Zelda Classic

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Zelda Classic is a fan-made, freely downloadable computer game program based on the NES console game The Legend of Zelda.

It began in 1999 as a DOS clone of the Original Legend of Zelda, which came out for the NES in 1986. It is more than the original however, in that it also includes a program called ZQuest, which is used to edit game files to create entirely new games, commonly called "quests"

In addition to the two "quests" that were included in the Original Legend of Zelda, Zelda Classic includes an "official" third quest. The third quest is opened after the first two quests are completed and is more difficult than the second quest. The third quest was not designed by Zelda Classic's programmers. Instead, it was the result of a quest design contest. The contest had several rules that required entrants to submit quests with a similar look and feel to the original two quests. The winning entry was submitted by Alphadawg, who also created the "official" ZQuest tutorial.

The game has since grown into a capable game editor and engine. There are many custom quests created by other users that one can download and open in Zelda Classic to play them. Quests released to the public may be password protected by the author to prevent others from editing them.

The features of ZQuest have grown so much since its creation that it is easily possible to create a quest that looks entirely unlike Zelda. For example, there are several graphics packs for the program that allow a change in the style of graphics in any quest you create, or you can make your own graphics set (though you were once limited only to 8-bit color, but now you can have 256 colors per blocks of 16x16 pixels). And although the game is still bound by the basic movement system as the original, many new items, enemies, and object types are available, as well as custom background music and animation.

The most recent stable release is version 2.10, which runs on Windows. Ports for Linux, Mac OS X and the GP2X handheld are also currently in the making, due for release with the next version, 2.11. New features in 1.92 include transparent layers and increased tile and map space, making Zelda Classic (and particularly the ZQuest editor) more complex and versatile. Version 2.10 includes an updated GUI for the ZQuest editor based on the Windows 98 and 2000 operating systems' interface, as opposed to the DOS-based interface that had been used up to then. The next version, 2.11, looks to expand on this even more with the ability to create and use larger sprites, use 256 colors for graphics, and many more new features. Zelda Classic is currently on good terms with Nintendo, the official owner of the Zelda franchise.

Zelda Classic utilizes the Allegro library.