On April 13, 1992 one of the greatest games ever to be released on the SNES, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, went on sale for the first time. Being a Zelda game most everyone knew what to expect of the series seeing as this was the third installment. However, no one realized they were about to play a game that would set the standard for action rpg style games for years to come.
Almost 20 years later this game is still a favorite of gamers in general, not just fans of the Zelda series. The Gameboy Advance saw a remake in late 2002 and the Wii's Virtual Console was quick to get this game in it's roster as early as January of 2007, two months after the Wii's North American release. Many popular gaming sites an magazines list A Link to the Past as one of the greatest games of all time, and for five years it reigned at #1 in Nintendo Powers top games list, even though the time of the Nintendo 64.
So with that a review of the game is out of the question. It's just simply a masterpiece. It's easy to play yet deep enough to keep you coming for more. Every screen has something to do so you are never bored. The puzzles are challenging without being frustrating. The dungeons are epic and the bosses at the end a good culmination of what you learned along the way. The music is awesome even for the 16 bit era and many of the tracks would be used again for future Zelda games. The story is good too, though if you are familiar with Zelda then you know that the story has just never made sense.
There comes a time in a series, be it a movie, book, or game series, when everything comes together to create an instant classic and an experience that one want's to relive over and over. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was that moment for the Zelda series. All other Zelda games up to this point have referenced back to this one in one way or another, but none of them really were as flawless in their execution.
It's not a coincidence that I'm covering this game late in the year. I used to be a regular tradition for me to play though the game around Christmas time. With school out for vacation, I had all day to immerse myself into the world of Hyrule and search every nook and cranny for the secrets and treasures. As I got better I discovered interesting glitches and mastered the minimalist completion of the game (no extra hearts, no bottles, no quest essential items, etc.). In fact, this is the only game I've ever played to death. My original SNES cartridge burned out from the use it got.
I'm not the only one who loved this game either. That's why music from the game appears in Super Smash Bros.: Brawl and Link made a cameo appearance in so many other games. This is also why someone remade Hyrule from A Link to the Past in Minecraft. Everyone loves this game.
I can't recommend this game enough. If you only play one Zelda game ever, then this should be the one you play. I don't care if you've never even played a video game before. A Link to the Past is where you should start. This is truly one of very few games that just gets better with age.
The Legend of Zelda is an all time favorite series of mine. I can't ever seem to get enough of adventuring through Hyrule, stabbing baddies and finding treasures. Naturally I have some very fond memories of the games and so decided to create a list of five things I really loved from my time with the games. Take note this is just pertaining to the games that appeared on a console. There are so many Zelda games out there and I haven't even come close to playing them all.
#5 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Finding the Golden Sword.
This seems to be something everyone knew about, but I had played and beaten the game hundreds of times before I ever discovered it. In the Dark World there is a fairy fountain on the side of the Pyramid of Power that can be blasted open with a super bomb. This is the place where you get the Silver Arrows you need to whoop Ganon's piggy butt. I had never, ever considered throwing in the Lv.3 Tempered Sword as well to see what the fairy would do about it. Sure, I knew all about the Magic Boomerang and the Red Shield that you can receive from the fairy fountain just outside Zora's Domain in the Light World. Why didn't it ever occured to me that you might get two new items from the Dark World fairy as well?
One day it DID occur to me, and I was rewarded with the Lv.4 Golden Sword. Whoa nelly this is a beast of a weapon. Most everything dies in a few hits and even Ganon doesn't hold up long under it's awesome power. It immediately validated another playthrough so I could try and obtain this sword as early on in the quest as I could (Which is after Dungeon 6 unless you perform one of those nifty walk through walls tricks... but we'll talk about that another time).
#4 - The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Actually Beating the Game.
The first Zelda game was by far one of the hardest games I've ever played, though it always made you want more. However, my first experience with this game wasn't my own, but my brother's. As a kid I watched him battle his way through the monster hordes, conquering dungeon after dungeon, and grow more powerful with every new item obtained. Then he found Dungeon 9 which was the lair of Ganon himself, a maze that took you through room after room of the hardest enemies. Time and time again he ventured in only to be defeated before he could find the secret path that would put him face to face with the Dark Lord himself. In the end he never figured it out and the game was left to legend in and of itself.
Many years later I was going through a heavy Zelda phase and decided to have a go at the classic. I started in the morning, working my way through the dungeons and eventually found myself at the door to Dungeon 9. I prepared myself with full supplies of bombs and potions, and launched a determined offensive. Several times the dungeon spit me back out to lick my wounds and buy more gear before taking another crack at it. Then, after hours of struggling, I finally uncovered the hidden path. I was nervous as I ventured into territory I'd never seen before. There he was, Ganon... and then he vanished! Holy crap, he's invisible?! I ran all around the room trying to dodge fireballs, all the while trying to devise a strategy against him. Finally I began to work out a method of attack. Run toward the fireballs and stab at the area it came from. Once I had worked out the timing he was easy to beat and soon turned to a pile of ash.
From there I proceeded onto the room with Zelda in it, and made my way past the fire (which I never knew you could kill with your sword...) and finally finished the game, only to discover the second quest which I have never even come close to beating.
#3 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube) - Discovering Hyrule
The Wind Waker puts Link on the Great Sea, a vast ocean only dotted with a few islands. As you travel around this ocean you discover that it has very little to do with the Hyrule you remember from Ocarina of Time (The Wind Waker is around one hundred years after Ocarina of Time, storyline wise). While there are two villages to see in this game, neither of them are Kakariko, though Windfall Island has a variation on the Kakariko musical theme. So, where in the world is Hyrule? Does this game have nothing to do with the legendary land we've quested upon so many times?
Your first hint comes when you meet the Great Deku Tree. It knows ancient Hylian and mistakes you for the Hero of Time. Hmm... only the Deku Sprout could know of the Hero of Time, and yet this is a massive tree inside another tree...? Next you meet Jabun, which you might say is Lord Jabu-Jabu from Ocarina of Time (or as you might call him, the "fish dungeon"). He too knows ancient Hylian and has a brief conversation with your boat in it (yup, the boat talks). The shoe finally drops after you finish the Tower of the Gods and unlock the path to the power to repel evil. Outside the Tower appears a ring in the water, into which Link and the boat sink.
Turns out Hyrule is actually underwater! Not underwater though in a sense that it's all flooded however, but in the sense that it exists as it was sealed underwater. That means the Great Sea has a bubble inside it that contains all of Hyrule. You descend into a castle courtyard and locate the Master Sword, and return color to the world below (black and white means frozen, you know). You're treated to a muted version of the Hyrule Castle music, which hasn't been heard since A Link to the Past, and honestly this was a huge nostalgia moment for me and one I'll always remember.
#2 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) - The Forest Temple
Holy crap, your a freakin' adult now! You've got this sweet new Master Sword to whoop up things with, and a shield that not only can block decently but doesn't burn up when fire is applied. Life is good, right? Wrong! You've been missing from Hyrule for seven years and while you were napping in the Sacred Realm Gannondorf had his way with the Triforce of Power and has turned Hyrule into a wasteland of monsters. The castle town is trashed, ghosts are everywhere, Lon Lon Ranch is run by Ingo, Zora's are frozen, Gorons are about to be dragon food, the Kokiri are monster besieged, and generally everything sucks! On top of this you can't use most of the items you had as a kid, including your newly acquired boomerang. That means you are more or less starting over. So what can you do about it?
After gaining the hookshot from Dampe's ghost (yeah, he's dead also... good job) you have to begin the process of actually doing something about Hyrule's sad state. This begins with the Forest Temple, which is my favorite Temple of any Zelda to date. This Temple is also infested with ghosts, and has a very haunted feel to it. Everything is dark and foggy, the design is reminiscent of haunted woods overgrowing a haunted castle, and it even has a couple corridors that twist, which messes with your directional perception. What sells it though is the music. Right from the start the music sets a mystical and enchanting tone to the whole dungeon and gives you the feeling that you really are someplace special and unique, untouched and forgotten by the world.
The boss battle too is quite fun as it's Phantom Ganon and fighting him in his second form is like a 3D version of Agahnim from A Link to the Past. I was sad to actually finish the dungeon, but excited to see what else the adult side dungeons had in store for me. Sadly, not a single dungeon came close to the look and feel of The Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time, let alone any other Zelda yet. (Temple of Time in Twilight Princess was close though, trust me.)
#1 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube/Wii) - Horseback Battles
One of the things that was missing from Ocarina of Time was a reason for the horse to even exist. There was so much potential in having Link riding around Hyrule with his trusty steed. The only weapon you could even use from Epona's back was the Fairy Bow, and while shooting arrows while moving was a good challenge, why was having Link stab things from horseback such a problem? In fact, you can easily finish everything there is to do in Ocarina of Time without even bothering with the horse, save maybe getting the Biggoron Sword, which you don't need either.
The Wind Waker didn't even have a horse in it whatsoever, giving you a boat to ride about instead. That makes sense, as the world is an ocean. It would be silly to have Link riding the back of a horse as it struggled to paddle from isle to isle. While on your boat you had access to different items like your boomerang and your hookshot, as well as boat specific things like bombs becoming a cannon. Fighting from the boat was actually a neat and fun experience given these options.
Why then would a horse be a problem when no one had ever considered Link in "boat-back" battles? People used to fight from horses all the time and did so with more than a bow. Why couldn't Link use his hookshot, or Deku Nuts, or jeez, I don't know... his sword?! (I know in version 1.0 games usually meaning the gold cartridge games you could enact a glitch where you could actually use items from Epona, so it was all there all be it glitchy as crap) Even Majora's Mask didn't allow for much activity on horseback, though having Epona was actually needed to get to certain locations in that game.
Imagine my delight then when I first played Twilight Princess. Epona is introduced to you early on in the game, and while you only really have a wooden sword you can use it from your horse! Finally! Then you lose your horse, and most everything else and have to struggle along as a wolf for a bit. Once you clean the twilight from Eldin Province you are reunited with Epona, this time with gear you can use and a large field of enemies to use it on. Everything works great, and it's very satisfying to finally get to do all the things you wanted to do in Ocarina of Time. After messing around you eventually proceed on with the story, where little do you know you are about to be treated to a real horseback battle.
After returning to Kakariko you discover the kids are in mid peril thanks to a bunch of Bokoblins on hog monsters. You chase them out into the open expanse of Hyrule Field and engage them in battle from Epona's saddle! You are chasing one target in particular, but all the while you are being mobbed by Bokoblins on hogs who are shooting arrows at you and swinging their clubs. In return you can retaliate with sword swings to the left or right, or go for the spin attack and clear out everyone. Once you do enough damage to the Bokoblin King you are chasing he dashes onto the Bridge of Eldin, Link staying in hot persuit. It's here you engage in a straight on joust with the monster and it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a Zelda.
Later in the game you'll also defend a carriage while on Epona and at the end engage in battle with Gannondorf himself. That battle is unique as Zelda is riding with you trying to tag Gannondorf with Light Arrows so you can stab him with the Master Sword. Basically everything you wanted to have happen in Ocarina of Time finally comes to bear in Twilight Princess, and it has a huge effect on the game and the intensity of the story.
There are many other wonderful memories from the games as well. No doubt everyone has their own favorite Zelda moments, and I could sit here for hours going on about each and every single fun experience the games have left me with. I just wanted to highlight five of them though as the one's I really remember and would site as reasons why the games are worth playing. Memories that anyone who played the game would certainly enjoy and share.
