Swords

Level 1 Sword The first blade you start out with. This one you receive from your Uncle in the passage to get into the castle grounds at the beginning of the game.

The Master Sword The only sword with a name in the entire game. This is the second blade you receive. You retreive it somewhere in the Lost Woods after your quest for the three Pendants.

Level 3 Sword This sword you can receive as soon as you have the Titan's Mitt. To the south of the Village of Outcasts is a frog blocked by heavy rocks. Take the creature back to his buddy in Kakariko Village and they'll temper your sword (for a cost, though).

Level 4 Sword Mega weapon to say the least!! You receive it from the Fat Fairy in the Pyramid of Power after you blow a hole in her wall with the Big Bomb, which you can't get until after you open Ganon's Tower.

Shields

Level 1 Shield This you receive at the same time as you receive the Level 1 Sword in the passage to Hyrule Castle.

Level 2 Shield Your receive this in the Waterfall of Wishing (the waterfall right before you enter the Zora's Waterfall territory). This shield has the useful ability of blocking fireballs.

The Mirror Shield The ultimate line of defense! Received from the Item Chest in Turtle Rock.

Tunics

The Green Tunic You are already wearing this when the game begins. Protection: 0%

The Blue Tunic You receive this one from the Item Chest in the Ice Cavern. Protection: 25%

The Red Tunic You locate it in the Item Chest in Ganon's Tower. Protection: 50%

Items you do not select

Zora's Flippers These give you the much needed ability to swim in the deep waters. You have to buy them from King Zora in Zora's Waterfall.

Power Glove These give you the ability to pick up only ordinary rocks, not those outlined in black. You receive them from the Item Chest in the Desert Palace.

Titan's Mitt Now we get the full power of rock picking-up! With these you can pick up any rock you have a mind to pick up. They are in the Item Chest in Blind's Hideout.

Moon Pearl This is necessary if you intend in getting through the Dark World - you will keep your original form as long as you have this. In the Item Chest in the Tower of Hera.

Inventory

Lantern The first item you receive in the whole game. It will be in ANY chest through the beginning if you do not open a chest previous to that one. ((Just open it in your house.))

Bow Pretty self-explanatory. You shoot arrows from it. You also receive it from the Easter Palace Item Chest.

Silver Arrows These are necessary to give Ganon what he justly deserves - death. You receive them from the same fairy that gives you the Level 4 Sword. (This goes in addition to the Bow.)

Mushroom Necessary if you wish to own the Magic Powder. It is found somewhere in the Lost Woods.

Ice Rod Turns enemies into ice (duh!). You can retrieve it at the south-most point of Lake Hylia, and actually where it ends. It is in a fairy cave and bombs are required to open the way.

Fire Rod Burns enemies! Fries them into crispy critters it does. Uh, anyways you receive it from the Item Chest from Skull Palace.

Boomerang This is your second item in the game. Though it does not go very far, it is helpful in that it stuns enemies temporarily. You receive it from a chest in Hyrule Castle.

Magic Boomerang This weapon easily becomes your most used one in the game. Like the Boomerang it retrieves, hits crystals, and stuns enemies, but unlike the Boomerang it flies over the whole length of the screen if it does not hit something first. You get it from the same source as the Level 2 Shield.

Bomb I don't think I really need to explain this one. Furthermore, they are found in shops and bushes and pots and ANYWHERE in Hyrule.

Big Bomb Necessary if you wish to open the Fat Fairy's fountain in the Pyramid of Power. It is available in only one shop, the Bomb Shop in the Dark World (Light World Reference: your home). It cannot be carried, either, but is dragged! It's also not available until you have opened Ganon's Tower.

Bottles There are four that you can use to store anything from bees to fairies to potions. 1: From the guy sitting on the rug in Kakariko Village, costs 100 Rupees. 2: In the Back of the Kakariko Village's Tavern. 3: From the guy under the bridge east of your home. 4: From a chest in the Village of Outcasts (Light World Reference: Smithy house), and is only opened by the Old Man in the Desert of Mystery.

Bug Catching Net This item has two really good purposes, one more general than the other. The first, you use it to catch things that can be then stored in bottles (like fairies). The second is to shoot Agahnim's fireballs back at him which is far more effective than the sword. You get it from a sick boy in Kakariko Village.

The Book of Mudora Found in the library in Kakariko Village. This book is needed to open the way into the Desert Palace and to earn two Medallions. (Plus read the inscription on the Master Sword's Pedastool, but you don't have to.)

Magic Powder This only has one prominent use - to get your magic meter halved by the genie, but other than that you can have fun with it, too. This is earned after you have given the Witch the Mushroom and returned after a visit to the Dark World - it will be waiting inside the shop.

Magic Mirror Transports you from the Dark World to the Light World. You receive it after you have led the Old Man to his home through the mountain passages on your way to the Tower of Hera.

Magic Hammer With this you can hammer hard faced enemies, pound stakes in the ground, or hit frozen enemies (frozen with the Ice Rod or Ether Medallion) to earn Magic Decanters. You receive this from the Item Chest in the Palace of Darkness.

Hook Shot Hook across gaps or retreive far to reach items with this useful item. Found inside the Item Chest in the Flooded Palace.

Shovel You keep this until you have found the Flute which you need to dig for in the Haunted Grove in the Light Word. Received by the boy in the adjacent Dark World location.

Flute ((I want to note that in this game it is not called Ocarina though it looks like it! They did not call it Ocarina until the Gameboy game.)) Once you have taken it to the weather vane bird in Kakariko Village, it becomes an essential part to transportation throughout the Light World and is also needed to get into Misery Mire. Found in the Haunted Grove.

Staff of Somaria Used to create magic blocks or to shoot them rays of lights in four directions if the block is present. Found in the Item Chest in Misery Palace.

Staff of Byrna Quite useless as it just creates a ring of fire around you that kills any monsters it touches but consumes magic like no one's business. It is also a pain to get. It is located in a cave reached from a ledge you jump down to. You will need the Magic Hammer a couple of fairies and the Magic Cape wouldn't hurt. - You'll learn why when you get there.

Magic Cape Like the Staff of Byrna, another huge consumer of magic. It turns you invisible as well as insubstantial. Its only true good purpose is to reach a Heart Piece.

Magic Medallions Ether Freezes any enemies on the screen and a little beyond as well. You must have the Master Sword. Read the stone to the left of the Tower of Hera with the Book of Mudora to get it. Quake Causes an earthquake which turns enemies into blobs or kills them. Received from a cirlce of stones in the Light World's reference location Waterfall of Wishing. Throw something into the circle to invoke the wrath of the monster who will give it to you to make you go away. Bombos In my opinion, the best weapon of the whole game. It creates a circle of flames and then a mass of bomb explosions killing everything instantly. Received from a stone on a cliff that you must read with the Book of Mudora. To get to the cliff takes warping from the wall blocking off Misery Mire in the Dark World.