like the MSX. I suspect the Zelda franchise would have fizzled out before the SNES game if it wasn't for the cartoon and time invested in it by the players."

    The golden cartridge was my favorite possession as an eight-year-old. I saved for weeks to buy it from a second hand shop. I wasn't very good, and I never beat it, but it's what got me into gaming.