First console game that allowed the player to save their progress.
Shigeru Miyamoto claimed in an interview that he got the name Zelda from Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of the famed author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The original, full name of the game is "The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda" (hence it is the name by which the game is officially listed in IMDb). "Hyrule Fantasy" was supposed to be the title of the game series, with "The Legend of Zelda" simply being the subtitle of this particular installment. However, during the translation for the North-American version, the main title was inexplicably dropped, and the game was released outside Japan as simply "The Legend of Zelda". This name was subsequently re-used in the titles of most of the sequels, and has thus unintentionally become the series' title, even though some of the installments don't focus on Zelda or feature her at all.
In the manual of the NES (USA and Europe) and the Famicom (Japan) version of this game, an enemy called Pols Voice is described as a ghost with big ears that hates loud noises. The latter description caused confusion among owners of the NES version, assuming that the flute is the right item to use. In the Famicom version, the game makes use of a built-in microphone of second controller. Screaming right into the microphone causes damage to the Pols Voice and defeats them instantly. This feature is not given in any of the NES versions.