The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is probably the best 2D Zelda game ever made, even better than remake of Link's Awakening from the Nintendo Switch.

The combat here is near perfect. The boss battles are incredible.

I always felt kind of lost in all 2D Zelda and I didn't know where to go. In A Link Between Worlds, I always knew what to do. That's incredible because you have two worlds to visit and you always have to change from one to other to get to some places.

The story is problably the best of the franchise. You don't give much for it until the last cutscene.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is the best Nintendo 3DS game that I ever played. If you have the chance, play it.

Veredito: Continua perfeito, sempre foi perfeito, e nunca deixará de ser perfeito.

Quando Tears of the Kingdom saiu fiz um guia pra ajudar quem, por um motivo ou por outro, não conhece Zelda direito mas tenha vontade. É normal ver a enorme lista de jogos já lançados e ficar com aquela sensação de "por onde eu começo?", e no guia eu deixei bem claro que o melhor Zelda pra se começar era este aqui.

Agora depois de rezerar ele mais uma vez, tenho mais certeza ainda que fiz a escolha certa.

Zelda: Um Link Andando na Parede não é só o melhor jogo pra introduzir a franquia. Ele é um dos melhores e mais acessíveis jogos de ação-aventura 2D já feitos, ponto. Tudo nele é tão absurdamente bem polido, bem encaixado e bem pensado que fica impossível achar qualquer defeito. Fica até meio difícil hoje, 10 anos depois que ele saiu, não ficar um pouco triste que Zelda tenha abandonado a fórmula tradicional. Até porque porque a influência que este jogo aqui teve em Breath of the Wild é enorme. Ao mesmo tempo, é sempre bom saber que a fórmula antiga foi aposentada com um jogo que acerta tanto em tudo.

Todas as mecânicas funcionam bem, todas as músicas são maravilhosas, todas as dungeons e itens e inimigos e chefes são divertidos, o jogo é bonitasso pra dedéu e tem um dos melhores efeitos 3D (talvez o melhor?) do 3DS, todos os minigames são legais, todas as áreas são gostosas de explorar, todas as sidequests são bacanas de fazer e todas as recompensas são úteis de fato. Tudo, tudo, absolutamente tudo é muito bom.

Fora a mecânica principal (andar na parede), nada nesse jogo é super único ou inovador. Ele não reinventa a roda, ele não revoluciona nada. Tudo o que ele faz de bom vários Zeldas antes também já tinham feito, e alguns discutivelmente já fizeram muito melhor algumas coisas. Mas nenhum faz todas as peças se encaixarem com tanta maestria e sem nenhum esforço.

Tipo, pensa assim: Ocarina ou Breath por exemplo são jogos enormes e excepcionais, verdadeiras revoluções, porém recheados de defeitos. Enquanto isso, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds é curto, rápido, direto ao ponto e relativamente pouco ambicioso.

Mas ele é - e digo isso sem medo de errar - absolutamente perfeito. Em todos os detalhes.

as of late following a friend finishing Skyward Sword for me over discord, brainworms have been revitalised regarding the Zelda franchise and i'm finding myself in a fixated race to play entries i can get my hands on. like others i was a kid who didn't have many opportunities to buy new games and would often replay the ones i did own to absolute mind-numbing ultradeath, with my usual suspect being Phantom Hourglass for the DS. along with The Sims 2 for PSP it was one of my first experiences with the Tetris Effect and i harbour a lot of nostalgia for this sequel to a game i had never even heard of, and in 2024 i'm visiting another in A Link Between Worlds.

i was an impatient and petty-minded teen when i was taught emulation by my brother and quickly grew frustrated with A Link to the Past for entirely minor reasons (2d, grid based movement and combat, the dark world confused me, link's hair was purple (seriously?)). i couldn't believe this was the same series as the toon link i knew and loved and promptly discarded it after trying to restart any interest in it over and over, my favourite Zelda song ironically being the Hyrule Castle theme; probably due to my repeated experiences of the game's prologue.

it's this background that has me feeling guilty about how much i adored ALBW. featuring 1:1 cast members of its predecessor, a light/dark world transition, a new creative gimmick in the wall merge, and an incredible supporting character found in Ravio, what i see many refer to as the best 2d Zelda game delighted me over the few days i spent playing through it. coming from my background of PH and now SS, ALBW boasts snappy and engaging puzzle design in comparison within and without the dungeons spotting the kingdom with a sprinkling of platforming, highlighted within Death Mountain. on top of it all, the wall merge remains thrilling all the way to the very last second of gameplay, its use within the final boss encounter cementing ALBW's grasp on Zelda as a whole.

the score, art direction, overall worldfeel, dungeon design, and the narrative of manipulation vs ultimate charity is enchanting. it was just such a sweet experience, shoutout to Skull Woods and the Thieves' Hideout.

that ending plot twist got me gasping for fucking air what the hell people

so we are at that point in the marathon where i will just skip whatever i want and play the games in whatever order i want and thats like what real freedom is all about

this is a “remake”/sequel of a link to the past but in reality its just a complete reimagination most of the main things are left untouched like the structure in a 3 + 7 dungeons the overworld is the same most of the items are the same too like theres actually a good 50% of the core game thats actually the same but the new stuff is absolutely fucking UGHHHHHHH I LOVE IT

main gimmick is basically the same this is a classic top down zelda of course so the main gameplay is the same as always you go around dungeons go through some shit puzzles and get some heart containers you go through this loop for like 10 times and than that's the fucking end

now as I said this is the same exact thing of a link to the past but they spiced shit up here and thats by adding the painting technique or whatever the fuck it's called basically you can smash yourself into a wall and go 2d into that and basically just traverse the entirety of the wall walking idk it's better to just play and see it because it's more clear when you do it than when you explain it and that actually make for some interesting mechanics here and there if you ask me

the overworld also got adapted to this new gimmick and you can see some different heart pieces here and there that you can get with this ability and shit like that

and the same happened with the items they were kind of remodeled to be used to this kind of new iteration of the game even though most of them still function the same but this time they're all available at the beginning of the game thanks to ravio's shop that can lend you some stuff and later you can also buy them . this is a new addition that I found really interesting and pretty fun since if you die in a dungeon the loan shark gets on your ass and takes them back so yeah thats some new strategy added to the game even tho this is a pretty easy game compared to the original one at least

the dungeon got revamped A LOT too I was definitely not expecting that if you ask me but I guess they also took advantage of the new 3d engine to make some bomb ass perspective play here and there and while sometimes I got really stuck due to me completely forgetting that the wall mechanic exists and shit like that but hall of fame of worst shit ever is of course the ice ruins because why the fuck would you make the floor slippery and the desert palace that FOR SOME REASON ??? like the boss is so hard for me and I don't really understand why I had to do it like 10 times maybe im dumb as fuck but the others were kind of a breeze to go through with some ups and downs i was not the cleverest guy in my class honestly so of course this was gonna happen

tho in general I feel like the pacing is kind of better because YOU KNOW where the fuck you have to go and also it's kind of easier/interesting to play it after alttp because you know the position of the dungeons but you're gonna get like uh ? because the dungeon are different and that's fun

clearly being a successor / whatever of alttp theres also the dark world and everything I already said applies to the dark world PLUS the way you get to the dark world is less messier than alttp and there's fast travels here and there so I don't have to go fucking crazy when going from one point to the other and as I was saying you go from one world to the other through cracks in different parts of the realm and its pretty convenient since there's a LOT of cracks and when you also add the fast travel this game is a breeze to go through

so yeah in general the gameplay is pretty much the same AND apart from the incredible artistic overhaul it's incredible to see how hyrule was completely untouched like they also realized how sick and tight the original one's design was perfect absolutely fucking perfect but in general the little chibified aesthetic of it all is super sick and I cannot believe how smooth the game plays it's honestly jawdropping

so yeah there's that yknow this is zelda this is all the same stuff again and again the game is great play it bla bla bla

so story stuff and this is HEAVY SPOILER please don't go ahead

so the story is basically the same but with some changes you don't go rescue zelda and the sages are characters who are turned into paintings by the evil lord whatever so you go into the dark world there's actually a princess of this world called hilda she explains the situation the fact that the triforce of their world is shattered yada yada whatever some hours later you get back and in reality she's the bad guy whatever because she wanted the triforce back and THEN ravio shows up and its actually DARK WORLD LINK ??????? OG MY GOD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND GUYS THE WAY MY JAW DROPPED I GASPED FOR AIR WHAT THE ACTUAL OWMGKWNFLWMLDLWLDLWPDLWLWLPWLW WHO THOUGH THIS WAS OK TO MAKE ME PISS MY PANTS and he talks too the fuck ????? and he's hot as hell ??????? I don't get it well whatever you get back to your world and zelda and link wish for the dark triforce to be back and we cry this game is so fucking insane

great game the blue lizards are still hot as fuck

ALSO ALSO ALSO THE MUSIC GOT REMADE UGHHHHHH THE THEMES ARE INSANE DID YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO THE DARK WORLD THEME OH yeah it's called lorule now whatever GRAAAAAAH

An odd Zelda title. It has the most engaging and enjoyable minute-to-minute gameplay of any 2D Zelda, but very little of the presentation feels that memorable. This is likely a result of it being a riff on A Link to the Past, given that most of what you see is a variation on something you've seen before. There are dungeons that are wholly original, filled with clever puzzles and boss fights, but there's still something about them that feels fleeting. It could be that these dungeons are laid out in a much more focused and streamlined manner than previous 2D Zeldas, so you're in and out in far less time. (I was never stuck in a dungeon in ALBW the way I've been stuck in the Oracle games, for example) This comes alongside a minor issue with challenge. This is without a doubt the easiest 2D Zelda, potentially the easiest game in the entire franchise. In two playthroughs, I only ever died a single time. Even the big 50-floors-of-enemies gauntlet near the end felt underwhelming. This is a great entry point for a kid with a 3DS, but for a long-time Zelda fan, it's kind of a pushover.

I'm conflicted on where I would rank this amongst the series. It skews towards the bottom in terms of atmosphere, characters, or story, but in terms of pure gameplay, this is the most fun I've ever had on 3DS.

~ 3DS Homebrew Journey - Game 2 ~

Right before playing A Link Between Worlds (2013), I gave A Link to the Past (1991) a shot, which gave some good first impressions. I will most certainly complete that game too in the time coming. What surprised me when I played this game though was how similar everything felt. Same overworld and a similar opening. Whilst I learned it was in fact "something of a sequel", it still felt kinda cheap re-using the exact same map. It being an old 2D map shows in a few ways. It's a little awkward at times to navigate through the world because many places feel cramped. I really have nothing against them re-using the map since it's a sequel, but I think the overall atmosphere could've been improved if the developers took some liberties in changing a few things up.

The controls feel smooth and snappy and it helps a lot that it runs in a much-appreciated 60fps, though with minor stuttering. One-on-one encounters with the overworld enemies feel quite bad unless you have any Ravio items since you just spam sword attacks in hopes of landing a hit. The main gimmick of this game with Link being able to go into walls is brilliant and works great in both discovering hidden items and collectibles. I only wish it had a bigger impact on dungeon puzzle-solving instead of Ravio items.

In terms of story, this game hit me in the feels. A predictable story isn't always a bad one and it's shown here. I can't say how good the 3D effect was during gameplay but during cutscenes, the 3D effect looked amazing. It almost felt like I got sucked into the screen.

Dungeons were overall great but I ended up with the two darkest ones at the end. I kinda despise dark environments in games. I think it's cool that you can tackle the dungeons in any order you want (if you have the equipment needed that is). I felt like I picked quite a bad order since I felt underpowered most of the time. I got more powerful by the end and could handle the later dungeons with zero hardship.

At this point, I can't expect to be disappointed by any Zelda game. Nintendo nails both 2D and 3D Zelda, not maybe to the same extent, but still. I can't wait to see how it compares with A Link to the Past whenever I get around to completing that game!

With Tears Of The Kingdom hype at maximum I knew I had time to squeeze in one Zelda game before it comes out. Coincidentally, hacking your 3DS has never been easier, and I've lent my copy of Link Between Worlds to someone a long time ago and I don't even remember who.

I've long made the argument that I'd rather play a top down Zelda that a full 3D one, and I more or less stand by that, although BOTW has certainly muddied those waters. What you get in Link Between Worlds is a sort of Zelda Literacy Test. Nothing is overly challenging, dungeons can be breezed through quite comfortably. I played the majority of it with my children perched on my shoulders like two shrieking demons and it was fun to see what elements that are so powerfully obvious to me were indistinguishable from magic to them. Oh yeah, that blank bit of wall with two bushes 1 tile apart next to it? Check this shit out kids, boom, look at that, fairy fountain. I'm like a god to them. An almighty games wizard.

My favourite Zelda remains Link's Awakening, with all its weird quirks and strangeness, but LBW is probably the peak top down Zelda, by sheer virtue of being all the best bits from all the top downs smushed together.

The first time I played this I thought to myself "uhh I don't like the visuals on this one" and now I wonder how could I have such bad taste a few years ago.

It's a love letter to A Link to the Past, probably better in every way except overall difficulty, which is a bit low imo, but everything else is top notch. Also some of the boss designs are just way too good.

There's not much to talk about tho, it's Zelda, and it's a VERY good one. Absolutely must play.

I love 2D Zelda so much and am very glad I finally got Citra to run this without my potato PC taking flight.

While this doesn't hit the highs of other 2D Zeldas for me, particularly in the dungeon area, the experience was wonderful. The painting gimmick is fantastic and very well done, and the item shop idea is a nice wrinkle in the Link to the Past formula. It was interesting to have the option of renting the items and the tension of having to rent them again if Link's dungeon delving went awry...until I realized that would never happen.

I don't play Zelda for the difficulty or anything, but Link Between Worlds has to be the easiest game in the franchise, and one of its core mechanics is based around the player dying, which just didn't mesh well with me. I only bought a few items to upgrade, and rented the rest because I did not die a single time in my entire playthrough. Again, I don't play these for the difficulty, but it did kind of bum me out that this mechanic was just not ever going to apply.

I do think, however, that at the same time this does qualify Link Between Worlds to be one of the most beginner friendly games in the franchise...however it also relies a bit on knowing the series to get the full experience out of it.

All in all though, this was a charming and fun game, and really scratched the 2D Zelda dungeon diving itch. The redone music is fantastic, and the dungeons fit their themes very well. I have to say, kicking that clown's ass was a pretty good time too.

Games haven’t been that much fun for me lately. I often find myself bored out of my mind playing them and it has been like this for quite some time. There are exceptions to this, but very little, and I’ve felt this way since October when I finished God of War for the first time. I don’t know why I fell out of love with games but it did upset me for a bit. It upset me because I fell out of love with a medium that originally meant so much to me, but I think that might’ve changed. Playing Link Between Worlds, I had such a fantastic time, so fantastic that I actually have motivation to play more games. And if you’re close to me, you know that this is a pretty big deal.

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between worlds is a magnificent game that uses the medium to its full advantage. It is very similar to Hollow Knight where it tells such a beautiful story through atmosphere and exploration, and seeing everything it presents come together during the final boss (which is the best final boss in the series btw) was breathtaking. That whole scene with Hilda, which I’ll get to later, was beautiful and I’ve never felt this way about a Zelda story in my life until now. And this is complimented with the overall gameplay and structure which I will now get into and focus on very briefly, since the real meat of this game is within its story, which I’m saving for last.

At first sight ALBW seems like your typical Zelda game. You start it as a normal boy living a normal yet boring life, until you find yourself in the mist of a grand adventure that started by pure coincidence. You do some dungeons, get the master sword, do some other dungeons, and then you beat the game. It’s structure is actually very similar to OOT, where you get three items, get the master sword, then go after the Seven Sages. It sounds simplistic, yet it’s so damn good fun. I had a blast going through this world finding secrets and secret areas that I couldn’t get to yet, it felt like a true adventure. Going around the world multiple times, marking areas on my map for later, planning my routes and what order I’d do dungeons in, it’s all so fun. This is very similar to how I felt playing Hollow Knight, and I think playing that game made me enjoy the adventure aspect of certain games way more. The world in ALBW isn’t that big and there isn’t all that much variety, in the normal world that is. The big thing with this game is that there are two worlds to explore: Hyrule and Lorule. Hyrule is your stereotypical Zelda world; you have your normal grassy fields, water based areas, large mountains, giant maze like forests, and deserts, it’s nothing special but it still works. Then you have Lorule, which is where the meat of the game lies. You’ll spend a large chunk of the game here, only occasionally going to Hyrule to buy items and get to different areas in Lorule via portals that are scattered across the map due to how the world is formed. Lorule is a very disconnected place; there are large gaps in the earth, broken bridges, and large cliffs, making it harder to traverse around seeing how you need to move back and forth through dimensions in order to get around, but this is what makes Lorule so good. While the world doesn’t compare to Skyward Swords world or BOTWs, Lorule is still a very special and unique place. It’s this desolate wasteland overrun by monsters, and I think the disconnected nature of Lorule does a great job at representing this. It’s a great parallel to Hyrule, which is this happy bright place where people live their normal lives. Yet in Lorule, it’s all dead. The people are unfriendly because of the nature of this dark crumbling world being held up by the remaining hope they have, the areas are opposite as to what they are in Hyrule, and there are a large sum of monsters. Look at it this way: Hyrule is 80% light and 20% dark, while Lorule is 80% dark and 20% light, maybe less. It is the perfect parallel to Hyrule and the perfect depiction of a crumbling world that is slowly getting to the point where it’s beyond saving. I love it. I love lorule, I love the atmosphere, I love everything about it. It also gives us the best overworld theme in the series so extra points for that. A big component of traversal is the ability to become a painting, which allows you to walk inside of walls. It’s a very fun mechanic that is never overused and it really makes it feel like you’re apart of this world. To sum it all up for the world: Lorule is an impressive landscape that perfectly parallels that world of Hyrule, while also telling a story through its atmosphere and exploration. (I didn’t touch upon the dungeons or overall combat, but it’s fun and very consistent. Not much to talk about here)

Now, to get to the REAL review, the component of ALBW that made it an instant favorite and potential top 1. The story. I went into it a little bit before by showing my love for Lorule, which directly connects to the story. To summarize: ALBW tells its story through it’s world. While simplistic at first, it takes a turn that I really wasn’t expecting. It isn’t anything grand, it’s not Evangelion or Berserk, but it’s still something that I was able to love and appreciate. Let’s start from the beginning: You wake up to do your job as a blacksmiths apprentice, but you’re late. And because you’re late, you’re forced to take a sword to a knight that was forgotten at the blacksmiths place. You then find yourself in Hyrule Sanctuary, which is where you meet Yuga, the main antagonist of the game. And from here, you start your adventure. Your quest to defeat Yuga. You do three dungeons, with two giving you charms that allow you to unlock the master sword. Once you do so, you unlock Lorule after getting to where the story truly begins. You get to lorule castle, see Yuga revive the dark beast, then get introduced to Hilda. After the Seven Sages that were kidnapped are spread throughout the world you go around Lorule searching for them in order to receive the triforce of courage so you can defeat Yuga. Its your formulaic adventure story for the most part, but as stated before it is mainly focused on the decaying world of Lorule, which all comes together to deliver a powerful ending. After getting to the final boss it is revealed that Hilda (lorule equivalent of Zelda) was actually using you in order to get the triforce of courage, which would allow her to rebuild Lorule after falling apart due to her ancestors destroying Lorules triforce. This is where ALBW became a game that cherish greatly. Something that the Zelda series never does is give you a good understanding of the triforce and the reigns it has on the world. You know it can grant wishes and you know that it’s something everyone seeks after, but you never get to see the effects it truly has. ALBW does an incredible job at showing the greed that spawns from the triforce, the danger that it possesses, the grasp it has on the world, but also how it’s a symbol of light. And without light, you just have darkness, the darkness that has consumed Lorule, but also the darkness that is being held back by the hope of Hilda. And this is why I love the story of A Link Between Worlds. It tells a gripping and somewhat emotional story about light vs darkness, and everything that resides within both. It’s such a beautiful story that nearly made me tear up, especially near the end during Hilda’s development. Her character is built around the despair created by darkness, and how you need the small amounts of hope left in order to defeat it. And I really love stories about hope, so I really loved this game. A lot.

A Link Between Worlds is a beautiful journey of light and darkness, it is an adventure between two sides of the same coin that is complimented with fantastic gameplay and world building. Creating a magical journey that I will try to revisit every year.

10/10

I know I played this at launch, there's a completed file in slot 1 under the name "Luigi", but I'm genuinely shocked at how much of this I'd forgotten. Big jump high-fiving myself for picking this as my Christmas playthrough instead of the usual OoT, it was like having a whole new Zelda as an extra surprise gift.

I love it when the little guy is fun to move around, and the full analog feel is so good here. Particularly liked running around in circles after chatting with each sage, mind racing with the possibilities of this style without a fixed perspective.

The whole structure, both overworld and dungeons, had me exploring and backtracking and testing my limits (especially as I foolishly went Hero Mode). Made for a much more thoughtful and intricate adventure, really ingrained the map in my head, which I'm thankful for. After your first visit, a Hyrule ought to be a place you can come back to for a holiday.

Beautiful, perfect, lovely.

I'm on my 3rd 3DS, but this one's seen two MonHuns, so the hours the slide pad has been though must be in four figures by now, and yet it still feels smooth and responsive and okay yeah maybe a little slippery on the thumb sometimes but that's mostly my fault. Bang these on a joycon someone please.

So, 2024, That's practically 2014, right? I'm still in time to check out A Link Between Worlds? Yes, of course.

Despite it having been sitting in my shelf for some ten years by now, I knew almost nothing coming into A Link Between Worlds bar its central gimmick and connection to A Link to the Past, and even in the latter there was a bit of a surprise: in Japanese, the game is outright called 神々のトライフォース２, which would be equivalent to naming it A Link to the Past 2. It's good that they changed it in the West, not only because sequels tend to intimidate people who don't know the original, but because A Link Between Worlds has its own, unique game feel to it, almost like a reimagining, which naming it "Thing 2" betrays.

It is a direct sequel, though, that is not up for debate: it takes place in the same Hyrule as A Link to the Past, decades, maybe centuries after the events of that game. You play as, as one would guess, Link, who's the apprentice to a smith in Kakariko Village. Link's day starts out just like any other, that is, with him oversleeping and being late to work yet again. During a delivery of a commissioned sword, however, he is met with the eccentric Yuga, a man possessing magical powers who attacks the local church. Sword in hand, the descendant of the legendary hero sets out to find a solution to this new threat.

It pays not to know much about the narrative of A Link Between Worlds because, surprisingly for a Zelda title, there's a lot of depth to it: it expands upon the lore of the original game, building its story on top of established elements and motifs, while at the same time, providing us with fascinating new characters and settings. The cast is wider than that of the prequel, and the slowly unfolding narrative has a lot of twists and turns to its plot, which wraps up to a beautiful ending.

It's one of the ways in which ALBW incorporates the sensibilies of more modern Zelda design, and it goes even further than that: despite the world map being mostly unchanged from the original, the game brings a completely new twist to its dungeons, abandoning the grid-based design of the original in favor of more varied rooms. A few dungeons retaining the feel of the original while others explore other concepts, like more vertical and/or more open layouts. On the surface, some of them even resemble the DS Zelda games more than A Link to the Past.

But then comes another twist: equipment is no longer found within dungeons, being instead required to enter them in the first place. A mysterious merchant named Ravio sets up shop in Hyrule and helpfully offers to sell or lend Link helpful items, like a bow or a hammer. The economics of Ravio's shop are a bit confusing -- Ittle Dew presented a more elegant implementation of the same concept -- but it does serve a purpose in that it rewards thorough exploration while at the same time not requiring it. Plus, it's one of the game's many rupee sinks, which help solve the problem of rupees being useless that's often seen in the series. In A Link Between Worlds, it's unlikely, unless the player intentionally grinds, that they'll finish the game with maxed out rupees.

The potential problem with this setup is that each dungeon assumes the player has one specific item and only that item, and simplistic puzzles can arise from having a single answer to any problem. "Oh no! I'm stuck in a puzzle in the Bow® Dungeon™! Whatever shall I do? I guess I will use my Bow®!" Fortunately, A Link Between Worlds's level designers were aware of this issue, making full use of the game's 3D nature to create complex rooms, and also incorporating a variety of stage elements to support the creation of each dungeon, preventing the one-answer problem and making each one feel unique. The result was some of the best dungeons in the series.

One mechanic shared by every dungeon is the wall traversal: it's the one thing that drew the most skepticism on my part coming into the game, and I cannot believe how wrong I was. The wall mechanic is, at the same time, mind-bending and intuitive, creating a complete paradigm shift on how dungeons are traversed while still feeling perfectly natural to the game. There are a myriad different ways in which A Link Between Worlds uses its central gimmick in its many environments, exploring verticality, connections between rooms and so on.

It's the cherry on top that makes the game, more than excellent, feel irreplicable. A Link Between Worlds is a fantastic reimagining of a classic game that's so dear to my heart, blending its iconic motifs and clever design philosophies with more modern aspects of Zelda games' design. Don't be like me: don't wait for a full decade to play it. It's a treat that deserves to be enjoyed.

Até então, eu nunca tinha jogado A Link Between Worlds, e me arrependo amargamente de não ter feito isso antes. Esse é, definitivamente, o melhor Zelda 2D/isométrico já feito. Claro que A Link to the Past sempre vai ter uma marca especial e inigualável no meu coração, até pelo fator nostalgia que mexe bastante comigo, mas ALBW é a perfeita evolução de tudo que o seu antecessor fez de bom. Algo que o remake do Link's Awakening conseguiu resgatar de certa forma, mas que poderia ter sido melhor traduzido dentro de seu próprio contexto.

Pra mim, o maior diferencial que esse jogo tem é o fato de que, finalmente, a liberdade de exploração e de escolha do que e como você vai fazer retorna para a franquia. E, apesar de inicialmente eu ter estranhado a lojinha de aluguel de itens, depois de um certo tempo pensando sobre ela, cheguei à conclusão que foi uma ideia genial, e perfeitamente alinhada com a história do jogo (vou me conter para evitar spoilers). E por falar em história, essa possivelmente deve ser a melhor e mais fechadinha história de todos os jogos dessa franquia!

A mecânica nova que possibilita o Link de se transformar em uma pintura para se mover pelas paredes foi um acerto absurdo! Essa adição, juntamente com mais perspectivas tridimensionais, trouxe mais opções de level design para a resolução de quebra-cabeças e calabouços e aprimorou ainda mais a experiência de resolvê-las. Além de todos os benefícios que essas possibilidades trouxeram para a exploração do mundo, e é claro que a Nintendo, com toda sua maestria em fazer experiências memoráveis em video-games, iria saber aproveitar bem.

São pouquíssimos os pontos negativos, mas se eu fosse citar alguma coisa, seria que eu ainda prefiro a trilha sonora do ALTTP em comparação a essa, mas essa trilha sonora definitivamente não é ruim. Longe disso, é sensacional! Acho que é muito mais uma questão de como eu me acostumei com a acústica do SNES para as músicas e efeitos sonoros de Zelda. Mas quando falamos de todas as demais evoluções, esse jogo realmente beira a perfeição!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is perhaps the most consistent and polished 2D Zelda of them all. Every aspect of this game is a massive improvement over its predecessor, A Link to the Past, and in-terms of the pure dungeon and level design, could be considered one of the best in the entire franchise.

The game's dungeons are practically perfect. Every single one is designed with such great care to where this game may be the only Zelda with 0 sub-par dungeons. I mean, even Ocarina of Time has the Water Temple. The game doesn't handhold you at all, yet its puzzles are designed in such a way solving them is genuinely fun, extremely satisfying, and just the right amount of challenging. Nearly every puzzle I solved, I found myself saying "God, that's so clever!". This is even more impressive when you realize that all 7 of the game's main dungeons can be completed in any order.

The overworld remains largely the same in terms of design from A Link to the Past, however, seeing it in 3d for the first time is wonderful. There are also enough changes made to where it feels familiar, yet new. There are a decent amount of hidden items to find, and the game's fast pace (greatly attributed to the extremely fast walking speed and quick travel) prevents finding them from feeling like a chore.

In terms of design, this game is almost perfect. Almost. The ONLY gripe I had with this game was its newly introduced "Weapon Loaning" system. Renting the items feels completely pointless as you die so rarely in this game. Even when you do die, the items only cost 50 rupees to rent, which considering how many rupees you get in this game, is next to nothing. All death means is a quick trip to the shop, and then back to exploring. Not finding any key items inside the dungeons removes the fun and surprise of acquiring the next major item, and makes the dungeons feel just slightly less satisfying to complete. By mid-way through my playthrough, I had permanently bought all the items and the "loan" system...just kind of vanished.

However, in the grand scheme of things, this nitpick is extremely small. A Link Between Worlds is otherwise a flawless game, and makes me yearn for another 2d Zelda.

Nintendo, just come on. It's been nearly 10 years.


Please.

I can't believe I spent the last 10 years sleeping on this game and it ends up in my top 3 Zelda games of all time.

The music?? The snappy gameplay and mechanics??? The characters??? The dungeons?? Bosses?? The worlds??? They went CRAZY on this for no damn reason!! While looking stunning for a 3DS game and running smooth as hell. My only super minor complaint is the in-game art style's identity isn't as outstanding as the rest of the series but that really doesn't matter when you made the best 2D Zelda ever.

also Ravio is my GOAT this isn't for discussion

I've been going through and playing/re-playing some 2D Zelda. I never got my hands on Link Between Worlds when it came out, and I am super glad I went back to visit. Bonus points for visiting right after Link to the Past.

It seems like people seem to discredit it for being a non traditionally zelda. Having every dungeon open and the item rental shop does turn the formula a bit sideways. But I think instead of boring, it's refreshing. The only criticism that rings true is that the sense of dungeon progression is less steep and the difficult curve is rather shallow.

All that being said, for my money this is the best 2D Zelda game.

It’s kind of strange to view this as some sort of sequel to ALttP when it feels more like a reimagining, and naturally that sort of thing is going to be a bit polarizing; even in a series where games get endlessly compared to each other and reference each other, this stands out as one that’s going to stir up ardent fans of the original for better or worse. It feels like you get a lot of people talking about whether the game lacks the “soul” of the original in cases like these.

Anyway, I’m not sure if ALBW has the same soul as ALttP, but I really like the soul it does have. It’s definitely less grim and more cheeky than the original, which I can see being a point of contention but I kind of like as an establishment of its own identity. The cast isn’t particularly deep, but I think they’re all pretty charming, and while the plot twists are easy to see coming I think they’re pretty fun! I ended up liking Ravio a lot and I’m glad he ended up as kind of a standout.

But like, what about the actual game part of the game? I don’t know, I liked it a lot! I can see the rental/ownership system being a point of contention but honestly it felt like how I first experienced the original, which was through an endgame file that had all the items unlocked… except there were actual objectives to accomplish. I also think getting to upgrade the various items after purchasing them was pretty cool, even if it was a little bit of a collectathon grind. It gave you a lot of interesting options when dealing with dungeons and bosses. I can see how people might not be fond of having to track down so much money, but on the other hand, I feel like it makes monetary rewards actually feel like a reward.

I think learning how to navigate dungeons was also pretty fun! It’s definitely on the easier side compared to the original, but I think the 2D mechanic was neat.

This brings me to a… well, I’m not sure if problem is the word, but this is actually a game that feels designed to make use of the 3D feature in interesting ways. For a 2D Zelda, the dungeons are actually fairly vertical and it feels like the effect was used to make judging depth easier. Unfortunately, my original 3DS’s thumb pad disintegrated and I replaced it with a New 2DS… so I didn’t get to experience it as intended. On the one hand, I think it was cooler that they actually utilized the 3D, but on the other that stuff made my eyes hurt so I’m not sure I would’ve used it anyway…

In any case, this game felt like a 2D Zelda that was exactly my speed, and as such I am glad I played it! I guess I do kind of wish there was more of it, since I completed it relatively quickly, but I’m not sure if I would have done so if I wasn’t having so much fun. Also the soundtrack slaps pretty hard even by Zelda standards…!

Still one of my favorite Zelda games. A lot of it is a remake of A Link to the Past, but it basically just takes everything from that game and makes it significantly better. Dungeons are great with a lot of unique mechanics that make them far more than just remixes of ALttP's dungeons. Bosses are pretty similar to ALttP's, but still much improved upon. I also love the wall merging mechanic and how it allows for tons of creative puzzles throughout the game.

I can kind of understand the complaints about progression with the item renting system, as you can buy all of them super early into the game which can kind of ruin the mystique of what you'll find in each dungeon. However, it never really bothered me. I feel like the Maiamai hunting to upgrade your arsenal helps make the progression more interesting. Rupees being your main reward doesn't really matter since this is one of the few Zelda games where you don't have those dumb wallet upgrades and where rupees are actually really useful.

I've also always really loved the story of this game. There's not that much, but for what little there is, it's surprisingly interesting. The ending especially is fantastic and super satisfying.

The worst thing about this game is finding out that the guy who directed it is now working on the 1-2-Switch games, which might be the biggest demotion in video game history.