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.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Review

Many internet debates about which Zelda is the best in the series normally point to one of two options: Ocarina of Time, or A Link to the Past. One was the series’ transition to 3D gameplay, and the foundation for most of the future games in the series, as well as a strong influence on most 3D titles that came out since, while the other was a massive adventure on the SNES and a return to the top-down formula of the first Zelda title, and supposedly the most ‘Zelda-like’ of its many sequels.

The first thing that struck me about A Link to the Past was its graphical beauty; while Ocarina of Time doesn’t appear to have aged well (unless one plays the 3DS remake) thanks to the limited power of the consoles of its time, the SNES title stands up as colourful and beautiful. I think this is because there is not much more detail that could be offered in a pixel-based 2D game than what came about during the 16-bit console era. Perhaps because of the limitations of 2D graphics, developers were forced to make their games stand out in terms of beauty rather than pure horsepower, a practice that is, sadly, dying today as we live in the era of trying to get as many skin imperfections on a character’s face as possible. Moreover, I think the use of colour in this game is exemplary and the bright world offers a beautiful, engrossing picture.

I went into A Link to the Past expecting something more along the lines of the original Legend of Zelda game, that is, an extremely open-world game, with obscure clues and a progression that seems to delight in making one wonder what they are supposed to be doing. While I don’t dislike that kind of gameplay at all, fans of the Legend of Zelda many have noted the shortfalls of such an approach, and more cynical minds saw that it was simply a strategy to sell game walkthroughs (uncited; I believe this was also revealed in a developer review that this was the exact reason for certain secrets in the game, but I’m unsure where to find the exact quotation). Given that a Sequelitis video by Egoraptor hailed A Link to the Past as more ‘Zelda-like’ than Ocarina of Time, and closer to the original formula, I was expecting to have to look toward online walkthroughs to progress in the game.

Thankfully, however, with Link to the Past this isn’t the case. It seems that with the luxury of a bigger budget, better technology and better localization, the developers of the SNES title managed to provide the game with a reasonable amount of guidance without, at the same time, opening it to accusations of hand-holding as later titles in the series.

Interestingly, this was the game that laid down the story foundation for the series. While fairly middle-of-the-road as far as fantasy stories go (there’s a MacGuffin that has secret powers, a princess that is kidnapped, and a big bad wanting to use the MacGuffin for his own nefarious purposes), forms a good basis for the story and is paced just as well as the development of the gameplay mechanics. The initial build up to the first dungeon is, in particular, ominous and brings a sense of oncoming danger, which helps to motivate the player and also guide them along the story.

A Link to the Past’s story is very similar to Ocarina of Time in many respects, and many items and story elements make appearances in both the former and the latter. I think it was around the time of the SNES game’s development that real hints of the Zelda timeline came about. The end result of the story development in Link to the Past is of nostalgia and fun nods that will satisfy many a Zelda fan with their inclusion.

Of course, at the time of the release the main function of the story development was to give the game its own identity, one that sets it apart from other game series even to this day. The story may not be particularly unique in its approach to what is essentially a generic fantasy plot, but it has enough unique elements to feel like its own. Many elements, like the Triforce and the Master Sword, set Zelda uniquely apart from its fantasy contemporaries.

The sound of the game is particularly worthy of mention. Many iconic themes of Zelda lore have made their debut here, and the quality is top-notch as one would expect. The rendition of the overworld theme here is a laudable effort, which seemed to represent exactly what Link to the Past was about; updating the classical top-down Zelda formula with more modern sensibilities. The clash of the cymbals propels one forward to adventure and the toning is more epic as a result of the use of instruments to bring home the theme. The result builds upon that now-legendary theme in a way reminiscent of how most of the game itself is an expansion upon 2D Zelda.

Most of the music is produced equally as well, with some weak links in the lack of variety between dungeon themes, and the way in which music loops causing the repetition of some tracks to become annoying to the ear if one spends too long in a certain area.

The influences of A Link to the Past are easily felt through any 2D action-adventure game to this day, both in games that came out around and after its initial SNES release and new games released today that purport to bring back such gameplay into the modern era. In addition, the story influence of A Link to the Past is monumental, creating the iconic status of the series as we know it today. Its importance cannot be understated both for Zelda and for games in general. 

Thanks to its iconic influence sending waves throughout the industry, the result upon playing a game that was released so far back in the past is one of instant nostalgia, not to mention surprise upon finding that so much of A Link to the Past has not aged badly in the slightest. 

Thanks to an accessible story that has lasted through the ages, gameplay that is never obtuse enough to be frustrating, sound design that evokes fond feelings and a perfect mix of both story-based and adventure-based gameplay, the overall package offered by A Link to the Past gives us a worthwhile game that will win the heart of any gamer, Zelda fan or not.