The North Palace

Link's First Battle

Here we are, embarking on the first leg of our journey.  This game is more difficult than any other in the series, but it offers many unique elements right off the bat from its predecessor...and while it introduces several elements to the series that will be seen in every game afterwards, it also plays with elements that will never been seen again.  One of the funnest thing, as seen here, is that while Link travels in a top-down overworld; most of the action takes place in side-scrolling sequences.  This is the only way to gain experience and to explore new areas as well.  As one may have presumed, the area that surrounds the North Palace, the palace where Zelda sleeps and where we begin the game is filled with easy enemies and the game intends for you to grind for awhile to build Link's statistics (see, in this game, unlike any other Zelda, you use experience to gain attack, defense, magic power and then eventually extra lives.)  but also intends for you to get irritated with this process fairly quickly, as all of the enemies surrounding the North Palace give little to nothing for experience and like in any RPG, the game forces you to move forward out of sheer boredom with your current surroundings.  The North Palace really serves one main purpose: the hub location for the entire game.  With the exception being after you have reached the Great Palace, you will always start the game from the North Palace in the chamber where Zelda is locked in her eternal slumber.  Incidentally, this is also the location of the final cut-scene of the game but that won't come until much later.

Zelda sleeps in the North Palace

What a doozy...so this is the real Princess Zelda.  I wonder why exactly that wizard put her to sleep in the first place...it's not like putting her to sleep helps him get the Triforce.  And what exactly are all of these monsters running about?  I thought Ganon was dead...