The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)

Welp, since I will be playing this same official English translation again, no need to make a new review, but I will just add my new experiences above the older review here.

Preliminary: Lots of niceties/QoL things I notice right off the bat. I do find the movement a bit slower than I remembered, but it's still fast for its time, and diagonal movement, jumping off ledges, etc. Such great colors to this. Chaotic beginning, as I remembered, and this time I'm allegedly going to try to only reference a guide, not follow it, so we shall see lol.

Early Game

There is just so much to love: the Tomba-style map that is accessible right from the beginning letting you dream of what's to come and what it might look like (I wish I had access to this as a kid I know I would have spent more time looking at the map than actually playing); the RPG-style hook that it's giving me, which I think is from the metroidvania-style upgrades (much like equipment in RPGs) that allows for a "linear enough" open world; and the combat much improved from its two previous games. Basically, if the sound strikes me more this time, this really could end up being an Ultimate.

I don't much care for the hype/action segment music, but the calm dialog music has been pretty good so far. Still, not a highlight of the game imo.

Yesss, Sage marking spot on map, journey to get Master Sword, simple yet epic plotline. Dig it. Not loving the organ music in here tho lol. I dig that you have the choice to collect the Big Heart Piece, thus allowing a limit version of the game to just have 3 hearts or whatnot. Multiple ways to play a game are good.

Oooo and now that I'm on the world map, the classic Zelda song I love from Links Awakening is playing. Phew. I was nervous cuz I already turned down the music during the organ/Sage/Sanctuary part, and it's too early in the game to be doing that already!

I can't wait till I get a better sword, cuz this short length I'm dealing with only exacerbates the issue I have with the first Zelda in that the angle you attack enemies is quite tedious to get right.

Nice. I know it's simple but so proud I solved this mini puzzle on my own :-p I usually would just turn to a guide for things like this but it was manageable enough (and there's a similar rock puzzle in Links Awakening in a cave somewhat early in the game that I used to pride myself in solving). Weee

And nice, I just had to test if attacking the chicken a bunch would cause the swarm of chickens :-p

Oooo you get the Dash so early! (Pegasus Shoes) I have a bit of a problem where I dash every where I can go :-p

Great music in the Ice Rod cave :) a lot of the best music reminds me of favorites from Super Mario World. And wow I didn't realize how useful the Good Bee is my first playthrough! Borderline OP!

I just love the whole map system in this

I just love how it rewards exploring, like in Link's Awakening, in such a robust and full way. I can only imagine if I owned this as a kid and could just play and play and slowly discover everything and ask my cousin for help etc (basically what I did with Link's Awakening heh)

I love this under bridge area! I don't think I went to it during my last playthrough

Thank goodness for well-placed hearts under pots etc. Well-designed. My main complaint still is just that the music isn't great. Tho I haven't muted it yet, it's just underwhelming compared to the quality of the Play.

This part is quite pretty!

Some more interesting music in the Dark World but still mostly meh compared to the Play, Feel, and Look. Even the moving the statue sounds in Dark Palace sound like a Mario sound effect :-p

Ok yea some of this just wouldn't have been possible with my time constraints without a guide. I mean, if this were one of my few games I had access to, like Link's Awakening was when I was a kid, I surely would have. And I love how the dungeons and even overworld puzzles are "logical" in that where you drop down, is where you are relative to space, etc. Things actually "fit" and you can actually see the places you want to get to and come up with ideas to get to them. Still, I just don't have weeks to devote to it :( That's fine tho, I love having a guide to reference and still enjoying a game!

It's all so addictive. So many nights I'd say I'd do just one more dungeon and then get hooked till bed time.

Gosh things are getting really hard in Dark Palace.

Mid Game

Imma consider after Dark Palace mid game. I'm glad there's a pretty good song after beating that hard Helmasaurus boss.

Ayyy the Shovel certainly comes later in this one compared to Link's Awakening. Tho obv this game is much longer and fuller. Uff this Flute guy's sound is a bit harsh tho. Really disappointed in this Sound considering it's SNES. Tho yessss to the chocobo looking bird character. Also yessss to teleportation, thank goodness I am using a guide now I would have never got that (except after a childhood of playing it I suppose haha)

Uff the RNG for that Piece of Heart from Digging Game was quite frustrating. Finally got it. And jeez some of these enemies are getting crazy high health. I assume I will get a sword upgrade to compensate? Ugggh and the hand thing that drops is really annoying during this slow statue moving process.

Uff beat that moth boss with only 2 hearts left lol. The collision masks were real funky there, I decided my best method was aiming from above directly at the body of the moth.

I really liked how the boss of the Gargoyle in the Town dungeon worked (I don't want to spoil it, but how you get the boss to manifest was interesting). Plus the boss fight itself was interesting (albeit incredibly tough).

Yay! I have the Tempered Sword! This game sure is addicting and getting in the way of my Ironman grinds lol. 1991 in general has been a bulky year for the backlog!

And yessss I didn't get a screenshot but the undead chickens in Dark World where normal chickens were :-p I'm quite proud of my block movign skills, haven't had to use the guide for those yet :-p, even the tougher ones in mid/late game. And I like the puzzles where you switchj between worlds. When I was a kid I didn't love taht in Seasons, which I had for GBC, cuz I was so used to Link's Awakening and thought it was gimmicky. Little did I know it had its roots in the earlier game Link to the Past :-p

Exposing the Misery Mire dungeon reminded me of that Link's Awakening swamp dungeon reveal :-p The eyeball boss of it was much more approachable than the last few. Time to do the Ice Palace (tonight?! ahhh, poor OSRS lol) since I did that out of order cuz I was nearby and I officially call it late game.

Late Game

Just 3 dungeons/sections left, including Ice Palace. (Welp, of course I wound up doing the Ice Palace that same night. So now just 2 more left!)

(many days later:) In this last dungeon, the quirky collision masks really cause some headaches. Sometimes it's fun in a puzzle sense, but sometimes it's just frustrating. Still, such an excellent template for Link's Awakening, and such an ambitious execution. Like I mentioned before, I really like that things you do in one room can affect other rooms, and puzzles actually make sense, e.g., where you drop down to, where the cracked wall leads to, etc.

Welp, time for the final battle

Gannon is definitely giving me Dracula from Castlevania vibes! Especially this enraged final form! (turned out not to even be final form, uff lol). Very epic. And wise that they had the final battle as basically its own dungeon/start place, so they could throw all the shots. His jump causing stun makes me wish there were a jump power-up, was that in Link's Awakening? I seem to remember a jump feature.

Sheesh, gotta switch between Fire Rod and the Bow to even do damage (which I didn't know until a good chunk through that last phase and being knocked out of the fighting arena and caving and looking at the guide lol... how quaint I can get knocked into the gaps, but he can't :-p ) and the process of switching was annoying but it was fun to have a truly difficult but fair final boss fight. I kept jumping at last minute screw ups etc. Finally beat him with just 4 hearts left.

These recap/look-back screens at the end really made me realize how beautiful the game really was. Even if the music wasn't as spectacular, the Look, Play, and Feel truly are. And the final song was triumphant and great, even if the overall Sound was just what I expect from the SNES-stepping-up-the-NES-game

Yesss I'm glad they knew any quality, epic game needs a sunset-to-daylight or some such type landscape image for the final screens and/or credits.

Look: 9.5/10 As good as it gets for this era. And the amazing map and menu UI and colors give it that extra .5 boost.

Sound: 8/10

Play: 10/10 Foundational and very well-made, well-designed, etc. But not sure if it warrants the 10 I originally had. Still, an absolutely amazing example of early action-adventure gameplay. Period. Well, on 2nd though, it deserves a 10. Sure, some flaws, but so are all my 10 stars. This does it as well as any can.

Feel: 9.5/10 If the music were better, a definite 10.

Attachment: 9.5/10 Definitely a forever game. Will be returning to this, as I already have. I'm glad it mostly held up to my original playthrough, unlike most my 2020 and 2021 playthrough ratings.

Overall: 9.3/10

FROM 2021 PLAYTHROUGH

Look: 9/10 If I had nostalgia ties to this game, this would likely be a 10/10. On future replays, I foresee this rating rising. I really really love the world map feature within game, so nice. And the colors, in general, are great.

Sound: 8/10 Nice to see (well, hear) a lot of the nostalgic songs I have for Link's Awakening had roots. I just always struggled to get past the annoying beginning. And regardless, like almost all videogames, I find the music to get repetitive eventually in any given dungeon, etc. With that being said, it's a huge improvement for the soundtrack compared to the prior games. For some specific good ones, I liked Desert Palace, the songs that Link sings, and the Hera Tower one. In short: consistent, but no track stood out on this playthrough. I wont count it toward the overall rating, but we will see in future playthroughs where it ends up standing.

Play: 10/10 Wow, what an ending! But I have always disliked the beginning, which is what has deterred me from engaging with this game over and over and over and over since childhood. Not that it was too hard, but it just didn't lure me in. (Mind you, I felt similarly, though not as strongly because I hadn't tested it as many times, about Final Fantasy 6, which is now an absolute favorite.) At the beginning of LttP, I felt that there were clunky controls in places like running into a wall for such a tiny difference. And I was still frustrated about the follower situations parts, from Zelda to the chest, etc. I usually don't like that in games, e.g. Resident Evils come to mind. And I also felt the menu/a/y/etc. makes sense but still is just "clunky." Though I got used to all these things, even when writing about them, I also remarked how nice the menu screen is, how I loved opening parts of the world map in a nice fluid way, etc. While I still think deep down, I prefer the straight stab function of the first 2, I was luckily used to the slash mechanic from my countess playthroughs of Link's Awakening. It took me a bit to get re-used to, but by the latter half of the game, I barely thought about this again -- just played played played... that's really the best part of this game: I had a drive to play. I did take a break while I was out of the country, but again attesting to the quality of this game--I came right back to this when I was back home. I wish there were a grind feature like in Zelda 2, I know a lot of people disliked leveling in Zelda, but I'm a nut for grinds ha. Also, though I appreciate the difficulty decrease when compared to Adventure of Link, it felt almost too easy sometimes with how often Hearts and other resources are earned from enemies. I noticed that was primarily just the first quarter of the game, but still, it never felt particularly challenging, I, personally, love that and have no qualms against it, but I could see others (or myself after countless playthroughs) possibly wishing for more of a challenge when it comes to being careful health and magic. In my opinion, I appreciate this difficulty level, because I feel confident that I could replay this without a guide, and that's a sign of a game I truly love (only Tomba and FFX and Crash 3 and a few others come to mind). So in sum, while I miss the simplicity and other features of the first 2, this game is still precedent-setting and did an excellent job maintaining the Zelda basics with lots of homages while also expanding on the gameplay and perfecting the Dungeon Items aspect.

Feel: 9/10 Again, we will see if this increases on future playthroughs. There were a lot of funny parts like when falling down the series of large pots in Hera Tower, and a lot of the dialogue. You can definitely see inspiration for many games, but I think of Tomba during my beloved world map screen in this. To think I thought the Link's Awakening world map screen was much more efficient and nostalgic feeling than the Tomba style--to see it, earlier than both those other games, in this form is so delightful. I also love how your portal back to the Dark World is marked on the World Map. The whole feature is so beautifully done and somehow, gasp, even better realized than in tomba. Finally, I loved the item acquisition execution and the storyline that--sure, cheesily, but in a fun way--made you acquire most of these items.

Attachment: 9/10 I definitely, without question, will be replaying this game. I can't wait to play it again and then on the next playthrough, not use a guide at all. It just has so much potential for nostalgia, replays, limitation challenges, and more. In short, I take back all I said against this game. We shall see if I feel similarly about Ocarina of Time, which I also have attempted over and over but never really got far. Link to the Past is an excellent example of why I am taking my time and replaying all games, even those I thought I disliked, in essentially chronological order for this gaming phase. I hope this gaming phase lasts long enough, because there's still so much to enjoy--and highlights like Link to the Past make it all worth it.

A classic that as aged very well, and is an unrefined, raw invention of a killer formula. A very strong 4/5.

• Controls are tight, combat is mostly satisfying, game is very polished.
• The open-ended progression and how it leads you across the world to discover things is masterfully done.
• The later dungeons are pretty rough, with uneven difficulty spikes, and don't maintain the quality level of earlier ones.
• A few big leaps in logic for what to do next, prone to getting stuck.

I wanted to play and finish Zelda a Link to the Past for so long, but couldn't because I got accustomed to how free, and simple the first game was. I like the first Zelda game on the NES and I'm a huge fan of how open and adventurous the game feels. you pick up the controller in the first game, and then you're on your own from there.

At first, I didn't like how limiting ALTTP was. but in the same time, replaying the same first dungeon with its rainy hunting feel, and I started to get some of the ideas that game was trying to introduce. It's no longer a random bomb the wall or burn a bush. You have to think where you're going and doing next!

The more I played, It became more difficult but not to an infuriating degree. it's still challenging and dungeons were very creative the more I kept progressing, and it didn't feel like "get to the end" just so could advance further. and The more I got tools to help in combat and maneuvering, it became even more fun than the first game.

Eventually, I unlocked the dark world for the first time, and the difficulty spiked from 10 to 50 in the whole game. at this point I stopped looking for freedom in the game, and looked for adventures and puzzles. get the seven maiden in particular order because I still need some tools to help me navigate and reach the next dungeon.

Each dungeon I entered in the dark world was fucking annoying, difficult, and frustrating. I didn't know by that point that I was doing these dungeons in the hard way. easier ways were provided but I had to know what I'm doing. In other words: I was fucking around and finding out.

By the time I reached the Ice Palace, I stopped fucking around. I knew what I'm doing and using my arsenal to full effect. It was where I realized that I could pick and throw the bombs I placed. a big "HOLY SHIT" moment for me when I realized that (I did it in Gargoyle's Domain but didn't notice it until later). the Ice Palace had all the clues in place to use them and progress forward and easily avoid obstacles then going back to obtain stuff I couldn't reach. the Ice Palace is by far the best dungeon in the dark world with Turtle Rock coming as a close second.

Gotta praise the boss fights, because they did not just stand there or move in a predictable pattern. they were ready to Fight! they weren't just a sword fight for you to go swoosh and be done with it. you'll need a plan and understand what specific boss has specific weakness. you're also not just stuck to one play style for every boss fight with specific weakness. That where the true freedom of this game shines the brightest.

The freedom in this game shines hard when you're doing the dungeons. use your brain, critical thinking, and understand the puzzle pieces to forge your way forward. the element of freedom is still there, you just have to look deeper to find it.

I finished the game for the first time and I instantly felt mad for some reason. when I reflected on why I was mad, it was because of how I frustratingly spent so much time in majority of the dark world dungeons and how I wasn't freely able to explore the overworld. I didn't realize there was something bigger than just exploring the world freely in the game.

The world is big. explore it and you will find your rewards within the game's bounded limitations of freedom. but the real reward is how you approach the whole game with different tactics and methods to progress forward. solve the many puzzles, going back and forward to write a new way to attack different enemy/boss, or reach areas you don't know how, eventually use the magic mirror, and sometimes reaching a whole different area accidentally by falling from a certain floor.

It's not the first Zelda game. A Link to the Past is different, and built different to expand and offer an experience no one managed to class in its time. It's a game that's more than 32 years old, and it still tested me and gave me a great experience.

I hope Ocarina of Time is as great or even better.

It's amazing to me that I'd never played this before and it absolutely deserves its reputation for being one of the greatest games of all time. This Zelda game is heavy on the dungeons, while I found some more enjoyable than others, it was fun to have differences between the dungeons, much more so than the original NES Zelda.

I'm typically not a fan of light/dark world switching, and in this game it was sometimes a bit tedious, but did't diminish the experience. If I had any gripes it would be some of the tediousness of traversal and getting places (solved with Switch save states).

Maybe not the Zelda that everyone else is playing, but while I wait for my chance on the household copy of TOTK I figured I'd play one of the only Zelda's I haven't played.

So far this is an all-timer - more straightforward than the original NES Zelda with a bit more story. The dungeons are challenging and fun, but I find myself just boomeranging and swording rather than use all the unique items you get here.

It's amazing how well Zelda has always done the pleasure of exploring, with heart pieces and secret grottos in A Link to The Past feeling just as rewarding as Breath of the Wild. This is something I think I didn't feel quite as much in Ocarina of Time

I don't think I've ever finished a Zelda game before and this one was quite a treat! Ive started and stopped this many times over the years, mostly due to emulator issues on under powered devices that would soft lock me.

My first Zelda game was ocarina of time. It was really cool to see where a lot of those mechanics came from in ALTTP.

I like that each dungeon can be beaten in about an hour as it works well with my schedule.

Third up: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Played on the SNES Classic)

I'm realizing I might need to re-adjust my rating scale so I'm bumping Zelda I & II down one star each and putting this at 4. Because this is a great game! It's well designed, the world(s) are thoughtfully crafted, the soundtrack (and sound design in general) absolutely rips: it' very hard to find fault in any of it! HOWEVER, it was also very hard for me to find the jaw dropping it-factor that makes this so any people's favorite Zelda. Maybe it's as simple as a nostalgia thing- for me that's Ocarina 3D and Wind Waker HD. But it's also probably that a lot of things in this game that would have been huge discoveries/innovations were pretty second nature to me as someone who's played a lot of later entries. Almost wish I could have played this in a vacuum to see if I had more LOVE for it. But I like it quite a bit. Only knock I would find is that it's not my personal favorite art style in the series. Not sure quite what it is but when I think of 2D entries like Minish Cap this falls a little short for me. Especially Link himself just feels a little toooo goofy? Maybe goofy is the wrong word, but certain things like giant goblin head statues just felt like they haven't aged well. The exception is the Triforce room at the end, which is so SO cool and a really nice ending. Also, the Legally Blonde "Where are they now" ending was really fun, and a nice cap to this game that was HIGHLY cinematic from start to finish in a suprising way for a SNES title.

But now I must leave A Link to the Past IN the past, it's time to go see a man about a fish (2019)

It took many attempts over the years going back to a GBA copy I had as a kid, but this game finally hooked me enough over this long weekend to get past the first few dungeons and see it through to the end. Thanks to finally completing my first 2D Zelda last year with the Link’s Awakening Switch remake, and the save states of the Switch Online release, I was more prepared to see where this game was coming from and enjoy its strengths.

ALttP’s structure was foundational for later games for good reason, since once it gets going the game is quite well-paced and hard to put down. It has some surprising flexibility in the order of completing things, and its reuse of the world map for the “dark world” makes for a great mix of familiarity and discovery that gives the game a strong rhythm and cohesiveness. Secrets off the main path are very worth seeking out and usually pretty interesting. All I can say against the pacing is that I think the beginning hours can feel a bit unremarkable and overwhelming compared to the rest.

A big barrier for me was always that the game’s combat, where attacks are fixed in four directions with no strafing or diagonal aim, felt awkward to me. It may have been a big step over TLoZ at the time, but I just had to get used to and tolerate it. What this gameplay does do pretty well though is make a lot of your items relevant for combat (and traversal), especially later on in the game. While the limitation of only having one item equipped makes these interactions a bit clunky, it’s still fun mastering each enemy and boss with their specific counter, and chaining together items in complex dungeon rooms. The final boss in particular feels really good.

Another acquired taste compared to later Zelda titles was the pretty minimal storytelling. There’s interesting lore, but it definitely seemed more about atmosphere than story and emotional payoffs. That atmosphere may not be OoT/MM/Wind Waker level, but it’s solid thanks to strong presentation for the era. The music and sound are unsurprisingly good, and I think the game’s colorful pixel art looks really sharp and arguably is the best-looking of the top-down Zelda games.

The dark world was something I really liked, but I will say enemies do waaay too much damage in it. This creates a certain sense of foreboding and danger, but that brings along annoyance as well. Throughout the game there were other small segments whose challenge I felt was annoying or tedious, like keys hidden in random jars, bosses that knock you off the edge requiring a restart, randomized minigames, overly hidden and laborious upgrade systems, etc. Overall though, the challenge of progressing felt pretty good. I was never overly stuck on anything to a point of frustration.

I could go on and on about different aspects of the game, but the main point is that it was very fun to work through this game once I got into the groove of its old-school mechanics and design sensibilities. It’s missing a certain magic and memorability compared to the peaks of my favorite 3D Zeldas, but I found it was a tighter and more consistent experience at least than most of the Zeldas that came after it. That very solid, even experience is valuable in its own right.

For a while I have wanted to play a Zelda game, it's a franchise I somehow always missed the major releases for, or purchased them and just haven't gotten around to playing (looking at you Breath of the Wild).

I debated a while which title to be my first real attempt, and landed on Link to the Past, as I wanted to start with a 2D Zelda.

At first I was loving it, the graphics have ages brilliantly. The gameplay is basic but very tight, and I LOVED the dungeons.

However, after the 3-4th dungeon, I just felt like something was missing to really grab me. I wasn't really having fun anymore, but was still playing because of how much hype surrounds the game.

By the 5/6th dungeon I wasn't invested anymore, and playing felt like a chore, so I put the game down. I thought for a few days, reflecting on the game and came to this conclusion.

Adventure games aren't often my jam, the story is sort of here, but not rich enough to keep me invested. But the element I really found missing, that was in a similar title I loved, Final Fantasy Adventure was a leveling mechanic. I get Zelda is more about the journey and gaining new items/abilities, but I just found myself getting bored with the loop. Where the initial dungeons really were a lot of fun, later dungeons felt similar patterns.

I see why people love this game, what is here is extremely tight, done well, and polished. The boss fights in particular were really good and varied. But for me, the game isn't quite what I look for.

I will probably eventually try BotW and maybe a 3D zelda title, but for now I feel satisfied knowing that I am not missing a franchise that I will absolutely fall in love with (again this is a me specific preference, I get why others love these titles)

A Link to the Past is very similar to the original Legend of Zelda and it also improves every possible aspect of the first game. The two things of that list I appreciated the most are the world map with clear target locations and the game's visuals. Oh god, the visuals, they're so beautiful, a thought came to me that SNES may actually have my favorite graphics of all generations of video game platforms. Unfortunately, despite how much I wanted to love this game, I still found it unplayable without a walkthrough guide, which really ruined the magic for me. Labyrinthic nature of the later dungeons which are also full of extremely non-obvious puzzles, and a few way too well hidden items necessary to make a progress in the story - these two things combined make up for the kind of game design I just don't enjoy. Don't get me wrong, aside of that I had a fun time with A Link to the Past, it's just that using a guide undermined the game's spirit of adventure for me.

But the graphics, man!

A Link to the Past is only the third title in the Zelda franchise yet its smooth refinement of the original blueprints laid down by the first Legend of Zelda ensured the future direction of a majority of its successors.

In a lot of ways, A Link to the Past seems to me like a course correction. It lifts only a little from Zelda II: the Adventure of Link, the likes of which we’ve not seen much of since. Notably gone are the side-scrolling elements and a lot of the gameplay that leans heavily toward RPGishness. Rather, Link to the Past feels like the true heir of the original Zelda, regardless of how respected or disrespected the Castlevania-esque Zelda II remains. In refining the original, A Link to the Past established a gameplay and presentation structure for the adventure game genre which emphasizes a balance of overworld progression, dungeon exploration, secret hunting, and item acquisition used in every single Zelda game since. It’s contributions to the series cannot be overstated.

Further, Link’s now iconic Master Sword, the familiar top-down perspective, the emphasis on exploration and experimentation, the jumping between two worlds, the earliest seeds of a complex timeline, the inclusion of a sword-swing rather than a sword-stab, the staple of quirky, lovable characters, the familiar musical jangles, all of these were either introduced for the first time or put to polish by Link to the Past. As if these weren’t enough to make this game a piece of gaming history, it is also widely considered to be one of the greatest games on the Super Nintendo, if not one of the greatest games ever and the definitive Zelda title.

Now that all of that has been said, maybe we can attempt to dispense with the perpetual lauding that this game gets and rightfully deserves. A Link to the Past is phenomenally memorialized in many a gaming heart but if we’re to have any sensible discussions of its merits and even its failings missed opportunities then we must get critical. And sometimes, a thing is more beautiful for its flaws than if it were flawless.

Attempting to cut through the legendary aura that has built up around this game is nearly impossible. In reviewing retro games, especially ones of this caliber, it’s consistently a challenge to try to circumnavigate things like nostalgia and widespread opinion.

But what do I honestly think of Link to the Past? I think it’s a seminal Zelda game that established the direction its franchise was to take, yes, but three detracting elements present themselves to my mind. I think its comparatively sparse storytelling, repetitive music, constant backtracking/getting lost take away from the ultimate experience. I think that in spite of these things, however, that this is perhaps the best example of classic Zelda, representing what the series’ top-down games offer and what drawbacks they bear.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past/

Continuing on with playing as many Zelda games in chronological-by-release-date order as I can before Breath of the Wild releases, heeeeeere's number 3!

My original experience with this game was shortly after it came out. It may even be my first SNES game. I just remember that my parents, to keep me, my brother, and cousin entertained during a not-so-exciting Christmas Eve, rented the just-recently-released SNES for us to play back in 1991. I'm probably a little fuzzy on the details of a memory from 25 years ago, but I think I recall being a little disappointed they didn't grab us Super Mario World because it had been completely rented out. Having not cared much for the previous Zelda games on the NES (I was way too young and impatient to understand them. And as I just found out through my recent FAQ-heavy and save-state abusing play-throughs on Wii U, I can understand why), I still decided to make the most of it.

And wow. I remember being blown away with the intro, that startup music still sends some tingles down my spine. The falling rain that appears as you first make your way to the castle, emphasizing how dark and scary times were ahead, was something I had never thought possible in a video game. I recall wandering all around the castle as Princess Zelda kept telepathically telling me "Hey dummy, there's a secret way inside and it's so obvious it's not really even a secret." I had a sense of dread as I saw my killed uncle in the first hallway (spoiler alert: he's fine and dandy at the very end? What?), and feeling sorry for the guard who said he knew he was going to change to something more evil soon, too.

I think this was the first time in my life I learned what a prequel was. "This game takes place 100 years BEFORE the first one?! What?! Can they DO that? Does that mean the Link in the first game is a hundred years old and..." I still don't understand the timeline and feel like this game breaks some canon with the previous entries (the tri-force stays sealed FOREVER you say?), and I realize it only gets murkier from here on out. Oh well.

I did not finish the game that first rental. Nor any of the others (pretty sure back then when I rented a game I would just find the save slot that looked to be furthest along and go with that. I, consequently, never had any idea what was going on or where the hell I should go). When I got my own copy near the end of the SNES' life, I actually managed to get pretty far along until a friend showed me the ending on his copy, and I thought to myself "Welp, no need to play that one any more now that the plot's ruined". Oh boy, how dumb.

But to get to the actual meat and potatoes: THIS GAME STILL STANDS UP AND HAS AGED BEAUTIFULLY.

Maybe there's some nostalgia glasses on, but I had tons of fun with LttP. The controls were pretty tight (although there was some wonkiness I suspect from both my Pro Controller and the Virtual Console itself, but nothing too game-breaking), the UI was intuitive (but maybe a little clunky by today's standards; frequently pausing and switching items back and forth could get tedious), the plot, though not at all deep presented itself well, and it was enjoyable stopping to think through and solve all the various puzzles.

I had told myself at the beginning of playing this one that I was going to do my best not to use a guide. That proved interesting, as having played a good chunk of it 20-some years ago, there were parts I definitely remembered (aha! I need to pull THAT lever, and not that one, lest I want to bathe in snakes), and some puzzles it may as well have been my first time ever seeing it. One weird part was when I got to one of the dungeons that may as well be called the Water Temple. I did the water-draining puzzle, jumped in and.... couldn't swim. "Oh yeah! I forgot that I need the flippers from the Zoras!". I don't recall anyone in the game telling me I needed to do that. Maybe there's an NPC in a cave somewhere who says something semi-useful like "Do you enjoy swimming? The Zoras sure do! You should go see them in the north if you want to be an olympic swimming champion some day.", but I never ran into them this play through. I don't even know how I figured that out the first time. Probably ran around randomly stabbing things until I came across the king frog, or found the solution in a copy of Nintendo Power that my library used to bound into thick hardbacks.

Later in the game, though, there were a few times where I was playing till the wee hours of the morning. Super exhausted and no longer thinking or playing well, I'd have to make a save state and continue on at a later date. When I came back a day or two later, I'd be at a loss as to what I had accomplished and where I was supposed to go, so after some mindless running around for awhile I caved and looked up, just a hint, of what I needed to do next. More often than not I regretted that, saying "Oh DUH! If I had just played around that area for a few more seconds..." Finding an entrance to the last part of the dungeon in the Dark World's version of the Lost Woods comes to mind.

In one of the last dungeons there was a stupid brick that needed to be pushed to reveal a chest with a key inside. The brick was hardly obvious, so I felt justified using a guide there as I most certainly did not feel like wandering around for another few hours randomly stabbing things as I had the time to do in my youth.

After that, I had missed 2 or 3 heart pieces and looked up where to find them, and went ahead and got the Golden Bee and accessed Chris Houlihan's secret room for the shiggles of a "complete" play through.

This use of a guide significantly pales in contrast to the first two Zelda games, where I essentially clung onto them for dear life. Accidentally go the wrong way in Link to the Past? No worries, you figure it out yourself through observation and wander on back. Lose your way in The Legend of Zelda or The Adventure of Link? You just wasted a couple of frustrating hours of your life, and you don't even realize it.

Save states, too. In the original games it seemed like I was saving after every couple of seconds, to preserve the state where I was still alive and at full health, otherwise a rare occurrence. Being at full health in those titles, and thus having your sword beam, was the only time the games felt not-awful. In contrast, it feels SUPER FUN when you manage to get full health in LttP, but otherwise not lacking in the enjoyment department when you're not. So save states, while still abused this time, were a little more conservative and saved for the trickier parts and long boss battles.

In conclusion, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is still fun to pick up and play. Addictively so. It's also great to just wander around non-purposely and see what all you run into, and experiment with the environment around you.

This has always been my favorite Zelda title, even after playing Ocarina of Time and later Link Between Worlds. Though the latter improved much of the game play and plot of its predecessor (and convinced me to buy a 3DS... which got me back into Nintendo), I'll always remember how this game first wowed me with what video games were capable of, and how it later lead me to playing more plot-heavy, strategic, puzzle-y RPGs.

Thank you for being a great game Link to the Past! You are the True Hero.

Now on to Link's Awakening!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Gameplay: 9.0

A Link to the Past improves on the original Legend of Zelda game in every conceivable way. You have more items to collect, more abilities to discover and use and just more to do in general. For the most part everything handles really well. Slashing your sword, throwing your boomerang and launching your hookshot all feel very satisfying, though once in a while things don’t quite work as well as I’d like. There were a few instances where I could not for the life of me get Link to face the right direction, resulting in some encounters being more of a headache than they should have been.

Quirks aside, the game is a lot of fun to play. Dungeons are all nicely designed with interesting puzzles and enemies. Boss encounters are great and, aside from a couple mini-bosses at the endgame, are all unique both in style and mechanics. Also excellent is the game’s Overworld map, which includes destination markers so you always know where you need to be going… even if it’s not always clear on how to get there.

Story / Value: 9.3

The original Legend of Zelda had virtually no narrative, whereas Link’s Awakening and Oracle of Seasons had some very good storytelling mechanics in place. Link to the Past falls somewhere between those two, with just enough story and character to keep the game flowing, but not so much that the game ever feels linear. The game does a really good job of keeping you track, but exploration will always be at the forefront. In fact it’s required if you ever hope to uncover the several secrets hidden around the game’s two overworlds and 12 dungeons.

There’s a TON to do in Link to the Past, but I wouldn’t have been able to do half of it without a strategy guide. Some of the game’s secrets are so secret, they’re practically a secret to everyone! …That was forced, but really, even with the guide I managed to miss a single heart piece and still have no idea which one it was!

Presentation: 9.3

There’s nothing really special about the visuals themselves. They’re great, clean, colorful and still hold up great today. What does make them special is how iconic the style has become. Even recent games like Link Between Worlds have drawn from the classic design of this game, not to mention the Game Boy/Color/Advance entries. That’s not to say I think it’s the greatest looking SNES game of all time or anything, but it’s impossible for me to really say anything bad about the visuals either. It’s a solid presentation through and through.

Music: 9.5

What is there really to say? It’s a Zelda game. The music is beautiful, timeless and used perfectly. I still have various tracks running through my head.

Sound: 9.5

Zelda’s sound effects are almost as iconic as its music, and this game has no exceptions. The sounds associated with filling your health bar, finding items and earning rupees are just as meaningful now as they were over 25 years ago!

Fun: 8.8

I enjoyed my time with Link to the Past. People have been getting onto me for not playing this game forever, so it’s nice to finally have it under my belt. I can’t say I walked away from it feeling like my mind had been blown, and I wish a guide wasn’t practically required to get the most of it, but I generally had a good time. Actually, the most fun I had with this one where the times I didn’t need to pick up a guide at all, which almost has me interested in learning to speedrun this game…

Afterthoughts:

I think I may have sabotaged myself by playing Oracle and Awakening before playing this game. Both games came out after Link to the Past, allowing them to evolve mechanically, and both of them had much better narratives that I just don’t think Link to the Past matched. I know that’s an unfair comparison, but it’s hard for me not to make, especially considering I missed out on this game the first time around. In fact, my first proper introduction to the Zelda franchise was with Ocarina of Time, meaning Link to the Past practically never stood a chance with me!

That said, it’s a fantastic game that I’m glad I finally took the time to play through. I wouldn’t be too surprised to catch myself dropping it back in the SNES from time to time.

Review:

Playthrough: