A fan of The Legend of Zelda has figured out how to transform the original NES game into a VR experience using a mod created for Doom. The Legend of Zelda celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2021, though it wasn’t met with the same fanfare that the Super Mario Bros. franchise received when it reached the same milestone. Instead, the series about an elf-like young man and a princess saving the land of Hyrule from an evil warlord was honored with a Nintendo Game & Watch handheld device.
That didn’t stop fans from celebrating the occasion with a plethora of The Legend of Zelda fan art and fan fiction, or recreating landmarks from the series in other games like Minecraft. There have also been numerous mods released for PC ports of the various games, adding split-screen and multiplayer support for Breath of the Wild or making everything in Ocarina of Time explosive. And as the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom approaches, the fandom’s passion for all things Zelda has only increased, and that includes the original game released on the NES in 1986.
One fan of that spearhead title has found a way to transform the entire first section of The Legend of Zelda into a VR game. The feat was accomplished with a mod originally created for Doom that uses the QuestZDoom engine for the Quest VR headset. User Sugary Noe shared a video on YouTube of the mod, aptly titled “The Legend of Doom,” in action.
The results are pretty impressive, with no evident changes or problems caused by the conversion. It really feels like a simple change of perspective, and the world of The Legend of Zelda certainly feels much bigger in VR. For those who don’t get nauseous playing games in virtual reality, it may be worth a try.
Of course, this likely isn’t the first time that The Legend of Zelda has been converted into a VR game. If it’s a game with a fan base, it’s probably made its way into virtual reality. Skyrim was playable in VR before the official release, as was Resident Evil Village. Even Elden Ring can be enjoyed in VR now, thanks to a mod. And some companies have actually greenlit fan-made modifications, such as when Valve gave its approval for Half-Life 2: VR back in 2017.
For those who don’t like playing games in virtual reality or don’t own a VR setup, things can go the other way as well. When the rhythm game Beat Saber came out in 2019, it was an immediate hit, winning awards and gaining praise from players and critics alike. So it wasn’t long before a mod was released to make Beat Saber playable with a regular controller, without VR. The same was accomplished for 2020’s Half-Life: Alyx, which was the first game in the series in nearly 13 years, leaving many fans disappointed when it was announced that it would be VR only.
The Legend of Zelda released in 1986 on NES and is now available on multiple platforms.
Source: Nintendo Life