You had to have seen this one coming. It is the 'Game of Legend' series after all (it also won the poll).
This was one of the gaming industry's greatest pioneers. Even though Super Mario Bros. was highly influential (more so than this game some believe), The Legend of Zelda truly broke the mold that games had been encased in since heir inception. Non-linearity: that was the true game changer. Games before it, even the greatness that is Super Mario Bros., had a very clear Point A to Point B gameplay. The Legend of Zelda eschews all of that, leaving what order any task can be completed up to the player (to a fault, it could be argued); some may even be skipped entirely, such as going the entire game without a sword.
Along with the original Super Mario Bros., the Legend of Zelda was among the first games to give a damn about game music (Nintendo pioneered this facet of games alone initially). Game music had been seen as merely a fad of sorts; nothing out of which anything memorable and withstanding would arise. But thanks to Koji Kondo and his great work with the technical limitations of the time, this notion began to change and we now have many widely recognizable classic gaming tunes, with the Super Mario Bros. theme being the definite king of these.
From the dungeon theme to the overworld theme to the item obtained theme, this game did a great job with its musical presentation.
The Legend of Zelda sports a rather traditional fantasy story: THE PRINCESS HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED BY THE EVIL BOWSER WIZARD GANON!! DUN Dun duuuuuuunnnnnn!
To prevent Ganon from getting his hands on her Triforce of Wisdom, she broke it into several pieces for Link to find, this being your main objective.
While this game doesn't have a bunch of non-player characters, the one's present spouted dialogue which has gone down in gaming history.
Legacy As the first game in a long running franchise, the Legend of Zelda was the progenitor of many of the mainstays of the series, ranging from music to items to the main villain. You could also say that this was the first open-world/sandbox video game, paving the way for recent popular franchises in the genre such as Grand Theft Auto.
It had many classical quotes as well. Who could forget "GRUMBLE GRUMBLE" or "IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY"?
This game has influenced gaming greatly and is still a fun game to play today, if you don't want any hand-holding from a game at all. xD
IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS.
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