I'm going to post massive comments. I figure it's only right to give a good analysis; hopefully the candidate quests will be able to work out most design problems at this stage. I actually logged myself playing.
DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED YET.
Player log:
I started off by exploring the overworld a bit, and I found a few elevated price shops. The first dungeon I found was Level-6, and boy was that ridiculous. The first room was stupid to repeat over and over when I died in other rooms (though killing red Darknuts is way too easy). I didn't want to leave though since I found what looked like the room with the dungeon treasure really early. After tons of deaths in that sadistic blue Darknut room, I got myself the RED CANDLE. That's my favorite Z1 item, and I definitely am glad to have it in an unknown quest where I want to burn every bush. Okay, time to leave Level-6 for later; I was only pushing this hard just in case you were the kind of guy to put the Bow in the same dungeon as some Pols Voice. I died 29 times getting the Red Candle by the way; I guess you didn't want people getting it with 3 hearts and the wooden sword.
Red Candle exploration time shows me... three door repair fees right off the bat. There goes all my money. At least I found a potion shop too. Then I find a 50 rupee bonus (which wasn't in Z1, by the way)... and another door repair fee.
Bug found! The secret on the screen 1 north 2 east of the starting area (it's a 10 rupee room) is a cave when it should be a staircase.
Bug found? The screen 1 north of that has a secret with literally nothing in it.
I found a heart container! And another door repair fee... but then the 20 rupees to make up for it!
Another heart container! You don't sell the Blue Candle, but there sure is some nice stuff by burning. Good thing I got the Red Candle early!
10 rupees, I would buy Arrows if you hadn't upped the price.
I found level-4. I think I'm just going to turn around and leave.
240 rupees for a key, seriously? Also, you have a lot of different shop types.
A more bombs room on the overworld? Interesting, but I can't afford it.
Okay, I found level-9. For the purpose of the beta, you probably should have set up the entrance/exit correctly...
!!! That was a 200 rupee bonus in a really easy to find place. That was probably too generous. My money is maxed out now. Let's buy that bait.
50 more rupees, boy I'm finding the good stuff. Let's let that Goriya know that I would, in fact, like more bombs.
Hey, that was a 30 rupee door repair fee! Z1 only had 20.
Level-1 was in an evil place I was really lucky to find. Have you considered switching it with level-4? I'm lucky to have found it. The mini-map (on the active subscreen, not the passive one) appears to be screwed up in it. The top row of rooms is filled in and not connected.
That tile over water effect is really cool! On an unrelated note, the Red Candle owns in this dungeon.
The bow! That is a nice find this early. Thanks for not being lame and making the Magic Book the first treasure.
Your custom Aquamentus that faces the opposite way of Z1 wasn't really any harder than the normal one. Of course, I didn't get hit so I wouldn't know if you powered it up. Level-1 is certainly a lot friendlier than level-6!
I bought some arrows now since I have the bow.
I found level-2. It looks out of place to be unhidden on that screen, but given that you don't sell the candle, there may not be a way around that.
You have a lot of rooms with no blocks, water, or statues in them. As I go back and edit this log, I can say you have way too many rooms like this.
The boss fight in Level-2 could use some work. A red Gohma in a completely empty room? It's trivial and only manages to absolutely force you to do level-1 before level-2.
Running around burning stuff afterward let me find the Letter (!!!) and 100 rupees.
I found level-8. Again, you should have set up these entrances so we could turn around and leave.
I bought myself a red potion for 100 rupees. That's a good price considering how expensive some other stuff in this quest is.
I found Heart Container 3/5.
I found the White Sword! It's a good thing you asked that question in the contest topic.
Using the whistle on the overworld puts you right on top of the level-2 entrance and forces you to go in. You might want to fix that.
I found level-3 right where I thought it would be! By the way, this is a really forced linear progression; you really should do something about that.
Rope 2 is not a Zelda 1 enemy! I guess it's okay...
Digdogger with 1 kid and no fireball shooters is way too easy, interesting arena or not.
Hey, it's the custom Moldorm. It fell easily to the Red Candle. Was this guy supposed to be dangerous?
The old man in level-4 is really obnoxious. You should move him somewhere out of the way.
Oh boy, the Blue Ring! I probably spent 40 rupees shooting those Like Likes, but it's cheaper than the 250 it usually is. With how much you overprice the Magic Shield, Like Likes terrify me.
The Blue Candle... but I already have the Red Candle.
Level-4 was actually not that hard, despite your warnings to the contrary.
Level-5 is in another obvious place, and the Power Bracelet on that custom Lynel was pretty simple to track down.
Zol Tribbles and Vire Tribbles are also not in 1st quest, and these are more obnoxious than Rope 2. Good thing I have the Red Candle.
Ugh, I'm out of bombs and don't know where to go. I must be missing a random bombable wall. I think I'm done for now.
Design notes:
Level-1 was the most obscurely hidden dungeon I've found, seriously, and the only dungeon I haven't found yet is level-7. Switch its location with some other dungeon. I suggest level-4.
You need to spruce up some of those "empty" rooms in the dungeons. There are just too many that are just empty rooms with only enemies and doors.
You give out way too much free money concentrated in a few huge rewards and "balance" it by putting a massive price tag on Magic Shields and Bait. I was careful with the Like Likes, but the way you've structured it, getting eaten by a Like Like just sucks too much since you are in massive trouble if you run yourself out of money. I suggest giving out less money and lowering how much stuff costs to compensate.
That room in Level-6 at the very start was ridiculous. I know I wasn't really supposed to go there to start (but I'm glad I did!), but most of the "challenge" was in how long it took to clear that first room over and over again even though it was really easy. Corner traps would fix this.
You have a ton of bombable walls in the dungeons. Have you considered replacing a few of them with walk-throughs to make it easier on players who might have trouble keeping up their bomb supplies? Especially early in dungeons before you have the map, this would be really nice.
The boss fights have been really easy. I know they were really easy in Zelda 1 too, but it would be good overall to beef them up.
The western side of the world generally came out really far ahead in terms of secrets. The east is just full of door repair fees! Maybe shuffle a few around?
Your quest icons are miscolored. You based this off 1st.qst and not proposed1st.qst, didn't you?
Likewise, all your stairs on the overworld aren't of the "slow walk" combo type like they should be. It's an easy fix at least.
Personal note: Seriously, how do you get onward in level-5? I think I've bombed every wall, blown the whistle in every room, tried feeding the old man bait, and tried to push every block. I found the first bombable wall so I made it to the second area in the dungeon, but I just plain can't make any progress from here.