Celebrating the 35th Anniversary since the release of the original Legend of Zelda on the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986; and continuing over from the Zelda II Redux hack, The Legend of Zelda Redux (or Zelda 1 Redux) aims to tackle some of the odd designs and programming decisions from the original NES classic to revitalize and give new life to the beloved and cherished classic.

This hack tries to address a lot of points to make the game fit with the rest of the series (and Zelda 2 Redux) by doing some rebalancing and QoL changes, and also some visual flare into the game, without compromising the original game’s design. Be sure to check the full Changelog inside the ReadMe file for the full list of changes made to this hack, and also don’t forget to check the optional patches too!

Want to see the full development and source code of the hack? Follow it on its GitHub repository:

• “Zelda 1 Redux” Source Code

Changelog:

• MMC1 mapper has been expanded to add tile animation to the overworld for a more detailed map, this also allows the hack to be able to be played on real hardware and/or reproduction cartridges. (The MMC5 version is still available, but no longer maintained).
• Save manually with Up+A when in the Items Subscreen
• Reworked heart HUD to match Zelda 2 Redux
• Copy/Erase Save Feature: Now Zelda 1 has a newly implemented feature, similar to subsequent releases of the franchise, where you can Copy and/or Erase a save file to another Save Slot (Thanks to minucce!)
• The amount of hearts you last had if the game was saved manually is now saved. So when you load, you start with the same amount of life the user had when the save was done. If the number of hearts when the game was saved was 3, or lower than 3, the game will start Link with 3 hearts instead (like in subsequent Zeldas)
• Relocalization of the game’s script to better match the Japanese release, or have better hints altogether. Based on the Legends of Localization book/webpage (Except the two iconic “Take this” and “It’s a secret” lines)
• Make the Blue tunic more vibrant
• Stop the HUD from disappearing when entering or leaving caves during overworld map
• Proper player sprite position when leaving overworld from caves
• Reduces random wait times when entering caves
• Fix Y-scroll timing glitch when changing screens
• Fix Q1-D1 door opening on its own if you enter-leave the dungeon
• Fix alignment of the sword beam in multiple directions
• Fix the Y-position of both the sword and sword beam graphics
• Increment the initial bomb max. amount to 10 instead of 8
• Increment the bomb upgrades by 10 instead of the original 4. First upgrade should give you 20 bombs, second will be 30.
• Faster text printing
• Modify the Sword beam to only be active when at full health/heart, and stop shooting when the life gets to 3/4 of a heart
• Modify certain item names to better match subsequent official names in the franchise (Rupee, Fairy, Heart Container, etc.)
• Change the Red and Blue rings to Red and Blue tunics
• Introduction text rewrite
• Reimplementation of the warning screen from version PRG1 upon Game Over / Saving
• Slight modifications to the title screen to give the “ZELDA” title a red colour (modified fading palettes to match this change too)
• Possibly also add a breakable tile hint for overworld tiles
• Automap Plus, but modify it to have 1/4 heart decrements instead of 1/8 (this is needed in order to make space in sprite PPU for the next point (#3)
• Dungeon Automap courtesy of tacoschip, makes it so that the rooms appear on the map as soon as you enter them, while getting the Dungeon Map item uncovers the whole dungeon.
• Dungeon Music variations courtesy of tacoschip, who ported over tracks from A New Light, Perils of Darkness and Triforce Power to be used alongside the original Zelda 1 Theme inside dungeons.
• Visible hint for breakable walls in Dungeons (already implemented, just need sprite space for the left walls)
• Remove the 1 Rupee flashing (couldn’t be made green due to palette limitations)
• Press the Select button to toggle the item selected for the B Button (to avoid pausing the game to select an item every time)
• Change the duplicate bosses in Level 4 and 7 (Gleeok and Aquamentus) to Lanmola and Patra respectively.
• Have 999 rupees as the maximum amount, instead of 255. The rupee amount also needs to be saved in SRAM for when the game loads, so it starts with whatever amount you had last time (thanks to Bogaa for this feature!)
• Add a proper arrow enemy-drop item and an arrow counter (shops give 30 arrows when purchased), with the max arrow limit being 30 for normal Arrows, and 60 once you get the silver Arrows (thanks to Bogaa for the Arrow drop/counter code, and stratoform for the Max arrows limits!)
• Slight graphic changes to make certain sprites match their official artwork (Link now has his yellow hat line, some shield slight change, etc.). This won’t be a graphic update of the game, as it was still wanted to retain the original game’s overall art design and aesthetic, but with sprites that better depict their official artwork designs.
• Be able to kill the Pols Voice by playing the flute, and also with arrows to retain the original way of killing them (Thanks to stratoform for this!)
• Flip the heart rows in the File Select Screen (Thanks again stratoform!)
• New column definitions to make the overworld look more polished, adding corners, rounded edges and other slight stuff so the overworld doesn’t look as blocky.
• Make recently bombed overworld walls have a new arched cave entrance tile, without the tile losing its properties from the previous tile $24 (new tiles are $54-$57)
• Rework the Credits for the game to have full names show up for each developer (like in Zelda 2 Redux)
• Diagonal Sword swing in Zelda 1, implemented by minucce. Inspired on initial work based on Displaced Gamer’s “Zelda Hit Detection – Behind the Code” video

Don’t like some of the changes made in the project? Don’t worry, the project also includes optional patches to undo or remove certain features, or even restore things like how they were in the original Zelda 1!

Optional patches:

• ALttP Sword Swing that makes the sword swing similar to that of ALttP, where it’s a full arc instead of stopping when reaching the center like in the default sword swing (ALttP Sword Swing.ips)
• Better Font graphics from gzip’s Zelda Hack Pack (should NOT be used with “FDS Font”!) (Better Font.ips)
• Blue-er Tunic based on Asaki’s hack (Bluer Tunic.ips)
• Change the Dungeon music to that of Zelda: A New Light (gzip’s Zelda Hack Pack) (Dungeon Music.ips)
• Change the Low Hearts beeping sound to a heartbeat-like sound (gzip’s Zelda Hack Pack, should NOT be used with “Remove Low Health Beep”) (Low Hearts Sound.ips)
• Change the Tunics back to Rings with new revamped sprite (Tunic 2 Ring.ips)
• Change Tunics to the Original Ring GFX from the NES release (Tunic 2 NES Ring.ips)
• Change the Dungeon music to only play the original Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme (like the original Zelda 1) (Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme Only.ips)
• Change the Dungeon music to interchange between the original Zelda 1 Dungeon Theme and A New Light’s Dungeon Theme. (Zelda 1’s plays in odd Dungeons, A New Light’s on even Dungeons) (Zelda 1 & A New Light Dungeon Themes.ips)
• Hide the unique Automap tiles and print out the grey tiles from the original (Grey Automap.ips)
• Disable Diagonal Sword Swing for those that want the original Zelda 1 stab instead (Disable Diagonal Sword.ips)
• Fill the amount of hearts you have upon starting a save file, so you don’t always start with 3 hearts only (Full Health at Start.ips)
• Famicom Disk System’s version Font graphics (FDS Font.ips)
• Hide back all the overworld and dungeon secrets (Original Hidden Secrets.ips)
• Modify bomb upgrade amount to 05 per upgrade (Bomb Upgrades 5 instead of 10.ips)
• Make both the Lost Woods and Lost Hills into normal screens instead of having to always walk the correct path to go through (Not Lost.ips)
• Like Likes now consume rupees instead of the shield (gzip’s Zelda Hack Pack) (Like Like Rupees.ips)
• Link’s Awakening graphics patch (Link’s Awakening GFX.ips)
• Original HUD to be the same as the original Zelda 1, with the map on the left and health on the right (Original HUD.ips). If you want Grey Automap with this, use “Grey Automap (for Original HUD).ips”
• Original NES graphics (Original NES GFX.ips)
• Original (blocky) Overworld screen/column definitions (Original Overworld Columns.ips)
• Remove the Low Health sound effect beeping (Remove Low Health Beep.ips)
• Remove the newly added “THE HYRULE FANTASY” subtitle from the title screen (Remove Hyrule Fantasy Subtitle.ips)
• Reworked Title Screen to match more recent Zelda title screens (Reworked Title Screen.ips)
• Reworked Title Screen without “THE HYRULE FANTASY” subtitle (Remove Reworked TS Subtitle.ips)
• Unique bosses in each Dungeon/Level (Rearranged Bosses.ips)
• Make each dungeon have its own unique colour palette similar to Modern Classic Edition (Recoloured Dungeons.ips)

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