Today is Zelda’s 40th anniversary, marking four decades since the original game made its debut for Famicom in Japan in 1986 before launching on the NES in the US and Europe a year after. It seems the perfect occasion to revisit the first Zelda game – or at least a reimagining of the landmark release.
Fans have been disappointed that Nintendo hasn’t done much to celebrate Zelda turning 40. There’s are minor updates for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and new Zelda merchandise, but not the dedicated Nintendo Direct that Mario received). The good news is that one fan has us covered with the perfect tribute: a remake of the original Zelda game, and it’s free to play on PC.
jeb’s Legend of Zelda | Release Trailer (unofficial Zelda NES fan game) – YouTube
Jeb Yoshi is a hobbyist developer best known for making Five Nights at Freddy’s fan games. However, with the Zelda anniversary approaching, he decided to try his hand at something different.
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His take on the original The Legend of Zelda game is more of a homage than a direct remake. Things have been moved around, the pixel art has been updated, and there are new items. There are also characters from later Zelda games, and even characters from other IPs, including Boos from Super Mario Bros and – more controversially – Creepers from Minecraft.
With no official Zelda anniversary game announcement, this is the next best thing I’ve come across so far, and it should be a nostalgic treat for long-time fans thanks to all the little surprises packed into the game (though some of this will be lost on anyone who’s new to Zelda).
You can download Jeb’s Legend of Zelda free for PC from Game Jolt. Note that this is an unofficial release and not endorsed by Nintendo.
See below for official Zelda releases and Nintendo deals.
For very different fan projects, take a look at the in-progress Unreal Engine 5 Zelda Ocarina of Time remake by CryZENx, and an alternative take on an Unreal Engine 5 Zelda by RwanLink.