Welcome to The Legend of Zelda, the first game of a legendary series. If you have never played this particular Zelda game before then you may be wondering why the only item you are equipped with is a shield. Well that is an easy fix. At the top of the screen you may notice that there is a cave in the form of a black rectangle. If you walk inside this cave you will find an old man who says, “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!†Grab the Wooden Sword and exit the cave. Congratulations, now you have a weapon.
This can be a difficult game, so I recommend that you collect as many items and upgrades as you can before attempting to traverse the first dungeon. To start with you should travel to the right 8 screens. Make sure to kill all the enemies along the way, because you will need 20 rupees. Unless you obtain bombs from the Blue Octoroks you should go up 1 screen from here. If you have not looted at least 20 rupees from the enemies you have slain, then walk around and kill more Octorocks. If you do have the necessary amount of money, then walk into the cave and buy some bombs from the shopkeeper.
Now that you have bombs, go back down 1 screen, and left 4 screens. On the top of the screen there is a path; bomb the rocky wall to the left of the path and enter the cave that appears. When the old man offers you a Heart Container or Potion, select the Heart Container; you can purchase a Potion later. There is another Heart Container, but if you follow the right path you can find some Moblin Hideouts along the way. Go up 2 screens, right 2 screens, up 1 screen, and right 1 screen. You will see Moblins and statues here. The statues are called Armos’. Touch the Armos (be sure to touch the top of the statue or you may take damage) on the right, and after it moves, either kill it and go down the stairs, or avoid it and go down the stairs to collect 10 rupees. Upon exiting the Moblin Hideout go left 1 screen and go up 1 screen. Touch the Armos statue on the right and walk down the staircase to gain 30 more rupees. Go up 1 more screen and bomb the wall next to the blue staircase. Enter the cave to acquire 30 more rupees, exit, and then go left 1 screen. Bomb the bottom right corner of the large rock in the middle of this screen and choose the Heart Container again.
Now that you have 5 hearts and a good amount of rupees, go right 1 screen, up 1 screen (using the path, not the stairs), right 2 screens, and then up 1 screen using a hidden path at the top of the screen. Enter the dungeon-like cave and you will receive a grand 100 rupees. Go back down, left, and up 1 screen; enter the cave to obtain the Letter. Now go down, left, up and left 1 screen and enter the cave so you can buy the Blue Candle from the shopkeeper. After purchasing the candle, go down, left 2 screens, and up 1 screen. Here you will see a Blue Lynel, an extremely powerful enemy. I recommend you avoid it, but kill it if you want and enter the cave to upgrade your weapon to the White Sword.
From this screen go down, left 3 screens, down 1 screen and right 1 screen. Burn the green bush on the bottom right to reveal another Moblin Hideout with 30 rupees. Now go down 2 screens and burn the bush in the upper right hand corner (On the right side of the screen). Acquire the next set of rupees and go right 1 screen and burn the 5th bush from the right to obtain the 3rd Heart Container. Go right one more screen and burn the bush on the corner to buy the Magical Shield for the cheap price of 90 rupees.
The collection is almost done, from the hidden shop go down 1 screen and burn the bush on the bottom left of the group of six bushes to find another Moblin Hideout with 10 rupees. Continue right 3 screens, up 1 screen and right 1 screen. Enter the shop and buy the Arrows; you will obtain the Bow later on. Go right 1 screen and down 1 screen and you will see that there is a formation of green bushes in the middle, burn the one on the bottom left for 10 rupees. Continue down one more screen and you will find a similar bush formation as you did on the previous screen. This time look at the four bushes that seem to make a square and burn the one on the bottom right to reveal a 100 rupee hideout. Travel left 4 screens and you will see a little bit of rock jutting out from the top of the screen. Bomb the wall just to the left of this rock, and you will reveal yet another hideout, this time with 30 rupees. Go left 3 more screens and enter the cave at the top. Give the letter to the old lady and she will offer you Potions. The Red Potion has two servings, while the Blue only contains one. If you want a potion you should have  the rupees to purchase either one.
The last item you should recover is a an armor upgrade. Travel left 2 screens and burn the last single bush going up in the middle of the screen for another 100 rupees. Go down, right 1 screen, and go left 2 screens along the bottom path. Bomb to the right of the indent on the top of the screen and obtain 30 more rupees. Go up, right, up, left and burn the bottom right bush of the rectangle for 10 rupees. Continue by going right 3 screens and up 2 screens. You should have at least 250 rupees by now, but if not kill more enemies until you have enough. Touch the top middle Armos and enter the hidden shop to purchase the Blue Ring. Now the damage you take is reduced by half.
