My Favourite Gaming Sequels: A Link to the Past

I was sceptical about A Link to the Past because of its status among many Zelda gamers. Most of the arguments about which Zelda is the greatest in the series are between this game and Ocarina of Time. As someone who only got into the series recently I felt that a lot of the hype for this game was out of people not wanting to jump on the bandwagon to say Ocarina of Time was the best.

From the title screen alone, the mastery of this game shines.
Image credit: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/a-link-to-the-past-uncovered-part-1-how-an-intro-began-redefining-the-zelda-we-knew

However, on analysing what makes a Zelda game and the design tropes behind it, as well as experiencing playing it for myself, I have come to realise that A Link to the Past is probably the best Zelda game in the series.

It iterated on the formula of the original top-down title in so many ways that it makes its prequel look all the more dated. The 8-directional movement, the swing of the sword, the world as a whole, all are improved upon to their logical end points in this game. There are the early seeds of an interesting storyline, beyond just ‘the princess has been kidnapped, defeat Ganon and rescue her’; on top of this, we have a beautiful, massive overworld. This all adds up to make A Link to the Past a riveting sequel that brought the 2D Zelda formula to almost-perfection.

A Link to the Past offered the beginnings of a larger story at the heart of Zelda.

Video credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbIet2sM-JA

A Link to the Past is a classic sequel, in that almost every element of the original game is examined and improved upon. The overworld’s design is far more interesting and engrossing, and the gameplay alterations are all the more compelling. The original Zelda’s combat was fairly clunky, but here there are whole mechanics at play; the length of Link’s sword slash is perfectly-tuned and the knockback from hitting an enemy makes for interesting puzzles later on in the game involving bottomless pits.

Despite being among the game's more irritating boss battles, the fight against Moldorm makes interesting use of the knockback from Link's sword slashes; if you're not careful, you could be knocked off of the arena.
Image credit: http://www.zeldadungeon.net/a-link-to-the-past-walkthrough/

The gameplay pacing is expertly-designed so that you never feel bored. The joy of exploration is still there, with the colour and scenery on show making A Link to the Past’s overworld more enticing, more enjoyable for you to adventure, so much so that it runs rings around the original Zelda. The variety of items, all with meaningful uses in the game (unlike later additions in the series), makes for some interesting puzzle solving and ‘a-ha’ moments. The Mode-7 map and use of colour in the graphics makes Hyrule a beautiful place to visit. 

As a showcase for Mode-7 and the Hyrule overworld, Link to the Past's map is certainly impressive.
Image credit: http://zs.ffshrine.org/link-to-the-past/maps.php

There is a reason many top-down adventure games took A Link to the Past as a framework to build upon, but it still hasn’t been topped by such games to this day. The game has aged excellently, thanks to its iconic design and use of colour, and is a joy to play through. Consider me a convert; A Link to the Past is my favourite Zelda game to date.