Reviewed by Megan Lemons
When I received The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Christmas one year, I admittedly had no idea who Zelda was, nor had I ever heard of her supposed legend. That quickly changed, though, as I popped the small cartridge into the top of my SNES, flipped on the power, and became enthralled with the land of Hyrule and the characters who resided within.
A Link to the Past was released for the SNES in 1991 (1992 in the U.S.), not far into the system’s life-cycle (though I obtained it long after that). It was the only Zelda game produced for the SNES, but the third installment in the Zelda series, and is often called Zelda 3.
The game’s predecessors on the NES looked entirely different from one another. Shigeru Miyamoto, the lead designer of the Zelda series, created The Legend of Zelda (the first Zelda title) as a top-down adventure game, but decided to make Zelda II, one of the least popular of the Zelda titles, a side-scroller with RPG influences (incorporating experience points and other RPG elements). For A Link to the Past, though, he reverted back to the more popular top-down format and made it into an action-adventure game that has more in common with the first Zelda than the second.
The graphics in A Link to the Past aren’t too shabby as far as 16-bit 2-D graphics go, featuring cute, colorful sprites and a beautiful world to explore. They’ve aged quite gracefully, in fact, especially compared to the early 3-D graphics from games of the N64 era such as Ocarina of Time. The graphics were not the main attraction by any means, however.
The back story behind the game is intriguing and more in-depth than those from the first two in the series. Long ago, the gate that connected the Golden Land, home to the Triforce, and Hyrule was sealed shut by seven wise men when evil power began to leak from it. Now the evil wizard Agahnim wishes to reopen the gate in order to rule the Light World, where Hyrule resides, and the Golden land which Ganon, the evil force that was sealed behind the gate, has made into the Dark World, a twisted version of the Light World. You play the role of Link, who must save princess Zelda and the seven maidens, descendents of the seven wise men, and the kingdom of Hyrule from Agahnim and Ganon.
There is a lot of content on this little cartridge, giving it a great deal of replay value. There are nine large dungeons in the Dark World to explore and conquer. Each dungeon holds many formidable foes and puzzles to solve. The difficulty curve from dungeon to dungeon is gentle enough not to be frustrating but still presents a challenge. The puzzles you must often solve in order to advance to the next part of the dungeon or reach a special item, sometimes involving transportation between worlds, are clever and bring a great deal of satisfaction when completed. There are also lots of useful items you can find to help you defeat bosses and other enemies, as well as plenty of secret passageways, rooms, and treasure that will have you exploring every nook and cranny of Hyrule, probably a few times.
Combat is simple and relatively frustration-free. Link’s basic attack is a swipe of his sword (unlike the previous Zelda games in which the basic attack was a less effective stabbing motion), but you can use a “secret technique” to focus power in the sword and release it for a powerful 360 degree attack that looks pretty cool. You can also obtain items that allow you to use a dash attack or even pick up rocks and throw them at enemies. There are magical items and weapons you can use as well, so long as you have enough magic in your magic meter. You can only use one at a time, though, so choose wisely.
The music, arguably the most recognizable aspect of the Zelda series, for A Link to the Past was composed by Koji Kondo, also credited for the music from Nintendo’s Mario and Star Fox series. His minimal-harmony compositions such as Hyrule Overture (which first appeared in The Legend of Zelda), Kakariko Village, and Princess Zelda’s Theme, are playful, catchy, and have appeared, remixed, in many, more recent, Zelda games.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past isn’t the top-selling SNES game (although it’s close), and it’s not even the top-selling Zelda game (that one can be chalked up to Ocarina of Time with over seven million copies). It’s one of the most memorable games of all time, though, and definitely worth at least one play-through. And if you can’t find a working SNES, don’t worry: Nintendo has made it available for download on the Wii!