Back in the distant ’80s, a legend was born. The Legend of Zelda entered the world of video games, and life would never be the same for action-adventure games. In some ways there weren’t any similar action-adventures before it to begin with. The enormous success of the NES debut ensured that the legend would live on, and live on it did, with the latest instalments still being as awesome as is expected from a Legend of Zelda title.
Creating a top 10 list with such a strong portfolio is nigh impossible. However, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, where Link had his first 16-bit quest, is widely considered by many as the best 2D Zelda entry, and one of the best games period.
Be honest for a second, fellow fan. Story continuity is non-existent in A Link to the Past. It has always been forced upon this beloved series for, well, reasons. So, let’s not waste any words about this being the prequel to the original Zelda, or the sequel to Ocarina of Time, or the parallel universe side-story of Link: The Faec… err, Faces of Evil. Who cares, really?
A Link to the Past is basically the same recipe all over again, with a couple more ingredients added, and all these cooked on a much better stove. A fairytale in video game form, which knows how much can be done by keeping it simple instead of overcomplicating things just for the sake of it.
A great evil steps into a forbidden, divine realm, an enslaved princess that needs a hero to save her, and a hero that needs her guiding hand in order to carry his righteous mission. It is nice and simple, it has been done to death, but it just works. Having said that, this isn’t just the original with better graphics. The lore has been expanded, both in the manual, as well as in the actual game, with an intro that’s not just a wall of scrolling text. NPCs say a few more words than “EASTMOST PENNINSULA IS THE SECRET.” Sure, it’s not Chrono Trigger, but that isn’t its intent.
This is a typical fantasy land, whose purpose is to engross you within it, and it achieves that through its awesome atmosphere and audio-visuals. The world of Hyrule is a diverse landscape, with dark forests, calm villages, lakes, mountains, as well as many dangerous caverns one must brave. If that wasn’t enough, there’s a secondary realm called the Dark World that is basically a corrupted reflection of Hyrule that has a more malicious aura – all these served with some of the best 16-bit music ever made. It should be noted that the visuals are not cutting edge – they are, however, a lesson in what great design can do for a game, with not a single pixel making you question what’s on screen. A Link to the Past is simply one of the most beautiful Legend of Zelda instalments ever made.
Lore, visuals, and all that put aside, this follows the now typical formula of the series, which once again works wonders. Link must explore the over and underworlds, where various dungeons have been sprinkled around. Within each of these treacherous mazes a special tool can be found, which opens more areas to explore, while also giving you more ways to deal with enemies. You’ve found a boomerang? Great. Now it’s easy to “grab” items that are somewhat faraway, and many foes can be stunned for a couple of seconds. You have a rod that spits fire? Link can burn enemies, or light torches to illuminate a room, or even solve a puzzle.
Like all great Zelda entries (newer ones sadly excluded), the best part of the adventure are the dungeons. These labyrinths are filled with all sorts of challenges, with some requiring a bit of hacking ‘n’ slashing, while others need a more cerebral approach. The dungeons are essentially a series of puzzles, with the progression being top-notch, as the difficulty of all the problem-solving increases slowly but steadily. In the beginning one has to, say, push these two suspicious blocks for a door to open, but later levels will have you use a bit more of that darn imagination. Every now and then Link will also have to go back and forth between the Light and the Dark World, as there are spots where a change in one dimension will alter something in the other one, creating an opening that in turn leads to a useful item, or even the way towards a well-hidden dungeon.
If there is a flaw here, it’s probably how the available tools are a bit underused, with some of Link’s equipment not having as many chances to shine as others. Also, the dungeons, and some areas of the two overworlds could have a few more puzzles to solve, or at least some harder ones. The whole Light World/Dark World is also quite the lost opportunity to be more creative, as the parts where players will have to do the whole back-and-forth thingy are not exactly that abundant. While definitely a minority, this critic also believes that this has lost a bit of the original’s magic, by pointing the way, via numbering the dungeons, whereas the original threw Link in a mysterious, hostile world, and that was it.
It should be noted that this leans towards the easy side of the scale, with few if any spots where you will get stuck for too long. The hard bits tend to actually be more annoying than truly challenging. Ice floor in rooms filled with spikes, enemies that push you and throw you in holes, backtracking – things like that. With that being said, these, along with all previously mentioned problems, are nothing more than nit-picks. Parts of A Link to the Past have been done better in other entries, but at the end of the day, what you are looking at is basically one of the best in the franchise, despite a few small cracks here and there.
