Zelda 1 high playthrough log part 1/2

I've beaten the original LoZ several times before this, but this time I played through it entirely while vaping weed and kept notes on my progress. I still have a very good memory of where most of the dungeons are in the 1st quest, and that combined with the cryptic in-game hints is enough that I can play through to the end without a using guide.


The game begins at the 8th square from the right, and the 8th square from the top. 8-8

I know right away to go north to the Eyeglass Lake, where the first dungeon is located in a tree on the right eyeglass island.

Level 1 - Eagle Dungeon

Eastmost peninsula is the secret

Got map, compass, boomerang, bow, defeated Aquamentus and got a heart and a triforce piece.

From there, I backtracked a bit to the shop near the beginning area, and bought the blue candle... then I used that to find a few "secrets to everybody", plus a few angry people that made me pay to repair their door... Then I went to burn a couple trees near the Eyeglass Lake to buy the discounted magical shield and meat, and get the 2nd heart container...

Then I went exploring north of dungeon 1, east across the desert, farmed a few more rupees, found the 3rd heart container in a cave, then explored a bit of the mountain... Found a staircase under an armos statue, with an old man who says:

Secret is in the tree at the dead-end.

Explored a bit more, and found the white sword at the top of the waterfall.

Master using it and you can have this.

Went back to the east, to the northeast most section of the map... found a dead end with a rupee gambling game inside a tree... this must be what that guy from before was talking about... yep, as I was bombing the north wall, I found a hidden fake wall that lead to another area, with a 100 rupee "secret to everybody".

Also found a high up cave and got the letter that lets you buy potions from the old woman... the first "trading quest" sequence of the Zelda series...

Then I figured I got everything I could for now and went south of the mountain, into the east woods and entered the 2nd dungeon, in a creepy looking structure near a bunch of armos statues.

Level 2 - Moon Dungeon

Dodongo dislikes smoke

This would've hard if I hadn't bought the magical shield yet... got the compass, map, magic boomerang, defeated Dodongo and got a heart and a triforce piece.

I still remember where dungeon 3 is, and on the way there I bought arrows (so I can actually use my bow now, even though it costs rupees, not arrows... weird game design lol)...

Then I went along the south shore and found the 5th heart container as well as another door repair charge, kept going that way, past the beginning square, brought the letter to the old woman and bought a red potion, and then went across the river, to the 3rd dungeon near the Lost Woods.

Level 3 - Manji Dungeon

Did you get the sword from the old man on top of the waterfall?

This is such a good dungeon... This is where the dungeon design in this game starts getting really good... Each wing of the dungeon is behind locked doors and leads to various things of interest... you can actually go straight to the boss without even going through any locked doors, by just bombing through a couple walls... but I want to get everything.

Also that old man hint is very well timed. Even if you haven't found any overworld heart containers, you should still have enough for the white sword by now if you're doing the dungeons in order.

Also this is the first level with darknut enemies, that can only be hurt from behind or from the side. The boomerang and bow doesn't even work against them (which is good because the magic boomerang trivializes a other enemies). Taking out a room full of them with just the brown sword is very challenging and time consuming.

ugh that room right before you get the raft has like 8 darknuts... whatever I'll just tank through them... good thing this many sprites lags the game and makes it easier to dodge them all... lol speedrun strats

This level also introduces bubble enemies... if they touch you then you can't use your sword for a while. They're not a problem here though.

Got the map, compass, raft, defeated Manhandla, and got the 6th heart and a triforce piece.

Next I followed the river straight up, to a shop hidden below an armos statue, where I could buy the blue ring for 250 rupees... hell yeah! Then I went back across the river to where I can use the raft to get to the 4th dungeon, on the left island of Eyeglass Lake.

Level 4 - Snake Dungeon

Walk into the waterfall.

I already have 2 extra keys I haven't used lol... this level has some dark rooms that are annoying to get through if you haven't bought the candle yet. This dungeon also introduces the Like-Like enemies... they're so annoying, especially in a room with bubble enemies.

Got the compass, the stepladder, the map... defeated Manhandla again, found a hidden rupee diamond room, got the map, defeated Gleeok, and got the 7th heart and a triforce piece.

Got some hidden rupees around the brown woods area... I know how to get through the lost woods, but I haven't found the in-game hint for that yet, so I'm pretending I don't know it. Instead I'll explore more of the east side of the overworld...

Went to all the way south again, then east along the shore, farmed some more rupees and found the 8th and 9th heart containers...

Then I went back up the mountain to where the waterfall is, and used the stepladder to walk into the waterfall and the woman there says "Pay up and I'll talk"... If you're unlucky though, paying her will only make her say "Boy, you're rich" or "That's not enough to talk"... if you're lucky then she'll give you the hint you need to find the 5th dungeon.

Go up, up, the mountain ahead."

Level 5 - Lizard Dungeon

Digdogger hates a certain kind of sound.

This level requires the stepladder from level 4 to be able to progress at all... well you can get the recorder without it, but that's it...

New enemies introduced: Pols' Voice, Gibdos, and blue Darknuts that have more defense than red Darknuts...

Got the map after a room with 3 Dodongos... I like that this game uses previous bosses as normal enemies.. then I found a staircase that leads to an isolated part of the dungeon that contains the recorder item and the first bomb capacity upgrade hidden behind a bombable wall...

Then you have to backtrack the way you came, back to the Dodongo room again... and the rest of the dungeon is just a linear path with really challenging arrangements of enemies, with the compass along the way... the blue ring was very good to have here... There was also one more hidden room behind a bombable wall right before the boss, with an old man that gives you a hint of some sort.

Secret power is said to be in the arrow.

This could either be referring to how you need arrows to kill the Pols' Voice, or how you need the silver arrow to defeat Ganon, it's not very clear either way.

Defeated Digdogger, a puzzle boss that requires the recorder... got the 10th heart and a triforce piece. Also for some reason there's a pointless room south of the boss that only contains gibdos and nothing else... just a farming opportunity I guess?

Some screenshots of this playthrough: