What game came up with the Heart metaphor for health

gaming-history

I'd like to know what game came up with hearts for showing the player's character's health.

It's very common today in many games, but how did this come to be?

Image of a game displaying hearts as a measure for health

Best Answer

What game came up with the Heart metaphor for health?

From various sources, it is implied that the first game to utilize the Heart symbol to represent health is the first Legend of Zelda games, released in 1986.

Heart symbols were used to symbolize "health" or "lives" in video games; influentially so in The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Heart Symbol

and

The original Zelda is the very first game to incorporate the trope and the franchise has been using it sinnce.
HeartsAreHearts1

How did this come to be?

Two years prior of Zelda's release, a game title Dragon Buster was the known as the first game to implement a health bar to indicate the players remaining health. It's possible Nintendo copied the idea and changed it to use hearts instead of a bar. But without a statement from the director, this is speculation


1 Credits to snoozingnewt