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

Maybe the Dark world/golden world is meant to be in the past? But that's not really conveyed in game (maybe in the manual?). So Link to the past would honestly make more sense for Ocarina of Time given how central time travel was to that game. But I digress over this nitpick. Still a great game that feels like the first true sequel to the original. I personally didn't mind how experimental Zelda 2 was, but it certainly was rough and deeply flawed. This Zelda feels like a more natural follow-up to the original game. There are big differences though in the design.

The first big departure is in the linearity of the game. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The first part of the game is fairly linear, with you needing to tackle dungeons sequentially to have the right item to further progress. In this sense, Zelda started to take on more of a Metroid style design philosophy. Where the designers gatekeep parts of the game from you, to direct you, where these obstacles require an item to bypass. There was some of this in the original Zelda. Mostly you needed a raft and ladder, but overall you had more freedom to explore in the original Zelda than we do in this entry. I don't mind the linearity. It's handled well and gives the game a great sense of pacing. After this initial first part of the game, it does start to become less linear. Essentially after the mastersword is acquired, you know where all the remaining dungeons are, they are numbered in the order you should go to them, but you can tackle them a bit out of order, with some caveats. I think this was a good compromise. I'm sure at the time, plenty of people probably criticized the original game of being too cryptic, which would be fair. This time around, you always know where you should go, thanks to a map and bright flashing icons screaming about where to go next. That said, even if you know where to go, it can still be a bit of puzzle sometimes getting there.

The main gimmick in this Zelda game, which ended up being a staple in the series (a gimmick themed around a game, not the specific mechanic here), going to the Dark world is introduced right before you start the final phase of the games prelude (getting the stones to unlock the mastersword). If you are observant, you may have noticed a heart piece out of reach, but going in and out of the dark world allows you to reach this heart piece. It's in a pretty obvious spot, so it will draw your attention, but this does teach you that you will need to bounce between the Dark and Light world to progress and get more secrets. It's nice design, though this mechanic is never used directly in a dungeon (only at the start, such as one dungeon requiring you to drain the water in the Light World before returning). Not bad by any means, but would have been neat to see a greater integration of this mechanic.

The game is full of secrets, like the first game, but there are multiple improvements and in game hints to help you find them. For one thing, walls that are destructible will typically be cracked to signify you can break them. Then there are townsfolks that will hint at multiple secrets for you to uncover and there's a fortune teller for even more hints. You really don't need a guide, like you do for the first Zelda. The Map is nice. It always communicates the general area you need to go, and there never really is ambiguity in your current objective.

The controls are a big improvement over the first game. Combat and movement just feel better. Also having the sprint does mean Link has some of the fastest speed in this game compared to later entries (I guess having Epona does help, but that's limited to overworld traversal). There is a heavy emphasis on combat, like the first game, but dungeons now have more puzzles. In the first Zelda, each dungeon, for the most part, was essentially a combat gauntlet. There were times where you would have to push a block or destroy a wall, but this Zelda feels like the first time they implemented actual puzzles into gameplay. Both in navigating to dungeons, but also within them. Most puzzles do basically boil down to pushing blocks or stepping on switches, but navigation within a dungeon can be a bit obtuse. Funny enough, when I got stumped, I often felt stupid when finally learning how to progress. For example, in one of the dark palaces, there's a switch that needs to have you standing on it to keep the door open. There are statues in the room, so you are meant to drag a statue ontop of the switch. What stumped me, was up to this point you never had to drag an object backwards. There were blocks you could push, but they were typically restricted to being pushed in only a few directions and you can only push once. I honestly thought you couldn't grab and drag a statue in that direction. Once I looked it up, it was so simple I just face palmed myself. Didn't give the old game enough credit.

I do remember the ice palace being really hard to navigate back in the day, but for whatever reason, it didn't really give me any trouble on this playthrough and I didn't need to look anything up. It was the simple puzzles I overthought that required me to look up.

The game does have a good sense of progression too, with your sword upgrades. There are a few mandatory secrets that feel a bit cheap. Such as the secret cursed fairy fountain needed to beat the final boss. But aside from a few obscure and required secrets, this does feel like a big improvement over the first game with great art and level design. It's fun and it's understandable that every sequel maintained the same bones as A Link To The Past. Excluding BOTW and TOTK.

I do still find myself preferring Ocarina of Time, but I think A Link to The Past is a great entry and classic. It introduced so many staples for the franchise and did so aptly. Whether it's a gimmick around two worlds, the hook shot, or a tutorial set of dungeons (always 3 for whatever reason) followed by the real game starting. Exploration is still a big part in A Link To The Past, and with all the hidden items and collectibles, it does consistently reward your curiosity. It may not be as open and non-linear as the original game, but it does open up after the tutorial dungeons if you want to sequence break. The only thing I will say is it seems like the justification for the linearity was due to the plot (according to the director). This feels like a lackluster explanation. Mostly because the plot is pretty irrelevant. What each maiden says to you doesn't really make more sense in linear order. The plot in general has always been a weak point for nintendo. What they do great is game and level design. They deliver in spades here.

This title is often celebrated as one of the most influential action-adventure games ever made, and for good reason. It took the top-down formula of the original Zelda on the NES and refined it into something richer, more polished, and much more expansive. The MC is yet again Link, as he sets out to rescue Zelda and ultimately save Hyrule from the dark sorcerer Agahnim and the looming threat of Ganon. While the narrative is simple by today’s standards, at the time it felt grand, and the game’s atmosphere, enhanced by its music and world design, gave the journey a sense of epic scale.

I remember the first time playing this back in the day, and feeling that this was the most unique game that I've ever played, it is funny because nowadays, most videogames use a lot of elements that this one introduced, so we take them for granted. One of the most groundbreaking features is the dual-world mechanic. The Light World and Dark World mirror each other but contain different geography, puzzles, and secrets. This system forces you to think creatively, switching between worlds to solve problems and unlock hidden areas. It was a clever design choice that expanded exploration and gave players a deeper sense of discovery.

I had a similar feeling while playing SOTN, with the Inverted Castle feature. Gameplay-wise, this game shines with tight controls, engaging combat, and a steady flow of new items that keep the experience fresh. Tools like the Hookshot, Pegasus Boots, and the Master Sword became series staples, and the dungeon design balances combat, puzzles, and navigation in a way that still feels satisfying today. Each dungeon feels unique, and the bosses are memorable challenges that reward strategy rather than brute force. One title inspired by this is the first Alundra entry in the PlayStation 1, practically a 1-1 game but in the Sony platform, using absolutely all the elements of this Nintendo game.

The presentation also deserves praise. The colorful 16-bit visuals remain charming, with detailed sprites and environments that bring Hyrule to life. The soundtrack is iconic, introducing themes that would go on to define the series for decades. What makes the game endure, though, is how it captures the spirit of adventure. There’s always something new to discover, hidden heart pieces, secret caves, and clever puzzles scattered across the world. It never feels bloated or overwhelming, but instead strikes a perfect balance between guided progression and rewarding curiosity.

Even over 30 years later, A Link to the Past remains one of the high points of the Zelda franchise. Its design laid the foundation for future classics like Ocarina of Time while still standing tall as a timeless experience in its own right. This is one of the biggest masterpieces in gaming history, and a must-play for everybody. I also encourage diving into the ROM hacks scene, it is one of the most modded retro games of all time, similar to what happened with Super Mario World in the same platform. A lot of them look like very good alternative experiences.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of those difficult-to-talk-about games because it has been acclaimed left and right since its release as one of the greatest of all time, and it generally maintains that status. It is not unlike something like Final Fantasy VII or Half-Life 2 in its universal acclaim, and I would agree there is really no way not to enjoy it. It is a bright and nostalgic title (with iconic music that has been remixed for countless other entries in the series). Its mechanics have influenced Zelda for decades afterward and honestly spawned a whole subgenre of top-down action games. It is certainly influential, it is certainly fun, and it is a great-looking game. There are very few negatives about A Link to the Past.

The way I am going to look at it is through the lens of what has held up nearly 35 years after release, and it is surprising how much remains fresh, but also interesting how much has been improved upon. For one, the gameplay is really broken up into a few distinct loops. The first loop, which is the least fresh, is battling enemies. At their most simple, you might fight a bat or a knight, and you are just swinging your sword. This is something we have seen before in The Legend of Zelda on the NES. The Ys titles had a simple gameplay loop like this. Many games did. It is almost as basic as you can get before the game introduces more tools and mechanics, but even with the bow, bombs, fire rod, etc. there is not much mechanical freshness.

Most of what originated here has since been supplanted by fresher mechanics. I know this title is where a lot of it started, and I respect that, but everything that exists here has been remixed, replaced, or evolved in later games. Take the lantern: you press a button and light a short fire. Or the ice rod and fire rod, where you press a button and a basic spell shoots out horizontally or vertically. Even the boomerang is almost useless unless you need to grab something far away, which does not happen often. The bow and arrow is just a simple shot.

So the problem with A Link to the Past, which is not really a problem because it is still fun, is that one of the anachronicities of playing this game in 2025 is how simple each tool is. Some of them are cool. There is a cane that creates a platform in front of you, which feels like an experimental idea in 1991. But it is rarely used. You get it near the end of the game, use it a few times, and by then you are within an hour of the final boss.

This highlights another issue, which is that the bosses are so simple. A lot of them are very easy. Some are fun, like the crab with a fire side and an ice side where you use the rods, but even that is basic. Coming back after playing almost any modern game, you notice that bosses in A Link to the Past are usually just slash until it dies, or use an item at an obvious moment and then slash. They are not particularly challenging or creative. It is a shame, because the design meta for dungeons and bosses having a strong thematic tie-in with the dungeon’s item had not yet been established. Later games built dungeons where the item, the puzzles, and the boss fight all tied together mechanically and thematically. A Link to the Past was not quite there yet.

There are a couple of situations where you are stuck in between dungeons and have to figure out where to go next, and honestly there is just so much bullshit with this. A lot of times it is not clear where to go. I know there was one situation where, in the Dark World before the fifth dungeon, there is a thief town, and you have to pull down on a statue. I knew I had to do that because I looked at the map and saw that the number 5 was on top of that statue, so I tried pulling down, and it did not work. Maybe I was slightly off-center. Maybe I did something wrong. I am not saying it’s the game’s fault, but I tried pulling down, I tried bombing, I tried everything, and to my knowledge I ran around both maps looking for hints and clues. You do get some. You bomb open a cave, and there is an odd little hand that gives you a hint about the thief town, but it is not the hint you need. Yes, I know I need to go there, but what about the statue? That was my thought process, and eventually I ended up Googling that one, which annoyed me a bit because I pridefully wanted to beat the game without any hints. I used maybe three or four hints total, and that was one of them — not mad about it.

The discovery part is still fun. While you are running around lost, you are finding heart pieces, rupees, bonus secrets, fairy fountains, and all these little extras. Best of all, you are meeting NPCs that are so characteristically Zelda. I grew up mostly playing Ocarina of Time, although I played this game and others too, and I always think of the quirky, idiosyncratic NPCs in Ocarina and Majora’s Mask. But it is interesting how well those characters capture the energy and flair of this game, because you can tell the design is unrestrained, yet it all comes together into a cohesive, wacky world. Everything somehow fits, like getting hit with a beam that turns you into a rabbit who cannot attack, or the sentient hand, or the silent thief with the mustache. It is eerie, but in a way that is endearing and quirky. It is never unsettling, just a weird vibe that Zelda does so well.

The puzzles are pretty good, but they get repetitive. By the fifth or sixth dungeon, you are seeing a lot of the same ideas. There is some freshness, mostly in visual design. I really enjoyed the Ice Palace, which I read a lot of people did not like, and the water dungeon too, because they had puzzle loops or themes that were unique to that dungeon. Some of the others were less interesting, where you just bomb a wall, throw a pot into a door, find a switch, or kill all the enemies in the room. That is fun, but it is also limited. Later Zelda games sharpened puzzle design a lot more and integrated tools better, especially in 3D. In Ocarina of Time, you pick up the hookshot, and the dungeon transforms because you can suddenly do so much more. A Link to the Past does not really do that. You solve most of the dungeon without the new item, and then use it for a few obvious spots near the end. Sometimes it factors into the boss fight, sometimes not.

There are still cool moments. In the Thieves’ Dungeon, you pick up a fake princess who transforms into the boss. I saw that coming, and most people probably did, but that is part of the charm of Zelda. The same with the monkey who follows you and asks for rupees. It is all part of what makes Zelda weird and lovely.

Overall, this is my review of a game that I almost loved but found myself criticizing because of its reputation. Visually and sonically, it is perfect. This might be the best-looking 16-bit game I can think of. The art direction, color palette, and world design are incredible. The music is iconic, the sound design is iconic, the gameplay is fun, the puzzles overall are good, and the dungeons are fun. The game flows well, there is a lot to discover if you look carefully, and exploration is encouraged. All the things you expect from Zelda are true. But it is also lacking compared to its nearly perfect reputation. In fact, I think I prefer Link’s Awakening DX. I do not know if that is sacrilege or common, but I will definitely come back with a review on that sometime soon.

It simply isn't the Zelda experience that I am looking for. This game is about two things;

1. Combing through the overworld for items
2. Fighting your way through dungeons in order to reach the boss with as much health as possible. Which is a battle of attrition that I neither wanted nor expected.

If #1 is not done thoroughly after completing each dungeon, you WILL reach the boss of a future dungeon and have no way of defeating it (probably after using an expensive healing item). The gameplay loop is ruined whenever events like this happen. It wasn't so bad when I had to redo the Ganon fight because I needed to obtain the Silver arrows, but it was awful when I realized I needed the ice rod for the turtle boss. Yes there is built-in hint system and NPCs who will tell you about these items and other stuff you could never figure out on your own, but this mostly just takes me out of the experience. I play Zelda games for the interesting dungeon items that change my entire view of the landscape. Situations where the possibilities seem endless due to all the things now available to me. These moments do not occur as frequently as in other Zelda games. Often, I feel like a little boy putting posters up for his lost dog when I ask every NPC and hint giver "I have you seen my magic wand and/or sword". For its time , it is clear to see how this was an amazing masterpiece, but I would rather have played Link's Awakening again.

Finally finished the game. Thank god for save state on switch online. Dont think I would have finished otherwise. Really great game but very frustating sometimes. I got really lost all the time in the overworld and had to use guides sometimes. Especially the flute and the emblems.

The dungeons were great and hard enough that I still could figure out all the puzzles. The bosses were really hard and that’s were I used save states. Saved a lot of time instead of running the dungeon all over again. Looks like it took about 25h for me.

I give it an 8/10 in the year 2024. If I had played this when it came out Im sure it would be a 10/10.

With A Link to the Past, I have now gotten to the section of Zelda games that I am well familiar with. I first played A Link to the Past when it was released on the Game Boy Advance, and I found it very easy to appreciate why this game is so beloved. After the weird detour of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past returned to the formula of the original Zelda and greatly expanded on it.

The concept of dual worlds was fresh and made the world feel huge. Link's arsenal of items is much bigger, and everything feels interesting and fun to use. The narrative experience is vastly improved, and Hyrule is filled with tidbits of lore and history that add depth to the world. The world also strikes a fair balance between the linearity of Zelda II and the lack of direction in Legend of Zelda, and I feel that it delivers the best of both styles. The combat fixed pretty much every complaint I had with the first Zelda. To put it bluntly, A Link to the Past is a generational leap above the first two games, and then some.

Even now, playing A Link to the Past is still an absolute joy. The difficulty curve is super smooth, slowly introducing you to the mechanics before ramping up and throwing some really nasty puzzles in the final two dungeons. It's one of those games that I struggle to put down after starting, and there is not a single moment of frustration that I can recall in the entire game (Granted, with save states). There are so many iconic Zelda staples that were introduced here, like the hookshot, Kakariko Village, the Master Sword and cuccoos. And the soundtrack is still one of the best in any video game, hands down.

Some of A Link to the Past's mechanics might not seem as impressive now, but only because they've been redone so many times in subsequent Zelda games. You have to give this game the extra credits it deserves for doing the difficult job of defining what a Zelda game is and setting the template that most other Zelda games would follow for decades. I still think this is a perfect masterpiece, and the first in a string of perfect to near-perfect Zelda titles that Nintendo would continue crank out in the years that followed.

I have been a major fan of all things Zelda ever since the first time I picked up an N64 controller and played Ocarina Of Time, maybe about 8 years ago now. And I've always heard about the wonder that is A Link To The Past, but I've only had a handful of experience with the top-down Zelda area, only really having played Link's Awakening (Switch) and Link Between Worlds before this.

But finally, having got a SNES about half a year ago, I've finally seen what all the fuss was about, and it did not disappoint.

While I think I'll always be more of a fan of the 3D Zelda games and formula, I had a great time with this game pretty much every moment I was playing (even when I was getting annoyed at my incompetence with any touch of difficulty).

I've finally done it. I grew up only having played Ocarina of Time before getting an Xbox in 2001 and leaving Nintendo behind. But Ocarina was such a special game to me that I've always wanted to go back and check out the rest of the series. When I bought a cheap used Wii-U, I started playing the rest of the 3D games before tackling the 2D games. I started in late 2018 and finally finished!

And I was STOKED to end with A Link to the Past, a game that's I've heard is easily the best of the 2D Zeldas and that some consider to be the best overall Zelda. Annnnnnnd.....I found that it was okay. Pretty good even, but a little underwhelming to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the very first Zelda (using a guide for the overworld) and enjoyed Zelda II for what it was (whenever I wasn't cussing the game out because of how obnoxiously difficult it is). Maybe by the time I got to A Link to the Past, it just kind of had the "Yep, that's another Zelda game" effect on me, which seems super unfair because I can recognize everything this game did for the franchise, the foundation it laid for future games, but the game itself just left me shrugging and going "yeah, it was okay."

Perhaps this was also because I found the game ridiculously easy, coming off of Zelda II at least! The game has a ridiculous amount of items and you quickly learn which items can pretty reliably take down every enemy type and the game rarely ever seems to overwhelm you with too many enemies at once either. On the rare ocassions it does, you can just use the Bombos ability to clear out the entire dungeon room immediately lol I know Zelda games aren't really supposed to be hard (with the exception of Zelda II), but this was perhaps the easiest Zelda game I've ever played. And as a result it kind of just felt like going through the motions with this game.

I adored its art style, Zelda games always ooze charm, I thought the light world/dark world concept was cool, the dungeons are always fun, but this game just didn't quite click with me is all.

Oh well. I'm just happy to have finally beaten all the main entries. Super excited to dive back into some of my new favorites again!

I have to vent something out that I didn't wan't to say until now: A Link to the Past is the worst game that I have ever played in my life. I'm baffled at Nintendo for how they could get away with releasing such a rushed product right out of the gutter. It makes me question the infamous quote from Reggie Fils-Aime, the CEO of video games, and Nintendo as a whole.

The worst thing about is that there's no middle in the plot. Your uncle dies, you get his sword, and now all of a sudden, I'm hearing this shit about Triforces and the game has ended? What happened? I got such a whiplash that I am no longer a duck, I am now a brachiosaurus. My neck is no longer functional so thank you, Nintendo. There's no middle, there's no climax, the stakes are instantly dropped the moment I finish the game. The pacing is terrible. The only middle that I know of is that Link is can walk through walls. E-e-e-excuse me!? We never get to learn about Link's backstory and now I know he's a ghost? He was supposed to be dead in Zelda 2. I killed that motherfucker so many times in Smash Bros. This made me come to the conclusion that Link is actually William Afton from Five Nights at Freddy's 32: Ow! My Freddy Fazballs! where he always comes back for the 7 trillionth time and he should've died in Pizzeria Simulator. What's worse is the terrible game design. If you want Link's ghost power to walk through walls, you gotta take damage from an enemy while hugging a wall. Taking damage is bad, and now the game is incentivizing me to lose? While playing, I came a cross so many unfinished rooms filled with nothing going on.

I don't have much to say because this shit took me 5 minutes to beat. I'm not joking. I'm just baffled at the design and the contradiction of Nintendo's philosophy. Poor marketing, I didn't go to the past, I went to refund it right in front of Reggie's face. What a defecation to the industry. A Link to the Past? More like 40 Winks to the Future because I fell asleep in hopes of a better future after this travesty.

Honestly, after having played Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and Link's Awakening, this game is a bit dry to go back to. Foundational, to be sure, but quite lacking in the quirk and personality that the series later latched on to.

But again, in 1991, this game is quite the turning point. The full color graphics are smooth, giving clarity to the world instead of guessing what blocky pixels are supposed to represent. A stormy night and an intriguing intro proves more engaging than anything seen before... and once out of the castle, an adventure begins.

After that, you can guess the rest. Traverse the overworld, go from A to B, save the maidens. At least dungeons are themed now, though not without some annoying design elements remaining from the NES original. Still, these levels are a huge upgrade (keys are a thing now!), the ice palace in particular stuck with me as having the ambience that later entries would iterate on.

One thing I don't see mentioned is the soundtrack falling a bit flat. Yes there is Kakariko, the dark world, and the forest, but these are actually a small segment of the game. Majority of the time you will be in the light world and dungeons, both of which have short loop themes, and I found myself lowering the volume during these parts. I wondered if it was a storage thing that prevented dungeons having unique themes, but Link's Awakening on Gameboy(!) greatly improved this issue.

Overall, an essential step in a wonderful series of games.

I knew I would love this game. I always love 2D Zelda. The sequel A Link Between Worlds on 3DS is one of my favourite game of all time. I finally got the chance to finish this masterpiece on Switch after abandoning it for a few months due to busy work. It’s amazing to play a game that is almost 30 years old and still enjoy it as much as a new Switch game. In fact I prefer it to Link’s Awakening remake and even to Breath of the Wild. For some reasons I can’t get into 3D Zelda. I tried Ocarina of Time on 3DS a few times but couldn’t enjoy it. Same is happening to Breath or the Wild. I often get stuck in a Zelda game and get frustrated. But A Link to the Past and A Link between Worlds often gave me surprises and rewards to keep me going.

Compared to other SNES games, A Link to the Past age well. I played Super Metroid while playing this game. Super Metroid feels very outdated in the map system and different areas don’t have enough visual and audio distinctions, compared to more modern Metroidvania games like Hollow Knight.

All in all, I enjoyed a lot playing SNES games on Switch. I never had a chance to play SNES when I was a kid. I am really excited to play Donkey Kong Country when it comes to Switch next week!

Just played LttP for my first time -- and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I beat the game 100% across about three sittings for a total of about 11.5 hrs played. The gameplay was great, the adventure huge, and the design superb. I couldn't have imagined playing this game in 1991 when it first came out. Playing it now in 2016, the game still holds up...and it has become quite clear to me just how strongly this game influenced the industry after it.

For those who have a love for quick, fast, deep, explorative adventure games -- or even those who, like me, decide to play this game out of respect for the franchise -- you will not regret it!