General:

Date of Release: 26^th August 1989

Model Nr: ZL-65
Acronym: ZeLda
Rating: DC3V 0.0002W
Battery: Alkali-Manganese batteries LR44 (or SR44) x 2
Manufactured: Japan
Sold: Less than 250,000 (USA & Europe Only)
Nr. of players: 1
Lives: 1
Modes: Game
Controls: 1 Control Pad. Attack Button.
Other Buttons: Game, Continue, Time, Alarm & ACL

Starring:

Game-Play:

Zelda was the last of the Multi-Screens. Link is the hero of the game who has to risk his life and fights Goblins, Stalfos, ghosts and dragons to rescue Princess Zelda. The strength of link is shown as hearts and he will die when they reach zero. You first aim is to defeat the goblin at the right of the chamber. To do this you need to fight skilfully with your sword, while defending yourself with your shield against the goblins spear. While you are doing this you also need to avoid the Stalfoses who try to stab you from below. If that wasn't enough to worry about, you also need to deflect the spears with your shield that the Ghosts hurl at you from behind. Once the Goblin is defeated some steps appear and you advance to the top screen. This is the dragons lair. Here you have to battle it out with the fierce dragon. As you try to stab the dragon you need to avoid his fireballs and his dangerous tail. Once you have defeated the dragon you can get one of the triforce fragments. The triforce is the key to unlock the seal that keeps Princess Zelda locked in the dungeon. You need 8 triforce fragments to rescue the Princess. There are also various items you can pick up. The Tomahawk is effective only against the dragons and it is 3 times as powerful as the sword. The Map shows how the labyrinth is arranged. The water of life revives link up to five hearts. The heart revives Link's life by one heart. When Link is fighting the Goblin and his life is at maximum (5 hearts), beams will be fired out from the tip of his sword when he brandishes it.

Game differences:

This game has a continue button. You can continue the game from the place where Link died by pressing the 'continue' key. However, your score will be cleared and Link's LIFE will revert to 3 hearts. When the key is held down, the top score will be displayed at the bottom right corner of the lower screen.

Trivia:

Highest possible score is 9,999. If the score goes above that, a sword will appear to the left of the score and the score will be reset to zero.

Cheats and tricks:

To play with the sound off, hold the left side of the control pad down while pressing the GAME key to start.
After every round the enemies move slightly faster.
You cannot rest while you are fighting the enemy. However, once you've defeated the Goblin, you can rest as you are without going up the stairs. Don't rest for more than 4 minutes, otherwise the time display will return.
The chambers in the map containing items are already determined. You can proceed more easily if you remember where they are.
If Link attacks the Goblin directly while he has the beam sword, he can inflict six points of damage.
Enemies attack according to a fixed pattern. Get to know how they attack and attack them.

Points:

The initial strength of the enemy that Link defeats is counted as part of the score.

Misses:

Each time Link is attacked by the enemy, his LIFE (displayed by hearts at the bottom centre of the lower screen) goes down by one. When his LIFE reaches zero, Link runs out of energy and that's the end of the game. With 3 misses (shown by 3 Juniors in the upper right corner of the screen), the game is over.

Other notices:

If you hold in the Game key the highest previous score will be displayed. If the unit is left as it is after game is over, time display will appear in about four minutes. A game is not interrupted even if TIME key or other game keys are depressed during game playing. Pressing ACL switch or removing batteries erases high score from memory.

Issue Differences (click to enlarge pictures)

The table will show how to tell the different Issues that were made:

N/A

The battery covers seem to have a number on the back, but they seem to vary a lot and I won't even speculate what the difference is.

Box Variations (Click to enlarge):

Game Variations:

Shipping Box:

Fits 10 games

Instructions (English):

Instructions (Japanese):

Pictures Wanted