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I've always been a Legend of Zelda fan, and this hack does not disappoint!

Mako Gesher made some very clever, yet subtle, changes to the LoZ overworld. All in all, I would say that this hack has made for a very fun and challenging game that will keep you treasure-hunting for many hours. This hack has made it both familiar yet more challenging to navigate.

It's specially nice for those playing the hack in alternate players, like Android devices or the Chrome OS, since the flash player at nesbox.com works okay: for me, sound works perfectly on all of the Intel-based Chromebooks I tried it on, while I had to turn off sound on an ARM-chip Chromebook that chokes on the game sounds and music, but not a deal breaker for me since I can leave it off or simply play some youtube zelda tunes in the background.

I even used the DOSbox chrome app and ips DOS tool from this site to patch my LoZ rom right in the chromebook, which simply rocks!

Again, for fans who don't use Windows, real Linux or Macs like myself who are unable to play the Zelda Classic platform, a hack like this is really great!

Now for some spoilers, so if you want to play it with no specifics whatsoever, you don't have to read any further.

I would definitely recommend this hack to fans of the game!

Again, kudos to the hack maker, thanks, Mako! :D

Okay, enough chit chat, here come some juicy details of the hack itself:

While some places have remained the same, like dungeon locations, as well as the dungeons themselves, many of the usual places for items have been shuffled around the overworld. It was like a whole new treasure hunt for Zelda fans like myself.

Everything that is visible, with the exception of areas that haven't been seemingly blocked-off, are reachable and attainable just as long as you use the right tools to get them.

I attained all but two "crosses", which are the heart container symbols used in this hack.

And while the original gives you various grades of weapons and items, in this hack the only weapon I was able to upgrade once was my sword. The third sword may still be lurking somewhere, but I had no success in finding it!

The game may or may not be complete since I have not been able to find two levels.

Not counting the missing "upgraded" or "lower grade" weapons and/or items, I was unable to get three other inventory items, two of which were from one of the levels I was unable to get to. Thankfully, the level items were not that big of a deal, but the third item would have really come in handy; hey, I'm trying to keep my review as spoiler-friendly as possible for those players that want to discover this hack on their own! I think I've given enough hints to figure out most of the missing items anyway..lol :)

Having shared my piece on this hack, if anyone has any clues as to how to advance to the final two levels, if that's even possible in this game, I'd love to know! Now, if someone wants to be a hero, maybe they could modify this hack to make it possible, or maybe just simpler, to navigate to the missing areas of the overworld. That would help preserve my sanity in trying to complete the game!

So the game started off great. The Overworld has been changed around a bit, though seemly a bit lazily. I mean that by just filling in one exit with blocks, and blowing out a wall of another to create a new path. But it did make things interesting trying to find my way to the dungeons.

That's what really falls short in my opinion. The dungeons are EXACTLY the same as the original. Even their locations are the same. But it was harder to get to them, and I did find a few (seemingly) new caves. So i decided to keep going.

I beat lvl 1 no issues. Couldn't find my way to level 2, so I beat 3. I found the 3 "heart containers" and the bought the blue ring. So I was feeling good. No candles in shops and I think the idea is to have to wait until level 7 for the red one.

My thought for level 2 was that you'd find the power bracelet and warp over to lvl 2 area. I looked briefly, gave up, then continued on.

I beat level 4, and decided to use my ladder to access an early seen "heart container". And fail again. The "bridge" to level 1, that was split for you to use the ladder, didn't start with a 'ladder dock' so the game wouldn't let you cross the river.

Knowing that other things like this could be around, and that the levels are exactly the same, I put this down.

Was interesting while it lasted. But not sure I'll come back.