Ah the Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past is one of those classics that I’ve revisited time and time again. There’s just something about this entry in the series that, for me, seems like it’s reached the pinnacle of heights for a Zelda game. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ocarina of Time almost as much, but I think this one wins out partly of when I first played it and partly out of I just think it’s a better game overall.
It doesn’t take long for you to get the motivation that Link needs to go on this daring quest. A kidnapped princess, your uncle to her rescue, you finding your uncle wounded and picking up his sword and shield, all happen within the first few moments of the game. Even getting to the master sword doesn’t take all that long in the grand scheme of things and that’s really where the journey truly begins in my opinion, the dark world.
The dark world can be thought of as an inverse of the light world in that most people cannot hold their appearance that they had in the light world and are transformed into some sort of creature like. Even Link is not immune to this as he turns into a bunny upon your first entry into the dark world. It’s not until you get the mirror that you’re able to maintain your appearance, and more importantly, your weaponry.
A Link to the Past is a game that thrives on wandering and discovery as the game offers you little clues on what you need to do next. It does guide you in certain ways, whether it be Sahasrahla, the wise man, the numbered crystals on the dark world map, or even through the fortune tellers scattered throughout the world who will help you for a nominal fee of course. However, the game really leaves it up to you how you want to tackle these challenges and its often through this wandering around you’ll come across various hidden magics, secret items, or even ways to upgrade your weaponry. A lot of this stuff can be easily missed until you’ve reached a point where you absolutely have to have it and then, you’re stuck. Even on this play through I forgot that I had to go get Zora’s flippers before a certain point, and then again, forgot where to even get those flippers exactly. I just knew it was in the water somewhere.
The dungeons can be a similar experience in that there are things that are completely obvious in how to approach them, then there are others where, unless you’re using a guide, you have to just guess at which of these 500 holes you need to fall down into at any given point. There’s definitely moments in my time replaying the game where I questioned how I ever figured this stuff out as a kid and the obvious answer was… Nintendo Power. If you grew up around the same time I did, and you had a Nintendo, this was the holy grail of magazines as it provided a massive wealth of information on the games that were available. Sometimes they were articles, sometimes walk throughs, and other times, full on strategy guides like the one they released for Final Fantasy which was how I got hooked on that game as a kid.
In the end, you journey through this magical and mystical world to finally face the ultimate boss, Ganon who, in classic Zelda fashion, has a myriad of tricks up his sleeve and can make fighting him a bit of a nightmare. But in the end, you persevere, and are rewarded for your efforts. Thanks to the #VideoGameClub for choosing this for #VGCApril2025 as I absolutely had a blast playing it again and look forward to my next time I run through the game.
