THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST REVIEW (+ HOMEBREW CHALLENGE)

 

Recently, I’ve replayed The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but with a homebrew challenge (read it after the Review) and I can say, I really enjoyed finishing the game once again.

Note: I played the GBA version, on my DS.

Playing while taking notes this time, I want once again to put my thoughts on paper and present to you my view of the game (this is my opinion, it doesn’t mean it is the best one out there).

 

First I want to start with the things I liked about the game:

1. Let’s be honest, it’s the game that made Zelda what it is today (well at least what it was until Breath of the Wild). It gave us lore about Hyrule, Ganondorf, Zelda, Triforce, the Gods and even about Link.

2. The whole game still has replay value after 30 years of its original release. The graphics are smooth for a 16-bit game, the music is amazing, the whole video game experience is at its top.

3. Great dungeon design. Let’s be honest, A Link to the Past has 11 dungeons, making them one very important asset of the game. And it really is. First 3 Dungeons are like the tutorial of the game, but after you enter the Dark World, you have 8 Dungeons that are made for experienced Zelda players only. Loved every single one of them. Even the Water one, which is a rare thing for Zelda.

4. Really amazing and intense Boss Battles. All Bosses of the game are carefully created design-wise and fight-wise. Opening the Boss Door to find the Boss of the Dungeon is always a beautiful surprise for that game.

5. The whole “dark vibe” on Hyrule is visible, even on a 16-bit game. I mean yes, Termina was dark, Twilight Princess’ Hyrule was dark and BotW’s Hyrule was all depressive and destroyed, but A Link to the Past, created this atmosphere in 1991 with its limited software and hardware resources and I loved it.

6. The huge arsenal of weapons, with many of them being optional and you had to go out of your way to obtain them like, the Ice Rod, the Magic Cape, the Cane of Byrna or even upgrading your Master Sword, Enhancing your Magic Power and expanding your Bombs and Arrows capacity. It gave you a real purpose to explore, not to find the 785th Korok Seed…..

 

Now for the things that could be improved:

1. Not many interesting NPCs in the game to talk with and expand the story a little bit more. I get that the limitations of the 16-bit era were much bigger than today, but Final Fantasy Series had created 6 games until the SNES age, that had huge story arcs and character development.

2. The story is a little bit linear and is settled in the first few hours of the game. After that you just go from Dungeon to Dungeon until your final battle with Agahnim and Ganon.

3. Still in the storytelling subject. I would love one or two more settlements. The game offers you just Kakariko Village and some houses here and there in the map.

 

In conclusion. How good is Alttp as a game? From my point of view, it is a masterpiece of the SNES era. Yes, the first Legend of Zelda was a great game and yes it was the genesis of the franchise, but I think that “A Link to the Past” made Zelda what it is today. Does it have its flaws? Well, it has a few from a storytelling point, but remember that until then, Zelda Universe was something small, almost to nothing and AlttP, created an upgraded one compared to the NES games.

 

At the end of the game my Quest Log was looking like:

20 Hearts

6 Deaths

Sword: Golden Sword

Shield: Mirror Shield

Armor: Red Tunic

Items: Magic Boomerang, Silver Bow, Bombs, Lamp, Bug-Catching Net, Book of Mudora, Ice Rod, Magic Mirror, Magic Hammer, Shovel, Flute, Hookshot, Magic Cape, Magic Powder, Fire Rod, Cane of Somaria, Cane of Byrna, Bottles (4)

Magic Medallions: Quake Medallion, Bombos Medallion, Ether Medallion

Upgrades: Pegasus Boots, Titan Mitts, Zora Flippers, Moon Pearl, MP Enhance, Bomb Bag Lv2

Pendants: Courage Pendant, Wisdom Pendant, Power Pendant

Sage Crystals: 7

Rupees: 42

 

Homebew Hero’s Challenge

If you are like me and you want to upgrade the difficulty of a Zelda game you have finished multiple times in the past, you can try my Homebrew Challenges.

In my playthrough of AllttP, I was under the Hero’s Challenge Rules, that I created myself.

The rules are simple:

You can heal yourself only with: Potions, Heart Containers, Wild Fairies, Buy Hearts or from the Fortune Teller.

You can’t heal yourself with: Hearts or Fairies in a Bottle.

 

If you are interested, give it a try.

 

PS. These rules are made for A Link to the Past only. Other games, have other rules depending on the way they work.