> Checking out Zelda I left unimpressed, while I can imagine the game making an impression if one is younger and one spends a lot of time in it. But it has nothing over similar games on other platforms that were less popular and are now lost in the seas of time.
I'm not sure that's fair. I was a big C64 fan myself and didn't get to play Nintendo games 'til later, but there's very little on the C64 to compare to the sheer size of Legend of Zelda, particularly in the same time frame (1986).
The only thing that comes to mind is Ultima IV (1985), which is an RPG rather than action-adventure. U4's story and dialog system stood alone against anything else on any system at the time, but Zelda's gameplay is far more polished. They were trying to do different things.
I mean many c64 era RPGs are bigger and more impressive in scale than especially NES Zelda. However none were as clever when it came to the way it did gate-ing (metrovania style).
I'm not sure that's fair. I was a big C64 fan myself and didn't get to play Nintendo games 'til later, but there's very little on the C64 to compare to the sheer size of Legend of Zelda, particularly in the same time frame (1986).
The only thing that comes to mind is Ultima IV (1985), which is an RPG rather than action-adventure. U4's story and dialog system stood alone against anything else on any system at the time, but Zelda's gameplay is far more polished. They were trying to do different things.