Zelda Retrospective: The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past Review and Analysis

Four long years and a brand-new home console passed after the release of Zelda II, but in 1991 the third Zelda title would drop to an unbelievable reception: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The US would see a localized version release the following year, only a few months after the launch of the Super Nintendo. The game was in development for quite a while, as like the original game A Link to the Past was developed in tandem with the Super Nintendo's new Mario title and even switched platforms from the original Nintendo to the SNES during its development--though please don't quote me on this, I learned this from an unsourced IGN article. Cite your sources and credit your work, people! On a personal level, this game and Super Metroid were the games which finally convinced me to beg my mother for a Super Nintendo well into the fifth generation of consoles, even after I'd already played the legendary Ocarina of Time. My take on the game might be a bit biased, but I'm not going to talk about the latter game just yet. So please join me today in a look back at what I consider to be one of the greatest games ever made.

Review: The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past

With a much more powerful console at their disposal, Shigeru Miyamoto's team went hard at work to develop a game that could finally keep pace with ideas merely hinted at in the original Legend of Zelda title. The result is a perfected version of the formula presented in the 1986 game, brought out in full force on the brand new Super Nintendo console; diagonal movement, burnable objects, water physics, and a much bigger and more vibrant world than even Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Even though the world was smaller in scope than that game, it does have at least one populated town in the vein of Zelda II while maintaining the smaller world and sense of scale of the original Zelda.

One of the most interesting aspects of Link to the Past comes from the merging of elements from the NES titles; the player is given a menu to select items similar to The Legend of Zelda, but within this menu is a selection of spells the player can acquire over the course of the game. Rather than Adventure of Link's approach to receiving spells from sages in each town, all of the spells in Link to the Past are found by exploring the world. To smoothly transition these new additions to the formula of the first game, players are once again given a magic meter which can be extended through exploration.

The combat has been fairly simplified when compared to Adventure of Link, especially since all instances of side-scrolling angles have been removed for a consistent experience. Even the original Zelda would occasionally encroach into sides-scrolling territory for equipment rooms, but this is a minor point. As a compromise, the combat is actually a bit more complex than the original with a few new attacks added to Link's arsenal. The attack button can be held down to add distance between enemies, and in most scenarios holding out the sword will push back both the player and whoever the sword touches in order to play a bit more defensively. The sword now swings in a horizontal arc as opposed to the straight stab of Zelda or the absurd poke of Adventure of Link.

Picture credit: https://zerot.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/analysis-the-legend-of-zelda-a-link-to-the-past-snes/
There was no way I was going to take time out of my busy schedule to grab one of my own.

The swing is a perfect width, clipping most enemies in an arc around Link's model and allowing for pretty tense action, especially when paired with the game's enormous upgrade to movement. Magic can augment combat as well, as can items like bombs, the bow and arrow, and the brand new hookshot which serves as both a weapon and useful item. A colossal new mechanic is introduced in Link to the Past which would become a cornerstone of the rest of the series: the Spin Attack. It might not be as in-depth as jumping, diving and positioning from Adventure of Link, but I honestly can't think of too many ways Link to the Past could be improved on the combat front. Spin Attacks take a second to wind up and can be cancelled if an enemy bumps into Link, but since the hold pushes enemies away in the first place it's often a very safe maneuver. It also doubles the normal sword damage compared to a normal slash, so in many situations players will want to be charging their sword. To balance this, speed is dramatically reduced when Link charges for the attack so it's not feasible to just constantly hold the button down; enemies can still attack Link from the sides or back and when players commit to a direction for charging the Spin Attack, there's no way to change it until releasing the button. Combat is just as deep as it needs to be, closer to the original while exchanging brutally hard-hitting and awkwardly-roaming enemies for responsive, real-time sword combat.

Thankfully, the heart system has also returned from the first Zelda, where enemy attacks can deal anywhere between half a heart of damage to several depending on the character's equipment. Heart Containers were present in a far more restricted capacity in Adventure of Link, with four hidden across the world and the only way to decrease damage taken was by leveling up the player's health stat. Once again, every major dungeon boss drops a Heart Container in Link to the Past, but a new system replaces full Heart Containers found on the world map with smaller Pieces of Heart; players can discover twenty-four of these all over the world, adding six hearts for a grand total of twenty. With the exception of a few of the handheld games, this has now become the series standard for maximum health a player can acquire. That also means that by the end of the game, players will have picked up at least fourteen Heart Containers to mitigate damage in case one isn't particularly interested in sidequests.

Much like the original, Link can acquire new equipment throughout the game to both decrease damage taken and increase damage output. It's a fantastic return to form, and because of the far more detailed world and higher number of Pieces of Heart required to increase maximum health it always feels like a major goal has been reached in terms of exploration. That's not to say it's such a high cornerstone of the experience as wandering the Hyrule countryside in the original Zelda, as the game is a far more linear adventure due in part to the structure. And because this game is such an important part of my life, I want to give it the respect it's due and analyze the general flow of the game, so if you don't want the story spoiled (and if you haven't played the game by now, you should), skip to my verdict at the end.

The Unique Design of A Link to the Past

A Link to the Past begins with an opening crawl much like the first two, though rather than setting up the main goal of the plot it instead explains much of the world and establishes a backdrop for the story. Before the events of the game--ostensibly a prequel to the original Zelda--an omnipotent power known as the Triforce lay hidden in a Sacred Realm. Adventurers sought the Golden Land to discover whatever power was hidden there, though none returned. The entrance to the Sacred Realm began to exude an evil power, so the King ordered seven sages to seal the land away and the event faded into obscurity. As the main story opens, a wizard named Agahnim usurps the throne of Hyrule and subsequently begins to banish the descendants of the sages.

Compared to the introductions of the NES games, Link to the Past throws multiple concepts at the player before the game even starts. I should take a step back and point out that the instruction manual for Adventure of Link also goes into great detail about the mystery of Princess Zelda I; this has since been heavily retconned and I don't really think it's worth delving into. On the other hand, the instruction manual for Link to the Past includes a three-page description of the creation myth of Hyrule, down to the presence of gods and the creation of both the world and the role of the Triforce--interestingly, this blurb in the manual actually is canon to the lore of Zelda. Moving on, rather than dumping the player into the game a brief cutscene plays: a mysterious voice urges for help, but it's Link's uncle who takes the call to action rather than the player himself. The player then leaves their home, but one of the biggest flaws of the game presents itself the first time the player enters the world map.

If the player attempts to go through any of the exits in this first screen, enemy soldiers will cut them off in order to guide them through a set path. I don't necessarily mind railroading the player in order to set up an important setpiece moment, but the linear nature of the prologue is unfortunately reflected in the game's direct approach to pacing. Link to the Past has a story to tell and it's going to make sure you appreciate it whether you want to climb Death Mountain right away or not.

It's not quite as bad as Adventure of Link, which requires players to grab otherwise-useless plot-critical items from each dungeon before progressing further, but it's still a far cry from dumping the player in Hyrule and telling them to go nuts. All that aside, the story is pretty engaging and creates a unique setting--despite the opinion of Shigeru Miyamoto himself, who thought by the time A Link to the Past released "swords and magic [were] quite common." The appearance of a darker reflection of Hyrule was an interesting change of pace and has since been a common theme in the Zelda series, not to mention more than a few Nintendo properties like Metroid Prime 2, where the player traverses a dark version of the title's setting.

That, however, is jumping ahead. While it's not necessary to talk to every single NPC and finish every sidequest to progress the plot--the player can skip talking to an NPC in Kakariko village who guides them to Sahasrahla, for instance--some events must be completed before the player can move forward. The trek to Sahasrahla's hideout serves as a nice interlude between rescuing Zelda and officially exploring dungeons, and there's plenty to do in the world before the first major dungeon. Where the original Zelda basically forced players to explore the world before tackling the dungeons, Link to the Past offers its enormous Hyrule as a mostly optional sandbox for the player to discover secrets and minigames.

The only problem I really have is that for the first part of the game, there's a definitive order the player must follow before progressing through the story. Sahasrahla needs to be talked to for the player to pick up the Pegasus Boots, which he won't give away until Link shows him the first Pendant. The boots are required to knock down the Book of Mudora, which are then required to enter the Desert Palace. The Desert Palace houses the Power Gloves, a necessity to unlock Death Mountain.

I'm not going to pretend like the first Zelda didn't hide required items in dungeons, because that's honestly part of the charm behind the major theme of exploration. Explore the dungeon, find an item, then find a use for the item once you've left the dungeon. Bombs are still required for King Dodongo, the candle is required to enter the eighth dungeon, the raft pretty much only has two uses and one of those is to find a dungeon. But what was so special about the sense of adventure in that game was that if a player found a dungeon, there wasn't a thing that could stop them from exploring it. You might come face to face with an enigmatic monster who you need to feed meat because "grumble grumble" is supposed to tip you off that he's hungry and the confusion around this destroys your fragile three-year-old ego, but after coming across a roadblock like that your next course of action is to simply leave and explore a bit more.

That's the catch, and it's why I prefer A Link to the Past multitudes more than The Legend of Zelda. With few exceptions, the entirety of Hyrule is available for the player to conquer, but the game is far from the daunting meatgrinder its predecessor can be at times. It's also not so dreadfully linear as Adventure of Link, as the dungeon items in that game are entirely superfluous keys required to continue to the next area.

The brilliance of A Link to the Past is in the basic structure of exploration and conquering dungeons. Side activities exist all over Hyrule to strengthen the player, and there are several completely hidden items some players may not find for their entire first playthrough if they're not thorough. Each dungeon instead leads players to find an item which will augment their tools to explore the world and engage in combat.

For example: the first pseudo-dungeon, Hyrule Castle, introduces the player to the lantern, the boomerang, and naturally the sword and shield. With these items players can then cut down trees and fight enemies on the field, opening up a majority of Hyrule. The Zora flippers and Power Gloves are required to fully explore the light world, and it's not until players have full access to the Dark World with the hookshot and magic mirror that all the secrets can be found, but I personally feel the world opening gradually helps make an already huge map feel even larger. Several secrets can be found on each screen, and thanks to the scrolling nature of the world map as opposed to fixed coordinates of the original it never feels like players are retreading old ground. To go a step further, the second dungeon gives players access to the bow and Sahasrahla imparts the Pegasus Boots as a secondary treasure; the second dungeon's item allows players to lift rocks which can be used to attack enemies and opens many of the Light World's blocked areas, and the third dungeon gives players both the Magic Mirror (by way of the old man on the mountain) and the Moon Pearl to safely traverse the Dark World, which is coming up shortly. These items also serve to foreshadow the twist of the second half of the game while gearing the player up to confront the upcoming upswing of difficulty.

The Master Sword is also nothing short of brilliant as it's established very early in the story. Link is tasked with finding the Master Sword and finding Sahasrahla is necessary to learn about the Pendants. Players can actually interact with the Master Sword before finding the Pendants if they want to fully grasp the gravity of their adventure, and upon drawing the Master Sword the benefit is immediate: not only does the swing double the damage of Link's uncle's sword, but Link is also given a long-range attack as strong as the first sword when at full health. Because of its width and how long each swipe travels, players go from a bright-eyed adventurer to a killing machine the moment they draw the sword from its pedestal. There is even a blacksmith found as early as Kakariko village before finding the first Pendant who offers to upgrade swords if his brother is found, opening a sidequest that can even upgrade the Master Sword at a later point in the game.

There are also several spots in the world to upgrade base equipment--I don't want to get too far ahead of myself with these reviews, but this is a feature I sorely wish would have been implemented in many of the future games. The boomerang, shield, Master Sword, and arrows can all be upgraded for free simply by exploring and discovering specific fairy fountains, though these are all hidden pretty well from the player.

The Dark World

After defeating Agahnim and being drawn into the Dark World, the game truly begins to shine as the atmosphere changes, enemies grow more powerful, and the landscape is completely devoid of life. The game makes a small misstep by forcing the player to return to the first dungeon, but more than makes up for it by making it clear that the Dark World is absolutely not playing around. The plot becomes darker as a result as Link desperately searches for the sacrificed maidens, including Zelda, in order to confront Agahnim's master, Ganon.

Ganon managed to find the Triforce before the game began and made a wish to morph the Sacred Realm into a vision more suitable for himself; if Link doesn't stop him from mustering his forces before the two worlds merge, Hyrule will fall. This sets up an interesting parallel between A Link to the Past and the original Zelda, given that in the first game Ganon successfully took over Hyrule, but A Link to the Past makes it clear that this game is a prequel to the events of the original.

The first maiden marks the location of every dungeon on Link's map, though the bigger challenge is in how the player can actually approach these dungeons as they're all hidden throughout the world. Even though the dungeons are clearly marked in a numbered order, at this point the dungeon order can be mixed up in several ways. I believe this to be the height of Zelda open-endedness, as it's not so ridiculous as to leave the player wandering fruitlessly in the world like the first game and not so linear as the first part of A Link to the Past or any part of Adventure of Link. Each dungeon also feels wildly different and they all have interesting gimmicks, a far cry from the palette swapped dungeons of the first two games. Bosses can be fought in a number of ways, with multiple weaknesses for players who want to experiment.

The pre-Dark World dungeons can also prove as a comfort to players who are daunted by the size and danger the Dark World poses, as any new player now knows that almost every item required to progress will likely be found within the dungeons. This is also the point the game demands players to explore Hyrule as some of the later dungeons are blocked off by spells hidden throughout the world, although because of the easily-accessible warp mechanic in the second half of the game it's far easier to fly around and backtrack. To give the game a sense of progression, at this point soldiers will be scouring the Light World for signs of Link which really bolsters the feeling that the world is moving along with Link.

After saving the Maidens and defeating Agahnim again, Ganon appears and crashes through the Pyramid of Power, another subtle convenience in that any time a player restarts the game they're right in front of the final boss. It's annoying to have to start over with three hearts, but given how easy it is to find fairies it's not a big problem. What is a problem, however, is that Ganon shares his weakness of silver arrows from the original game--silver arrows which are hidden on the world map. For players who want to just get to the battle and end the game, this might serve as an annoyance. Luckily, the fairy fountain which upgrades the arrows is on the Pyramid of Power, and the shop which sells the Super Bomb to access the fountain is located at none other than Link's own house in the Dark World. Link's house is close to the Pyramid, so players won't have to search far and because it's in such an obvious place it likely won't be too long before the player finds it. I do find it annoying that the wall blocking the fountain isn't very clear, but given players can enter and find the two best weapons in the game is hardly a high price to pay for a bit of exploration.

The encounter with Ganon is also very memorable, especially if you grew up in a time where you had to fill in the blanks to make up for the rudimentary graphics. I always like the idea of mortal enemies fighting in a collapsing arena, and the game actually conveys that pretty well as Ganon tears down the Pyramid during the fight. It's tense and actually pretty difficult, even if it does rehash some of the original game. Link enters the Triforce chamber and makes his wish to set the world right, elevating A Link to the Past over either of the original games as this is the first time the Triforce is seen in its entirety.

Verdict

While A Link to the Past can at times seem like a retread of many elements from its NES predecessors, I don't think I need to justify myself when I say the developers took every single negative qualities those two games had and distilled the best qualities into a perfect, timeless experience. Beautiful sprites, a unique setting dying to be explored, endearing characters, a dark plot and some of the most memorable music in video game history, A Link to the Past is sheer perfection. Oh yeah, I completely glossed over the music. I wish I was more of a music guy, because honestly this game deserves all the praise it can get for creating such an amazing soundtrack on such old hardware. Anyway, Nintendo struck gold in 1991, and I can't think of anything I would change. This game will always have a place on my all-time top ten, and if it's not on yours I don't want to know you.

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