Here are enemy descriptions from the original NES Legend of Zelda manual:
A. Overworld
Tektite
These spidery things that jump, have little fighting power. Red ones move about faster than blue ones.
Octorok
An octopus, red or blue, that lives above the ground. The blue ones spit out rocks at link.
Leever
They live in the ground and eat up the energy of creatures that approach them. Blue Leevers are a little stronger.
Peahat
The ghost of a flower with little attacking power. Link can eliminate it only when it's standing still.
Moblin
A bulldog-like goblin who lives in the forest. He attacks by throwing spears.
Armos
A fairly strong soldier who has been turned into a stone statue. He moves and attacks if touched by Link.
Ghini
A ghost as strong as
Armos who lives in the graveyard. There are two types; Ghinis who are there from the start, and those who appears when Link touches the gravestones.
Lynel
Guards
Death Mountain. Link's little shield can't stop his sword attacks.
Zola
Half-fish, half-woman who lives in the water. She attacks by spitting out a ball that Link's little shield can't hold back.
Rock
These indestructible rocks fall off Death Mountain to attack Link.
B. Underworld
Zol &
Gel
Zols are Jelly-like monsters that split into two Gels when cut by Link. Gels have less attacking power than Zols.
Rope
A poisonous snake with little attacking power. It senses other creatures quickly and suddenly comes after them.
Vire &
Keese
Vire is a devil that splits into Keeses when cut by Link's sword. Keeses have less attacking power.
Stalfos
A skeleton with attacking power.
Wall Master
A monster hand that appears out of the labyrinth wall. If it catches Link, it takes him back to the entrance of the labyrinth.
Goriya
A blue or red little devil that uses boomerangs. Blue Goriyas are stronger.
Wizzrobe
The powerful Master of Movement. He appears here and there letting out magic spells that Link's little shield can't hold back.
Darknut
A knight with lots of attacking power. He repels Link's attacks from the front with his shield.
Pols Voice
A ghost with big ears and a weak point - he hates loud noise.
Lanmola
A fast-moving gigantic centipede. Attacking his head won't work.
Like Like
A tube-like monster that eats magic shields.
Gibdo
A powerful Mummy Man with strange powers.
Moldorm
The huge worm living in the labyrinths. It grows smaller as Link attacks.
Dodongo
A giant Rhinoceros with little attacking power. It bounces off attacks with its thick hide.
Manhandla
A large, mean man-eating flower with four hands. It moves faster as it looses it hands.
Aquamentus
A Unicorn having lots of attacking power. It emits beams.
Patra
The Patra attack in strong groups.
Digdogger
Big, strong sea urchins. They shrivel up when attacked.
Gohma
The super-huge crab with a hard shell that repulses any attack. Attack its weak point with a special weapon.
Gleeok
A huge dragon that has 2 to 4 heads and spits out beams at Link. The heads cut off by Link fly around in the air.
Head of Gleeok
Bubble
The spirit of the dead. When it catches Link, he won't be able to unsheath his sword for while.
Traps and
Stone Statues
They suddently attack Link when he approaches them.
Now that Nintendo has spoken their turn, I'll point out the flaws in the above enemy descriptions. Not the typos/dumb enemy names/etc, but the actual discrepencies.
Octorok: Contrary to the manual's description, both the red *and* the blue ones spit out rocks at Link.
Leever: Saying that they "eat up the energy of creatures that approach them" may be a little misleading; Leevers may only hurt Link by bumping into him.
Wizzrobe: While the orange Wizzrobes DO in fact "appear here and there," the blue ones merely glide about the room in an entirely visible fashion.
Pols Voice: These creatures are not bothered by loud noises; what they hate is Link's bow and arrow. (Also, they're supposed to be ghosts? I don't think so)
Dodongo: I would hardly say they have "weak attacking power."
Patra: Another misleading one here. I would not say the Patra attack in "groups." Patra appears to be a large disgusting fly with several gnats orbiting him. You only ever fight one of these bug-with-gnats enemies at a time.
Digdogger: These do not shrivel up "when attacked." They shrivel up when you play a tune on your recorder.
Kudos go to
Nintendo, who published this manual, and the fine folks at zeldaclassic.com who made it available online.