Here's a little moral dilemma for you to round off your Friday (or to enjoy over your lunch depending on where you're reading this from!). A gamer by the name of Vermin has made a ROM hack that makes the original The Legend of Zelda game for the NES easier to play. It's called the 'Linear Version', and they have cited that the mod is there to help people who found the original game too difficult, providing an easier playthrough for new players or those who simply want to enjoy the game without scratching their brain for answers/
The ROM hack is, as the name suggests, designed to make the game more linear, to make it a more casual gaming experience, removing tough parts of maps. I can see why the hack has been made in theory, but I ask you this - isn't the best thing about this game its difficulty?
To some degree, I can get behind changes such as seeing hints for bushes that can be burned and walls that can be knocked down by bombs, but seeing the location of items in dungeons and lowering the number of enemies in the early stages of the game - I fear that it would lose the very essence of the game that makes it so iconic and become a whole new game altogether.
Playing devil's advocate in my own article, how would I feel if this ROM hack existed for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link? That game is so difficult and it would be nice sometimes to be able to play it without wanting to tear my hair out (if I had any), though that's still the main reason that people love it.
I'm opening the floor up to you - let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and you can find out more about the ROM hack over on the official project page.
