My idea from the beginning was to produce a quest that, if somehow burned onto a Zelda 1 cartridge, just might pass as the work of Miyamoto and his team. I'm by no means as good as those guys, but I put my best effort forward.
This is an old-school NES experience, with not a single line of script. I made a couple of new enemies, and added in boss keys, neither of which would be out of place. Someone told me that boss keys were required, so I added them in. Then the rule was rescinded, but I left them in anyway. No big deal. Ah, and watch out for the poison hearts. Enemies don't drop many of them, and they're different-looking, but it's something to keep an eye on.
Several of the clues refer to locations in the 1st or 2nd quests.
The overworld resembles a mix of 1st and 2nd quest design, though the shop, secret, door repair, etc. locations have been changed significantly. The dungeons have their own themes, and use only room styles found in the original game. Again, harkening to the original there. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :)
None of the dungeons have locations that correspond to screens in the 1st or 2nd quests. I haven't played the 3rd and 4th extensively, but I doubt they match up with those either. In terms of difficulty, I'd say it's perhaps 20% harder than the 2nd quest.
Here are the dungeons' names:
Level 1: Eagle II
Level 2: Torch
Level 3: Smoke
Level 4: Crone
Level 5: Sun
Level 6: Ring
Level 7: Rupee
Level 8: Skull
Level 9: Devil
And without further ado, here is the quest!