Offical Zelda Marathon (NES)

[Guest]

The first official gaming marathon will take place in two days, on 6/23/05. This marathon will be for The Legend of Zelda NES and all who would like to participate are invited to join. We will all be in a chatroom (AIM,MSN, whatever) and will all begin a new file on this respectable game. We will all beat it at a realitively same pace (we wait up for eachother at each catacomb) and play the game the whole way through. If you attend this marathon fully through, it will be considered beaten and everyone in the chatroom will be a witness. This is a great opportunity to cross off a game from the ROU must beat list.

The time of this event is not yet decided, but I am leaning toward toward 8:00 PM. Is there is a a time/date confilct, post and we may be able to improvise. In order to join this event, you must post here before hand.

For all those who do not own the game, you may play a rom. If you do not own a rom, you may download it here:

http://www.coolrom.com/roms/nes/Zelda/Zelda.php
(scroll down, hit DOWNLOAD)

If you do not have an emulator, get it here:
http://nestron.emuunlim.com/archives/NEStron%20066b.zip

I am looking foreward to seeing who shows up. Any question, comments, whatever, post here.

[Guest]

Okay, in order make this work and have TVspelsfreak join us, the time is bumped up to 11:00 PM (central) . Also, I've decided that this game is too long to beat in one interval. We'll play for hours, then decide on a new time, post it, and end our marathon for the night.

Again, anyone in ROU can join. Just post right here.

[Falco Girgis]

Count me in.

[spideyspiderman2000]

Is it possible on Yahoo IM, or not?

If it is, I'm in all the way, if not, I'll try and get MSN.

Also, if I get on, I'll be playing it on my GBA.

[spideyspiderman2000]

Aight, I've gotten MSNm. I've added some of you to my contact list.

[Guest]

We may use AIM instead of MSN... Anyway, this event will be worth 5 l337 points to anyone who plays it all the way through during the marathon. These points do not include the points gained from beating this respectable title from the list.

[Guest]

We may have to delay this marathon due to my computer fucking up. I cannot even run windows, let alone a rom with MSN... :?

Anyway, when we do have the marathon, I've decided it WILL be over MSN. Everyone joining, post your e-mail address that you will be using somewhere in this topic.

Spidey, good to have you with us. :D

My e-mail is: Fat_Arce@hotmail.com

[Guest]

Okay, my computer is fixed. Somehow, when I turned it off, my BIOS settings got screwed and it thought my main drive was my Zip drive. :?

Okay, the official time and date are: 6/23/05 at 11:00 PM Central. This event is worth 15 1337 points if you stay all the way through during both meetings. The amount will be upped if you somehow beat it in one go. Anyone who thinks they are up to that, tell me.

Currently, there are 4 people participating:

1) Arce (host) Fat_Arce@hotmail.com
2) Showdin
3) Gyrovorbis SuperSonic_Chaos@hotmail.com
4) spideyspiderman2000 spideyspiderman2000@hotmail.com

I suggest you be online about 10 minutes early to get everything set up. It is not too late to join, anyone in ROU is welcome to participate.

Remember, if you do no get 100 1337 points you get kicked from ROU.

[Guest]

I do realize that some of you have probably never played Zelda. So here are some things about the game. I suggest you read the storyline; the other crap is easy to figure out.

In the vast land of Hyrule, there was a princess named Zelda. The land
of Hyrule was a very peaceful and prosperous land until one day an evil
being named Ganon came to Hyrule in search of the Triforce. The
Triforce was a legendary golden triangle that granted mystical powers
to the beholder. This Triforce laid in Hyrule. Ganon managed to seek
out and find a piece of the Triforce called the Triforce of Power. Once
he managed to obtain this mystical essence he became ever so powerful.
His next goal was to obtain the other known piece of the Triforce
called the Triforce of Wisdom. He knew that Princess Zelda held this
Triforce and went after her. To protect her land of Hyrule, Zelda had
to split up the Triforce of Wisdom into 8 shards and hide these shards
in elaborate underground dungeons scattered all throughout Hyrule.
Ganon did manage to capture Princess Zelda, but Zelda sent out her
bodyguard Impa to seek for help. Ganon found out about Impa and went to
go find her. Unfortunately Ganon and his troops did manage to corner
Impa in the middle of the wilderness. Very fortunately, a young hunter
named Link who was about 15 years old, and who appeared at the right
place at the right time, showed up. He was very courageous and agile
and managed to fend off Ganon and his minions. With the enemies gone,
Link talked to Impa and Impa told Link the whole story of what was
going on. When Link heard this, he vowed to be the hero and save
Princess Zelda and Hyrule. Link's quest was now to find all of the 8
shards of the Triforce of Wisdom, hidden throughout dungeons in the
land of Hyrule. Once he obtained these, he would finally be powerful
enough to enter Ganon's lair. There he would have to slay Ganon, rescue
the Princess Zelda and save Hyrule from impending doom...

Goal: You play as Link. Work your way through all 8 dungeons, slaying
the beasts inside and obtaining the Triforce shards on your way out.
Once you have all 8, find Ganon's lair. Here, you must seek out Ganon
and slay him. That is your goal, so good luck...

Here's stuff on the game charactors:

You will meet people all throughout the game. Some will give good information and hints in the game. Some will give you important items. The ones in dungeons will give you hints usually for
that dungeon or on where to go next. Some people will deduct rupees
from you if you destroy their "door". That happens if you find them by
burning down a tree sometimes. There are several more types of people
out there as well which you will meet. Lastly, there are merchants all
throughout the overworld in Hyrule that live in caves. Some sell more
valuable and rare items than others. Seek out the merchants for they
are very helpful.

Okay, now how to save in this game:

"The Second Controller" Save: At any time in the game you can go to
your subscreen by pressing start. Here if you have a second controller
plugged into your Nintendo then you can save an easiest way. Just hold
down the A button and the up button on the second controller at the
same time and the Game Over Options will appear enabling you to save.
When you save with this method you will still be taken to the select
game file screen and end up in the overworld, but it is still an easier
method of saving then "The Death" save. Unfortunately, you cannot save
your game inside a dungeon like you can in more recent Zelda games.

"The Death" Save: Once you die, a game over screen will appear and ask
you to do one of three options. Saving is one of these options. You
will save and then appear back at the select game file screen and if
you start your game again you will be in the overworld. If you don't
have a second controller this may be the only way to save
unfortunately. Just run into an enemy enough times to get rid of all of
your health and then die. Then you will have the option of saving. I do
not recommend this method of saving as much because every time you die, the number of times you die is displayed next to your name so if you
want to have the least possible deaths go with the other method of
saving.

"The Cheap" Save: If you are playing on an emulator, you can go to File->Save State. This saves your game to the exact pixel from where you left off. I suggest you do this before fight boses, or entering hostile areas. This way may be cheap, but it'll get those of you who aren't good at video games many second tries.

The controls are:

Controls: Here are what the controls in the game do:

Directional Pad: Since this is a game with an overhead view, pretty
much whatever direction you push makes Link move in that direction. If
you are in any of the rare sidescrolling sections of the game then
right and left move right and left and up and down only let you climb
up and down any ladders or stairs nearby. The Directional Pad also
let's you move a cursor if you want to select something sometimes.

Select: It can switch between options. In gameplay it will pause the
game.

Start: It can select a certain option sometimes. In gameplay it will
bring up the subscreen, which is, in a way, another method of pausing
in the game, only the music still plays.

B: All items you aquire in the game can be used with the B button. Via
the subscreen, you can pick which item you want to use and select it to
B. Then in gameplay, pushing B will use that item.

A: Basically this is just your sword. In gameplay, you will always
swing your sword whenever you push A. The only other function that A
does is confirm an option sometimes.

I would type all the items here, but there arw a bunch and I am lazy. So I will copy and past from a FAQ.Yes, these are all correct. I suggest you only read this list if you have to. There is really no point unless I say, "Get that heart container" and you have no clue as to what I mean. In other words, don't read this list; use the find button.

Sword: This is your main attacking weapon of course. The game would not
be Zelda without it. The sword is so important that you always have to
have it equipped at all times in the game. It is always assigned to the
A button. All enemies in the game are vulnerable to your sword. One
cool feature about the sword is when you have full health you can shoot
swords at enemies which is a very powerful skill. There are three main
kinds of swords you get throughout the game. You will have to seek out
the men who give you these swords but there will be hints directing you
to them. Here is what the three swords do:

Sword: The least powerful of all the swords. This is the very first
sword Link gets at the very beginning of the game. When attacking
enemies with this sword, it takes the longest to kill them with many
more hits.

White Sword: The second most powerful sword in the game. It takes less
to kill enemies with this sword however it is not the most powerful
sword. You need at least 5 hearts to get this sword.

Magical Sword: The most powerful sword in the game. With this, killing
enemies is a lot easier and it takes usually one or two hits to kill
them. You need at least 12 hearts to get this sword.

Shield: This is another item that is equipped all throughout the game.
You start the game off automatically with a smaller shield that is not
as powerful. Link always has his shield out in front of him, so how you
use it is if an enemy shoots something at you and if you aim right and
it hits your shield then it will bounce off of the shield and you will
not get hurt. There is also a magic shield that you can buy from many
of the merchants scattered throughout the land. I have seen them sold
from a price range of 160, 130, or 90 rupees, depending on where you
buy it at. Despite it's name, there is nothing really magic about this
shield, it is just that it is a lot bigger shield than your original
one. With this shield you have a lot more defense, so when an enemy
shoots something at you, you have a lesser chance of it hitting you.
Lastly, there is an enemy in the game that can eat your magic shield so
try not to let that happen for they are very expensive.

Rupees: These are the currency of Hyrule. They are basically jewels.
You can get them easily for a lot of the times enemies drop them
whenever you kill them. It may however take a while to accumulate a lot
of them sometimes. You can carry a maximum of 255 rupees at one time.
Of course all shops in the game require a certain amount of rupees to
buy their products. There are several other places in the game where
you will need rupees when interacting with people as well. Flashing
rupees that flash blue and yellow are worth 1 rupee and solid blue
rupees are worth 5 rupees.

Hearts: Whenever you get hurt by an enemy you lose either a heart, more
than one heart or half of a heart. Whenever you kill enemies in the
game they leave hearts a lot of the time. Pick up these hearts they
drop to replenish one of your hearts lost.

Heart Container: A Heart Container adds one more heart on to your
maximum health. You start the game off with three heart containers and
when you get one more heart container you have a maximum of 4 hearts
and the pattern works like that. Whenever you beat a boss of a level,
it will leave a heart container. There are 5 other heart containers
hidden throughout Hyrule.

Fairy: Sometimes if you are lucky, an enemy will drop a fairy if you
kill it. Fairies are harder to catch however if enemies do drop them
for they fly around the screen and are sometimes hard to catch. Like
most items left by enemies, they will disappear if you don't collect
them in time. Fairies restore 3 hearts. There is another greater fairy
in the game. In some locations in Hyrule there will be a pond and when
you go to that pond a fairy will appear and restore all of your health.
You can go to these fairies as much as you want although there are only
a few of them in the game.

Key: In dungeons these open locked doors. In many rooms in the dungeon,
keys are hidden and in order to get these keys you have to do something
in that room like kill all of the enemies in it. You can also buy keys
in some of the shops although that is a waste of time because the keys
are usually not all that hard to get. Of course, once you use a key it
will disappear.

Magic Key: With this item you will never need an ordinary key ever
again. This is the master skeleton key and it can open any and every
locked door in the game without ever running out. You get this as an
item in a dungeon later in the game.

Ladder: No this does not help you climb hard to reach areas. This could
actually be viewed as a bridge. What it does is it lets you cross small
streams of water. The streams of water have to be very small as the
ladder cannot fit over large streams. The streams have to be one square
wide to be exact. Once you have the ladder, all you have to do is walk
over to the stream and walk across it like it is land and the ladder
will appear and you can walk across it like a bridge. You get the
ladder as a dungeon item in the game.

Raft: There are a few docks throughout the game and these docks are
useless without the raft. Once you have the raft, go to these docks and
walk out towards the water. Once you do this, you will ride the raft
across the water and get to another location. The docks must be
connected to the land however. You get the raft as a dungeon item in
the game.

Map: This is an item that can only be used in dungeons. Every dungeon
has it's own map. To get the map, you have to find the room it is in
and sometimes you have to kill all the enemies in that room to get it.
Once you have the map, you can see the layout of the whole dungeon
which is very useful. Before you have the map in the dungeon that you
are in, it is very hard to navigate through it.

Compass: This is another useful dungeon item. You get this like you get
the map as in you must seek out the room with the compass in it which
may mean killing all of the enemies in that room in order to get it.
Once you have the compass, you will be able to see which room the
Triforce piece is in.

Letter: In one place in Hyrule you will find this letter. With the
letter you can now buy potions. There are some ladies in Hyrule which
will not even speak to you at all but once you have the letter and show
them it then they will always be willing to sell you the potions from
then on which is very useful.

Rings: Wearing these rings builds your defense. If you wear the blue
ring, it will cut your damage taken in half which makes it harder for
you to get hurt. If you wear the red ring then it will cut your damage
taken to a fourth which is very helpful. Your clothes also change color
to whatever ring you wear. The blue ring is the most expensive item in
the whole game and you can only purchase it in one place. The red ring
you get as an item in Ganon's Lair in the first quest.

Power Bracelet: With this item you will be much stronger. Wearing this,
you can push some rocks and other sturdy items. Throughout the game
there are a few items like this that you can push. Once you have the
Power Bracelet then just walk over to the item you wish to push and
walk towards it. The Power Bracelet is hidden in the overworld
somewhere but it is not that hard to find if you look carefully enough.

Clock: This is another item that enemies leave behind occasionally when
you kill them. This item is very convenient especially when you are
dealing with tough enemies. When you get this, it freezes all of the
enemies on the screen. The enemies will never come unfrozen so you
should be able to kill them all. This effect only lasts one screen
however.

Boomerang: I grew accustomed to this item for it is pretty useful. You
throw it and it comes back to you of course just like a boomerang. It
can kill many of the weak enemies and stun most of the other enemies.
The magic boomerang is a more powerful blue boomerang in that it has a
farther throwing range and you can throw it all the way across the
screen. You can also fetch items that enemies leave behind with the
boomerang as well. You get both boomerangs as dungeon items.

Bombs: You place them down and a few seconds later they go off. They
can inflict damage to enemies and one enemy is only vulnerable to
bombs. Other than that, bombs are used to open up hidden caves in the
overworld and they also blow up some walls in dungeons letting you
access other rooms in that dungeon. You can buy bombs from many shops
throughout Hyrule and many enemies leave behind bombs when you kill
them. Sometimes in dungeons, when you kill all of the enemies in that
room, you will get some bombs as a prize. You start off with a maximum
of 8 bombs but as the game progresses, you can get up to 16 bombs if
you can find the men that sell you the bomb upgrades.

Bow: It lets you shoot arrows. This item is useless if you don't have
any arrows. You get the bow as a dungeon item.

Arrow: Once you have the bow, you can shoot arrows which is a useful
weapon to have. One enemy is only vulnerable to arrows while other
enemies are weak to them as well. The only problem with arrows is that
when you shoot them you lose rupees. So if you are broke then you also
have no arrows. Think of it as when you get rupees, you also get
arrows. You do not use the arrows that much in the game however. You
can buy arrows at some of the shops throughout Hyrule.

Silver Arrow: The only thing these are good for is slaying Ganon. This
is the legendary item that you must have in order to kill Ganon. Other
then that they are the same as regular arrows I believe. You will get
these as the dungeon item in Ganon's Lair in the First Quest.

Candles: Once you have the candles you can let out a flame. These
flames can light the dark rooms in dungeons and they can also burn down
some trees in the overworld. The flames can also hurt enemies and can
hurt yourself if you are not careful. The blue candle can only let out
one flame per screen but the red candle can let out an unlimited number
of flames per screen. You can buy the blue candle in a shop in the
overworld and you get the red candle as a dungeon item.

Recorder: When you play this item in the overworld a tune will sound
and a whirl wind will come, blow you away and warp you to the outside
on a previously beaten dungeon. One enemy is particularly vulnerable to
the sound of the recorder. The recorder has some other mysterious
effects as it can sometimes open doors and pathways that would
otherwise be kept secret.

Food: This can be used for enemy bait but it is not very useful for
that. You put it down and some enemies will swarm to it so it can
distract them however at the price that is not a wise choice of use for
this item as well as the non-intended use of it either. The main use
for the food is to give to a monster that says "Grumble Grumble" that
blocks your path later in the game. Giving him the food lets you pass.
You can buy the meat at some more hidden shops in Hyrule although it is
a bit expensive.

Potions: Once you have the letter then the lady that does not speak
will now be willing to sell you the potions. The potions are very
useful in the game. Once you drink a potion it will replenish all of
your hearts no matter how low you are. When you find yourself in a
tight situation with one heart and you are trying to fight a lot of
tough enemies, that is the time to drink the potion. A blue potion
works like a regular potion and a red potion is like having two blue
potions in that it can be used twice. You can always buy more potions
if you run out but of course you have to have the money first.

Magic Wand: The magic wand is a very powerful item in the game. It is
the same weapon that the Wizzrobe enemies use. You swing it like a
sword and it lets out a wave of energy that can kill some enemies.
Although it is powerful, I still like to have the boomerang equipped
but that is just me. It is really all up to what you want to do. You
get this item in a dungeon.

Book Of Magic: This lets you do another spell with the magic wand. With
this, instead of just a magic wave being cast out of your wand, it will
be a flame. The flame of course can light dark rooms, burn down some
trees and kill some enemies. Once you have this item, the candles are
useless. You get this item in a dungeon.

Triforce: The main item in the game you are seeking. You get one at the
end of the first 8 levels. You want to collect all 8 pieces of the
Triforce before you can enter Ganon's Lair.

:spin:

[spideyspiderman2000]

Sorry, but I can't do this.

I got MSN, but it was fucking up our computer (took up too much space), so I had to get rid of it. Dammit. I really wanted to do this. Sorry.

[JS Lemming]

Wow, I thought my computer was bad, but in reality it owns you peoples. My 8 year old computer custom built by Kurdish people has never let me down. When a computer can't even handle a messaging program. Tisk Tisk. Oh and don't bother blaming it on disk space, it won't work.

[spideyspiderman2000]

It just kept fucking up our internet access. It worked for a few hours, and then it wouldn't let me get on the internet, or it got on for a few seconds and then shut off. It must be our hardware or somethin'.

Fucking Windows XP.

[JS Lemming]

Good'ol ugly 98... So reliable... so ugly.

[Guest]

Spidey, windows XP comes with a built in messenger. It's a lower version of MSN. You could use that.

Anyway, it's cancelled: my computer is officially fucked beyond repair. Sorry to all of you respectable participants.


Once I get a new computer, which may be from tommorow to anytime this decade, I'll post it and choose a new date. Again, sorry to cancel on such short notice. Remember, anyone can host a marathon at any time. If you do, you gain some points.

[Guest]

Okay, I am getting a new computer, antique, but 50 mhz more than my old one, and I moving my HD over, making me have a total of 65 GB; better than when I started. So, I will post a new date for the Zelda-a-thon one I get myself up and running. I am guessing everything will be done sometime Monday, but there is not yet a way to be sure.