Finally got around to playing and beating this one after many years. Many years. Like wow I'm looking at when the quest released and I'm a little bit disturbed at how long ago that was.

Anyways, I'd say it's a solid quest. Maybe not all that I was hoping it'd be though. There's many times where it feels like it's struggling between being an NES quest and a modern quest in ways that make it feel like neither. So the overworld is just Zelda 1 as one might expect. The dungeons on the other hand are where the quest expresses itself for better or worse.

This quest's dungeons are decorated, with bits of detail strewn about the walls and floors. It helps to set them apart when the gameplay doesn't always manage. That gameplay is pretty standard NES dungeon design but without generic keys. Early on dungeons feel pretty open ended, possibly owing to their size. By the end they end up more gauntlet-esque. I generally preferred the earlier ones overall. Consistent throughout the quest is this one puzzle where you have to walk a path marked on the floor or else the way forward closes. I found that it way overstayed its welcome and hurt the pace of the dungeons. This is one of those ways that the quest tries to reconcile NES and modern quest design and stumbles: by mixing puzzles into NES dungeons, the pacing and exploration takes a huge hit. The threat of bomb walls to check means that any part of the dungeon being gated by a puzzle I have to repeat becomes a terrible slog. Then there's more modern parts of the quest that are hurt by NES esoteric design. In one dungeon I had to bomb a mountain that I assumed was just decoration, in another I had to burn a tree in a room of similar looking trees. Neither of these things are out of place in Zelda 1, but that game mercifully left these elements out of its dungeons due to the growing number of guesswork based options they include. There were even more out there triggers such as random blocks I had to bomb, but they were thankfully hinted at. Still these types of triggers built a general sense of distrust.

And then come the gimmicks. Starting at level 4, dungeons begin to get funky. Level 6 actually ended up being my favorite dungeon of the quest despite its gimmick (reversed controls) being downright malicious. I'm not sure how that ended up happening, but I had a lot of fun with it. Somewhat less so with the confusing maze that is 7 or the painful gauntlet that is 8. Actually level 8 was also pretty fun in hindsight but good lord, some of those setups made me want to take away MBW's combo cycling license. Level 9 was probably the only one to make me actually mad, and this one's on me. I set out to beat the quest on a challenge run and this was where it, shockingly enough, started to give me a challenge. All the previous gimmicks make a comeback but in devious setups that actually require you engage with them somewhat. The dreaded reversed controls from level 6 makes a return, but this time in rooms where you're expected to perform intricate movement around powerful enemies. I ended up cheesing the heck out of it when possible.

Overall it's a pretty alright quest, pretty hard. I wish it had either reeled in the puzzles and gimmicks or reeled in the difficulty and esoteric design.

This Fifth Quest submission probably exceeds the limitations of a typical Nth Quest for the Classic Legend of Zelda, but its excesses are what define and elevate this quest. Save for a few changes, the Overworld is mostly the same as the First and Second Quests. The dungeons, in contrast, are where the aesthetic and gameplay designs shine. Each of the first eight dungeons is centered around a theme, which defines its aesthetic appearance and dungeon design. The final four dungeons can be a challenge for the uninitiated. For example, the directional controls are reversed in certain rooms, a concept seen in Poisonous Pipeline in Donkey Kong Country 3. The enemies behave mostly the same as they do in the original Legend of Zelda, save for an addition or two.

Overall, this was a great Classic-style quest to try out.

I'm happy to have had the pleasure of testing this, though I'm sorry for not finishing level nine before it was released. I finally went back to it and finished it now, so I can rate.

It speaks testament to the quality of the quest when you can not play a while and still remember the levels' themes and gimmicks pretty well. It's a really clever and fun little quest; I can't really say how it stands compared to the other entries as I haven't played them, but this was definitely worth the playthrough. It's not perfect, it can be a little confusing at times and easy to get lost at others, but these moments aren't too frequent. The quest is definitely on the brutal side though, and forces you to react quickly, especially in level eight and parts of level nine. And I admit to cheating by reversing my own controls to counter the one dungeon that reversed your directions.

It's clever, fun, unique, memorable, and challenging. A few issues do persist, but are mostly overcome by the high points of the quest. Nicely put together, Shoelace.

I had a rip-roaring good time with this! Especially the last few dungeons. Those were real mind-benders! Thanks!

The gimmicks are all pretty cool but something felt off about how fun it was supposed to be. Level 8's dual time trial gauntlets were definitely fun at least. It seems like half of the overworld secrets are either rupees or pay for the door which felt like it all evened out and didn't feel rewarding or even punishing, just 'oh okay.' Placing the boss door at the beginning of level 9 was very welcomed.

I don't know what to say about the reversed controls. Getting the silver arrows in level 9 was probably the worst room to deal with reversed controls. I didn't feel like I was solving any puzzle or overcoming my brain's muscle memory for basic movement, so I'd definitely say reversed controls were a miss.

I like how the graphics have a few details and how the dungeons have their own themes.

Definitely going to try this as soon as I can. I can expect this to be a great quest.

Whoa, looks how detailed the dungeons are! This certainly doesn't look like an official quest this way, but it certainly looks like Shoelace style. You are great at detailing.