All the Fanfare: A Pop Culture Podcast

I thoroughly enjoyed replaying this masterpiece (yeah I said it) for the original Nintendo. The gameplay is simple yet addictive, the music and sound design is iconic, and the dungeons are varied and fun.

As for the story? Funny thing, that. There isn’t really a story to speak of. A creepy old man lures you into his dank cave to give you a flimsy sword and sends you out into the world with the equivalent of “lol, good luck, bro.”

I didn’t miss the lack of an overarching narrative at all. In fact, I found it refreshing. No cutscenes, no exposition, no real dialogue. Just exploration and gameplay.

This game is the definition of retro cool. Modern games could learn a thing or two from it.