I wouldn't consider old games to new games are as reading is to TV; largely because it makes no logical sense - Each Zelda, up until Ocarina of TIme, has more reading in it than the last Zelda. So by the logic, Ocarina of Time has more in common with a book than the Legend of Zelda, and is therefore considered a superior art form; but at the same time, it also has a better visual appeal, and it also takes objects previously represented in 2D, and allows interaction in 3D.
With the original Zelda game, it is not that the game really has a steadily increasing difficulty, you can get through most of the game relatively easily; it is just once in a while, starting in the 3rd dungeon, they throw a room in that is just so ridiculously difficult, that the game ceases to be any fun - each time you die, you have to adventure back to the fairy grotto to refill your hearts, because you'll need that beam sword to even have a chance. After that one room, the rest of the dungeon, and the entirety of the next dungeon is trivially easy in comparison... until you get to another similarly ridiculous area. Zelda 2 has a similar portion in Death Mountain close to the beginning of the game, but it is NOT NEARLY as difficult as any of those parts in Zelda 1.
Link to the Past and Ocarina of TIme do not have these balancing problems; even Super Mario 3 didn't have these, while it did have some ridiculously difficult levels, you don't even see the first one of these until late in Level 6 (in the Sky where that ball and chain thing chases you - and then from there on out, it is a matter of figuring out how to get past the obstacles, and employing the skill to do so.
I don't want to take away how the original Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda were very ground breaking games at the time - but so was Pong. I will however say that Super Mario Brothers 3 is Nintendo's earliest example of what I would consider a fantastic game. I think that Super Mario 1 and Legend of Zelda are loved and remembered for being ground breaking, and that is about the only reason. Of all of Nintendo's NES games, it is Super Mario Brothers 3 that is most remembered for being an excellent game.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
