Bwarch wrote:Combat sure, Zelda combat has always been pree simple, sadly enough.
But as for maps and exploration wouldn't Wind Waker and LTTP stand as just very much better? Always kinda despised Zelda 1's hidden caves and arbitrary puzzles, which they improved upon and fixed in later editions of the series so that things weren't so janky to figure out. Even just map design LTTP is so much better than Zelda 1. We're talking like if somebody said Super Mario Bros was better than Super Mario World I'm feelin' here in this.
Even combat I feel definitely got more interesting down the line. Harder? Maybe not, but at least it engaged you in more ways than Zelda 1 did. It was the starter, the original, legendary for what it did but just vastly improved upon by this point.
See, combat was never simple in Zelda 1. Every game after Zelda 2 tried to dumb it down but hide it behind more "stuff." But Zelda 1 was the zenith of Zelda combat. Its triumphs include:
1) Swarms of enemies. Screens can be filled with enemies trying to murder your face, and they won't come at you one at a time all polite like.
2) Link's sword only stabs. Every overhead Zelda after this one would opt to give Link a slash attack instead. The stab motion makes it much more important to line yourself up with enemies, and much harder to fend off foes coming from odd directions (like the Keese).
3) Enemies murder your health. It's very easy to die, which makes potions super important in later dungeons (as well as the armour upgrades). Please note that the game never feels unfair in this respect; you're free to upgrade yourself to keep up with the stronger enemies. You know, like in an RPG.
4) Most weapons have combat purpose. Not just a "this guy is immune to everything else" purpose, but a legitimate strategic purpose. Bombs can be used to ambush groups of enemies or attack Darknuts without risking your health. Arrows (and the Magic Rod) allow you to fight from across the room without full health. The Boomerang sets you up for melee combat, as well as for dealing with Keese. Even the ladder thingy lets you get an advantageous position in combat. Yes, you can do these things in other Zeldas, but why would you bother when the enemies do pitiful damage, attack in small numbers, and your sword covers a wide arc? This has become a particular problem in 3D Zeldas, where the awkwardness of 3D combat hasn't been accounted for in how the combat flows.
5) The bosses were out to kill you. 3D Zeldas are obsessed with puzzle combat, where you figure out the trick and your golden. This is probably the one area where LttP really gives LoZ a run for its money, thanks to a host of awesome bosses (LA also has some cool bosses, albeit overly easy).
Now I'm willing to slide on exploration. The "figure it out dummy" nature of finding stuff isn't for everyone, especially when the game doesn't even hint at half of it. I personally enjoy it, but I can't argue that its necessarily better then what came after it. The games biggest advantage is that when you do find things, you feel like you found them yourself, rather than following the yellow brick road (which is one of my biggest complaints against OoT, which constantly guides you from dungeon to dungeon).
But combat? Not even close. Zelda 1 has yet to be topped, and bloating combat with uneccessary moves or useless inventory items won't do a thing to change my mind on that. Not that it can't be topped (it absolutely could in about a million different ways), but Nintendo either tries to mimic the 2D games in the 3D worlds (which doesn't work) or dumbs things down to the point of combat being window dressing for the rest of the Zelda experience. WW is probably the best the series has done in terms of 3D combat, featuring the best "dueling" in the series (Z-Target combat) and a really good feel to your blows (the punctuated music helps alot).
tl;dr: I'll probably buy MM 3D in spite of my better judgement.
catmen and wearing sandals year round enthusiast 
