Original "The Legend of Zelda" for NES ported as a native SNES game

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The original title that started the beloved Zelda franchise, "The Legend of Zelda" on the NES, has been the imprint to which almost all subsequent games in the franchise would follow suit, mostly those in 2D, but almost every title afterwards followed a similar structure to that of the original. The original NES title has been a beloved title for years, though some don't see themselves going back to it due to some of the hurdles found in it, like the sword stab, lack of direction, non-existent overworld map, secrets seemingly placed at random, etc., but it still is remember by many fondly.

This very game was the main focus for renowned romhacker, infidelity, which has worked before on porting NES titles as native SNES games, like porting Megaman 2 and Megaman 4 to the SNES before it, making "The Legend of Zelda" his 3rd game that he has successfully ported over from the 8-bit NES console into the 16-bit SNES. The porting process is quite the hurdle, as not only does the logic and coding of the game need to be reimplemented into the SNES (which uses 65816 assembly, compared to the NES' 6502), but the way in which graphics work would also need to be reworked to work with the hardware and technicalities of the SNES.

The process was quite a hefty one, and infidelity has been really active over at his Twitter account, showcasing the many aspects of the game in which he has encountered interesting things to tackle and resolve during the porting process, from getting the game to load the title screen graphics properly to start with, to then have the game load the music adequately, and then handle the game save/load, having the proper Link movement working, to then working on all of the game's mechanics, slowly but steady, to reach the point of a stable release. Not only that, but infidelity has also worked on getting MSU-1 support working for the game (for those unaware, MSU-1 allows a SNES game to have CD-quality audio tracks).



The amount of work put into the porting process is nothing short of a technical wonder, from beginning to end, and the game has also been tested to work on real hardware, so those with flashcarts can find the ROM and try it out on their own SNES systems! Those wanting to try it out might have to search around for the ROM online, but it shouldn't be hard to find. It hasn't been confirmed yet if infidelity will work on Quality of Life features for his port or not, hopefully something similar to what The Legend of Zelda Redux romhack does for the original NES title could be possible, but not known if infidelity himself would work on that.
 

RichardTheKing

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Lol, you can't let go of TOTK, can you ?

While I fondly hate this game for the 20 hours of my life it utterly wasted, I have to admit it has one quality: thanks to it, I now consider the concept of 'respect of the player's free time' as part of a game quality.

Zelda 1 could be accomplished in a couple of hours, not 150, so wandering around wasn't that redundant.
The 7 yo me had to go from friends to friends in order to find hints on how to find and beat temples.

Never had the guts to dive in hard mode, then I became a Sega loyalist.
I can't "let go of TotK" (or BotW), because it's seemingly replaced what made this series FUN for so many years - I enjoy Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker, and can find the fun in Ocarina of Time. Even Skyward Sword, as clogged with unnecessary bloat as it is (breakable shields, inaccurate motion controls, stamina, Pouch, etc.), has an enjoyable formula at its core, making it possible to suffer through the above shit mechanics to experience its dungeons.

We haven't gotten another game in that classic style in over a decade- the last one being Skyward Sword, on the Wii, which was just not a good way to go out. TP HD and TWW HD were fantastic remasters, bringing back two amazing games to the then-modern console, but haven't yet been ported over to Switch, for some stupid reason; Majora's Mask 3D was great too, but requires a fanmade Restoration Patch to be truly amazing - and even then it's on the 3DS, so it can't live up to its full potential.

That's why I despise BotW and TotK so much - it replaced something generally really fun with frustrating, patience-testing, time-wasting, disrespectful open-world bullshit with extremely fragile weaponry and limited stamina. It's like Nintendo's deliberately left behind the heart and soul of Legend of Zelda - even when A Link Between Worlds tried something new by making the usual dungeon items rentable/purchasable in Ravio's shop, it still had additional items found in dungeons regardless (Master Ore, defense-boosting tunics, etc.).

Oh, and speaking of ALBW, we also haven't received a new 2D Zelda in years either - Link's Awakening on Switch was a remake, not something brand-new, though still very much appreciated. We used to have a split between handheld console and TV console, and thus 2D and 3D Zeldas, but with the Switch being both...yeah, nothing. Just fucking awful BotW and TotK with no signs of 2D Zelda ever returning, just like classic 3D Zelda.

If Nintendo would announce a new 2D or classic-3D Zelda, I wouldn't be so utterly pissed off with these two recent titles, but they haven't so I am.

Zelda 1 was fun for what it was, at its time; that should NEVER have been brought back decades later, replacing a solid core formula.
 
Last edited by RichardTheKing,

LuigiXHero

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Arent those 4 chapters?

And then the official/unnoficial continuation of A Link to the Past, named: Ancient Stones or something like that.
You're best off just looking through the BS Zelda website: http://bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml
But there are four complete versions of BS Zelda 1 to pick from for both quests of it. Ranging from trying to be as accurate as possible to making it as close to Zelda 1.

Also yeah this site also is where the ancient stone tablet project is on too which is also fully restored. They both also have english fan dubs.
 

JuanMena

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You're best off just looking through the BS Zelda website: http://bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml
But there are four complete versions of BS Zelda 1 to pick from for both quests of it. Ranging from trying to be as accurate as possible to making it as close to Zelda 1.

Also yeah this site also is where the ancient stone tablet project is on too which is also fully restored. They both also have english fan dubs.
Aye aye, have had BS Zelda and Ancient Stone Tablets in my Wii for ages, just couldn't recall which were the NES remakes.

Just saying that, not despising the author's work, but a port of Zelda 1 to SNES seems useless to me because OG Zelda 1 < BS Zelda 1.
 

LuigiXHero

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I can't "let go of TotK" (or BotW), because it's seemingly replaced what made this series FUN for so many years - I enjoy Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker, and can find the fun in Ocarina of Time. Even Skyward Sword, as clogged with unnecessary bloat as it is (breakable shields, inaccurate motion controls, stamina, Pouch, etc.), has an enjoyable formula at its core, making it possible to suffer through the above shit mechanics to experience its dungeons.

We haven't gotten another game in that classic style in over a decade- the last one being Skyward Sword, on the Wii, which was just not a good way to go out. TP HD and TWW HD were fantastic remasters, bringing back two amazing games to the then-modern console, but haven't yet been ported over to Switch, for some stupid reason; Majora's Mask 3D was great too, but requires a fanmade Restoration Patch to be truly amazing - and even then it's on the 3DS, so it can't live up to its full potential.

That's why I despise BotW and TotK so much - it replaced something generally really fun with frustrating, patience-testing, time-wasting, disrespectful open-world bullshit with extremely fragile weaponry and limited stamina. It's like Nintendo's deliberately left behind the heart and soul of Legend of Zelda - even when A Link Between World tried something new by making the usual dungeon items rentable/purchasable in Ravio's shop, it still had additional items found in dungeons regardless (Master Ore, defense-boosting tunics, etc.).

Oh, and speaking of ALBW, we also haven't received a new 2D Zelda in years either - Link's Awakening on Switch was a remake, not something brand-new, though still very much appreciated. We used to have a split between handheld console and TV console, and thus 2D and 3D Zeldas, but with the Switch being both...yeah, nothing. Just fucking awful BotW and TotK with no signs of 2D Zelda ever returning, just like classic 3D Zelda.

If Nintendo would announce a new 2D or classic-3D Zelda, I wouldn't be so utterly pissed off with these two recent titles, but they haven't so I am.

Zelda 1 was fun for what it was, at its time; that should NEVER have been brought back decades later, replacing a solid core formula.
I get that botw, totk isn't for everyone but if you don't like the durability and stamina systems to the point of venomously hating the games then you don't really get them and you're not engaging with the other systems in the game properly. I'd take those games over skyward sword any day and this is coming from someone who's top 3 zeldas are albw, oot and zelda 2.
 

YuseiFD

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Imagine all the hours and productivity wasted in this pointless effort, to showcase what they call "the ultimate edition" of the game, there is a reason why nintendo never ported this, plus wasn't there some satellite version of this that is snes native ??
 

raxadian

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Really? I don't remember them being any worse than original hardware, though the games ran pretty badly even on N64 in retrospect lol.

Well that's the nostalgia effect but anyone who has played the games a lot notices that the N64 games on Gamecube are bad.
 

osaka35

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I can't "let go of TotK" (or BotW), because it's seemingly replaced what made this series FUN for so many years - I enjoy Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker, and can find the fun in Ocarina of Time. Even Skyward Sword, as clogged with unnecessary bloat as it is (breakable shields, inaccurate motion controls, stamina, Pouch, etc.), has an enjoyable formula at its core, making it possible to suffer through the above shit mechanics to experience its dungeons.

We haven't gotten another game in that classic style in over a decade- the last one being Skyward Sword, on the Wii, which was just not a good way to go out. TP HD and TWW HD were fantastic remasters, bringing back two amazing games to the then-modern console, but haven't yet been ported over to Switch, for some stupid reason; Majora's Mask 3D was great too, but requires a fanmade Restoration Patch to be truly amazing - and even then it's on the 3DS, so it can't live up to its full potential.

That's why I despise BotW and TotK so much - it replaced something generally really fun with frustrating, patience-testing, time-wasting, disrespectful open-world bullshit with extremely fragile weaponry and limited stamina. It's like Nintendo's deliberately left behind the heart and soul of Legend of Zelda - even when A Link Between World tried something new by making the usual dungeon items rentable/purchasable in Ravio's shop, it still had additional items found in dungeons regardless (Master Ore, defense-boosting tunics, etc.).

Oh, and speaking of ALBW, we also haven't received a new 2D Zelda in years either - Link's Awakening on Switch was a remake, not something brand-new, though still very much appreciated. We used to have a split between handheld console and TV console, and thus 2D and 3D Zeldas, but with the Switch being both...yeah, nothing. Just fucking awful BotW and TotK with no signs of 2D Zelda ever returning, just like classic 3D Zelda.

If Nintendo would announce a new 2D or classic-3D Zelda, I wouldn't be so utterly pissed off with these two recent titles, but they haven't so I am.

Zelda 1 was fun for what it was, at its time; that should NEVER have been brought back decades later, replacing a solid core formula.
Can't disagree. I quite like tears of the kingdom, though not so much the engineering which seems to be a large part of it. But I would also like my traditional Zelda. I would love a tick-tock release schedule of traditional and experimental Zelda, personally.

That being said, you can beat tears of the kingdom in an hour or two if you're brilliant at perfect dodges.
 

CoolMe

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Interesting.. Though i would love if someone does one of those "Demakes" demo projects of any of the 3D Zelda games, in the style of ALttP.. Full game if possible. 😍


Because he can?
Also, typical Reploid reply.. 🤦🏻‍♂️


It's been at least 3 weeks since this...
kid.gif
..And? If it wasn't posted here alot folks would probably miss it (myself included).
 

Reploid

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Interesting.. Though i would love if someone does one of those "Demakes" demo projects of any of the 3D Zelda games, in the style of ALttP.. Full game if possible. 😍



Because he can?
Also, typical Reploid reply.. 🤦🏻‍♂️



..And? If it wasn't posted here alot folks would probably miss it (myself included).
Typical CoolMe reply 🌈
 
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Jayro

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The fact that the pre-compiled .SFC ROM was included in the archive was a surprise. Normally we have to provide our own ROMs and then compile them ourselves.
 

kuro0628neko

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I can't "let go of TotK" (or BotW), because it's seemingly replaced what made this series FUN for so many years - I enjoy Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and The Wind Waker, and can find the fun in Ocarina of Time. Even Skyward Sword, as clogged with unnecessary bloat as it is (breakable shields, inaccurate motion controls, stamina, Pouch, etc.), has an enjoyable formula at its core, making it possible to suffer through the above shit mechanics to experience its dungeons.

We haven't gotten another game in that classic style in over a decade- the last one being Skyward Sword, on the Wii, which was just not a good way to go out. TP HD and TWW HD were fantastic remasters, bringing back two amazing games to the then-modern console, but haven't yet been ported over to Switch, for some stupid reason; Majora's Mask 3D was great too, but requires a fanmade Restoration Patch to be truly amazing - and even then it's on the 3DS, so it can't live up to its full potential.

That's why I despise BotW and TotK so much - it replaced something generally really fun with frustrating, patience-testing, time-wasting, disrespectful open-world bullshit with extremely fragile weaponry and limited stamina. It's like Nintendo's deliberately left behind the heart and soul of Legend of Zelda - even when A Link Between World tried something new by making the usual dungeon items rentable/purchasable in Ravio's shop, it still had additional items found in dungeons regardless (Master Ore, defense-boosting tunics, etc.).

Oh, and speaking of ALBW, we also haven't received a new 2D Zelda in years either - Link's Awakening on Switch was a remake, not something brand-new, though still very much appreciated. We used to have a split between handheld console and TV console, and thus 2D and 3D Zeldas, but with the Switch being both...yeah, nothing. Just fucking awful BotW and TotK with no signs of 2D Zelda ever returning, just like classic 3D Zelda.

If Nintendo would announce a new 2D or classic-3D Zelda, I wouldn't be so utterly pissed off with these two recent titles, but they haven't so I am.

Zelda 1 was fun for what it was, at its time; that should NEVER have been brought back decades later, replacing a solid core formula.
Although this isn't a solution, there are plenty of copycats around that seem faithful to the original format, think Tunic.
 

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