The Legend of Zelda

An action-adventure game released in 1986 as a launch title for the Famicom Disk System. Viewed from a top-down perspective, players explore an overworld and eight dungeons to collect fragments of the Triforce.

Development began in fall 1984, concurrently with Super Mario Bros., and its non-linear design was intended as a contrast to Mario's linear structure.

Developer

Nintendo R&D4

Publisher

Nintendo

Players freely explore an overworld and eight dungeons; completing the game unlocks a harder Second Quest with altered dungeons.

Platform

Famicom Disk System

Media

Disk Card (Quick Disk-based, 112 KB double-sided)

Platform specifications are sourced on the console page.

Japan

21 Feb 1986[1]

North America — NES

22 Aug 1987[1]

Director

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka

Producer

Shigeru Miyamoto

Designer

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka

Composer

Koji Kondo

Credits are limited to what the sources state.

• GAME1985

  

  Family Computer

  Super Mario Bros.

  スーパーマリオブラザーズ

  Release

  JP 1985.09.13

  Dev

  Nintendo R&D4

  Genre

  Platformer / Action

• GAME1986

  Family Computer

  Dragon Quest

  ドラゴンクエスト

  Release

  JP 1986.05.27

  Dev

  Chunsoft

  Genre

  RPG / JRPG

• GAME1986

  Famicom Disk System

  Metroid

  メトロイド

  Release

  JP 1986.08.06

  Dev

  Nintendo R&D1, Intelligent Systems

  Genre

  Action-adventure

The game sold 6.51 million copies worldwide, according to English Wikipedia (no as-of date given).

Series: The Legend of Zelda

This page uses no box art or screenshots, because their rights cannot be individually verified. The background artwork is an abstract pattern generated from the title's data. Credits for the platform photograph are on the console page.