Quick prefix, I played this using the SNES thing on switch

I was always very interested in why this game is held as highly as it is. Still to this day being regarded as one of the best Zelda games and it came out 33 years ago. Needless to say this was one of the titles I was looking forward going into during this series replay I'm doing. Upon completion I do really get where the praise comes from, but it still unfortunately suffers from one big issue.

A Link to the Past is the first game in the series to properly nail down the format that the later games can follow. By that I mean that this game adds way more life into its open world through more NPC's, side content and slightly more detailed narrative. Comparing this to Zelda 1 its almost night and day, where that game was as basic as move from dungeon to dungeon, Link to the Past adds so much more to do. It also massively improves upon some framework started in Zelda 2 with towns and proper NPC's. This game is also the introduction of so many franchise mainstays being the first appearance of The Master Sword, Kakariko Village, Hyrule Castle and The Lost Woods. To sum up, this game is where the franchise properly kicks into gear in my opinion.

The dungeons are where this game properly shines. There is 11 dungeons in total if you include Ganon's tower at the end. Each dungeon feels very unique with varying enemy types and layout. The bosses are a big highlight for me as they provide a decent challenge and tend to get tougher as the dungeons go on and also as Link gets stronger. I like that most items are made useful throughout the game unlike in Zelda 1 where most were useless outside of the dungeon you got it in. Traversal is made less boring with the addition of the Pegasus boots letting Link dash across the screen, also allowing fast travel using the flute item which can annoyingly only be used in the light word.

This is also the first Zelda game to have a "Gimmick", such as how Majora's mask has the masks and Tears of the Kingdom has the ultra hand stuff, Link to the Past has the ability to switch between the light and dark world. The dark world is much more of a challenge with enemies dealing way more damage and being harder to kill with weaker weapons. I think this is a great feature for its time but I wish that you got to spend more time properly in the light world as outside of the three introductory dungeons, you spend the entire game in the dark world. Obviously you can jump back and forth to collect items/heart pieces but I wish there was more main quest to do in the light world.

Im a big fan of the SNES art style on a lot of games, something about it just feels nice. It keeps the retro aesthetic but adds in more colour. A lot of enemy variety with sprites and Links design is very unique when comparing to later games. Soundtrack wise it has a slightly more diverse track list than Zelda 1 and 2 but still ends up with tracks becoming repetitive. I also had this issue where whenever I would enter somewhere like Kakariko Village or The Lost Woods, the regular overworld theme would play instead of the specific theme which was annoying.

Now all the positives that I have said about this game come with this one massive * beside them. This game is borderline impossible without a guide. If you want to be on level with the dungeon you are going to, good luck finding the items/heart pieces you need as they are so well hidden that its a surprise people found them in the first place. I think a big reason for this is because of all the advances this game makes in its story and gameplay, it neglected to fix the biggest issue with the first Zelda which was "I don't know how to find anything" which is in turn made worse in this game due to its bigger scale. If it were not for the guide I would of had no clue how to get all the heart pieces I needed, how to get certain items or that you can upgrade the master sword twice. This problem comes with age as Videogames used to be designed with no hand holding whatsoever so that people would spend more time looking around and combing the game for secrets, unfortunately this has not aged well at all. I should also mention a few dungeons are like mazes with lots of unnecessary rooms just to throw you off. Its a massive problem that effects most games on OG Nintendo consoles not just this specifically. There is no shame in using a guide to play this game as you will have a 10 times more enjoyable experience that way and not be walking around lost.

That being said I will still give this game a decently high score. It properly starts a lot of trends the franchise follows from here on out. Besides the caveat of the aged game design, its still a great Zelda game and one of the best 2d Zelda's. For the love of God though, use a guide.

Honestly I think my least favorite game of the series so far weirdly enough, I thought it wasn't that much more instinctive than the original, but didn't have the complexity of Zelda NES when it comes to dungeons and the sheer triumph that is beating one through how rough it is and how simple but hard to master the combat is.

Nothing was really wrong with it, just every thing from the combat (honestly at some point the sword (which hits a really weird angle and you never get used to it) becomes kinda useless), the dungeons (some were great, but the number of them and their similar designs and ambiances made them feel more like chores than anything), the world and its diversity, the side quests, the NPCs, everything felt lacking and I was a little disappointed.

I know it set the standard for the whole franchise and for that, I think it's a very good game, but the others I've played I think gave me more of a reason to come back to them.

I didn't expect to find Zelda with pink hair

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Such a great game. The third entry of the saga and the first one with some great lore elements like the Master Sword, Tri-Force, temples/palaces and some tools. Also has the most important additions to the history of the saga, both for lore and gameplay.
Great art design, nice soundtrack and good story. I encountered a bit rough the second half of the game, mostly fault of the Ice Temple, But it was still a very fun game from start to finish.

Almost entirely bounced off when fighting the boss at the dungeon game was like "yeah, you actually need an item that's hidden somewhere, good luck finding this shit" and without guide it's gonna be like 10 hours of looking aimlessly through the whole ass fucking world cuz nothing gives you the slightliest hint about where to look. You are looking for ice rod, so you probably coming back to Icy Dangeon but hell no. It's at the opposite site of the map, hidden behind some standard fucking wall.
And for some stupid ass reason to go one way into the another world you gonna need the warp. The warp that's hidden under a bloody bush. Bush that is not exceptional in ANY possible way. And I understand - they don't wanna be holding your hand throught the whole experience, and that's cool. But any implification, that's not ruining the immersy, would be much appreciated.
No idea how the kids finished this shit in golden age of SNES without easy access to the walkthroughs online. Like, when I was about 10 I was wondering why people need guides to their games. But THIS GAME is absolutly impossible to finish without any help from outside.
Soundtrack and artstyle is pretty cool.
I understand why some love it, and I'm pretty sure that after 2nd playthrough half of my allegations would just fade away but I ain't got the nerve to boot it up one more time.

alttp is always constantly being talked about in reference to super metroid, both being action adventure games in which you explore an open world, slowly unlocking items and keys to open up more and more of the map unlocking more and more dangerous areas, in a way that's very fun and interesting. i love super metroid to death, but alttp doesn't scratch the same itch.

obviously, super metroid had an extra 3 years of polish, learning lessons taught not just by alttp, but by itself from metroid II, released the same year as alttp.

i won't lie, the light world dungeons and exploring the light world exclusively was very fun, everything was fresh, the world was fresh, that fun dwindled over time in the dark world, where all there was to do was dungeon after dungeon after dungeon... super metroid lets you off in a similar way, but i think the fact that super metroid blocks off a lot more of the map via item restriction then alttp makes exploring more fun, since you don't have to tread through the entire game to find an object of interest, just a small portion. and i'd argue it makes it more rewarding.

some of the design later on was pretty frustrating and tedious, the game doesn't do difficulty too well? like, the fucking boss 1 rematch in ganon's tower is harder than ganon, save for the random ass required item for the ganon fight that's not needed anywhere else in the game.

i still enjoyed my time with it, it's incredibly interesting how much of this game's dna seeps into the general zeitgeist of game design, but a lot more was learned post alttp. it's just not my cuppa joe.

public focus is nearly always put on the changes LTTP would make to the zelda structure, a structure that would go famously untampered with for many years. the way in which dungeons and setpieces are housed within the world and the resultant rhythm of the entire adventure would go on to define zelda for many people. in a similar vein, the dungeons adopt the trademark zelda puzzle-box quality but do not be fooled! dungeon design was still in the oven when this game came out! there are some binding of isaac ass dungeons in this game!

instead, i’d posit the most potent and enduring of lttp’s feats is the game’s embracing of sentimentality.

of the super nintendo’s myriad catalog of “superized” NES titles, lttp stands nearly alone in its reluctance to expand in size. its hyrule is an 8x8 screen block, only matching up to the original’s 16x8 map when bundled with the dark world. instead of building out, all of the increased power has gone into fidelity. gone are the days of nondescript old men and moblins in caves, all replaced by bespoke NPCs with rudimentary but individualized identities. story objectives/side quests and unique characters are mapped to each other, inducing a Pavlovian association between interacting with the people in this realm and forward momentum. this is the game that created the cucoo. can’t argue with that shit

more than the people, the world itself is rife with sentimentality. people don’t remember how prosaic the dungeons can get because of how thematically developed, and crucially, thematically distinct they are. i smiled every single time a dungeon kicked me out to the overworld for a moment, reminding me of the greater world i was inhabiting. your bread and butter in this game is environmental puzzle-solving which engenders a reverence and familiarity of the world in the player. all this is cute, but it wouldn’t mean shit if the world itself didn’t respect your attention. fortunately, it’s real nice. there’s an excellent balance between well-trodden corridors and out-of-the way crannies. furthermore, hyrule is filled with cute details and fun little ornaments. there’s a sense of craftsmanship to the world that rings true even when you’re in a corner that isn’t extrinsically rewarding, something that certainly isn’t true for the games before this one.

these individuals and this world are heralded until the very end, where the game begins another zelda tradition by using the ending sequence to give us a farewell tour of hyrule, followed by a melancholic staff roll over a horizon of rolling hills.

there’s an argument to be made that this sentimentality eventually somewhat swallowed zelda- how many complaints by now have been made at the gargantuan openings of the wii games? but there is an undeniable power in the sense of a wider and grander adventure that you get with these theatrics. even though the moment-to-moment gameplay of this game isn’t revolutionary to the series, zelda 3 plainly earns its notoriety as where the “legend” truly began.

I often say that I don't like games from the NES era. All of the games from this time are either rushed out to cash in on the huge gaming rise, made by inexperienced devs with no knowledge of good game design, or made infamously difficult so that playtimes are increased. I still stand by this and in my opinion the only NES games that stand up to time are Super Mario Bros. 3 and Punch Out!! However, when we hit the 90s, and the SNES era, is when I think games actually start getting good. The SNES is home to so many classics that are still amazing to this day; games that took what devs were trying to do with the NES and fleshing them out into actually great expiriences. In my opinion, no game is a better example of this than A Link to the Past.

ALttP is a treasure of a game and an all time classic. It took what worked with the first Zelda and expanded it. Going from a dull slog of working through bullshit fights and simple block moving traps to full on dungeon crawling adventure through a genuinely beautiful world.

The exploration is actually fun here. I'm sure at the time, collecting Nintendo Power and sharing gossip on the playground was super dope, but now it's just shitty design. ALttP however is designed in a way that when you explore your are actually awarded with something. It's not just cryptic, broken English hints telling you that there MIGHT be a wall you can bomb. Call it skill issue but it's genuinely not. It's good game design.

The dungeons are also evolved to something that is amazing. It's no longer just traversing through rooms of enemies just to get keys and fight a boss. Here there are actual puzzles. Actual trials that require you to use your head and think your way through instead of brute forcing your way to a dull boss fight.

ALttP, arguably, is the most influential Zelda to the future of the franchise. A lot of the lore, characters and locations, and gameplay loop started here. Even though the dungeons are greatly expanded compared to Zelda 1 they can still be pretty simplistic, which is very sad because future Zelda games, including Link's Awakening which came out right after, have some amazing dungeon and puzzle designs. However when the dungeons do start to get good in ALttP is also when the enemy placement starts to become a problem. (Beamos in this game suck.)

Overall this game is genuinely amazing in almost every way. A joy from start to finish and required playing for any Zelda fan who is somehow missing out. From the beautiful SNES graphics to the grand and heroic soundtrack, this game is spectacular. The only game preventing it from being my favorite SNES game is Chrono Trigger.

Link's Awakening is better >:]

Started this up after beating Tears of the Kingdom, then took a month and a half break after a few dungeons in the Dark World to go through Zelda II. Needless to say, was very happy to return to this one after that.

A fun game, and after playing through the OG Legend of Zelda and now Zelda II, I'm okay with calling this one the definitive game that made Zelda the series it is. Fun dungeons and dungeon items, interesting combat with varied bosses (although a bit too much bumping for my taste), and best of all, two world maps that really capture the spirit of exploration.

My favorite part of Zelda games is finding secrets and being rewarded for figuring out environmental puzzles, and this one captures that spirit without being obscure (random bombable walls @LoZ) or infuriating (@all of Zelda II). Really reminded me of exploring in my first Zelda experience, Twilight Princess. And puzzles traveling between the two worlds, like the flute puzzle and the chest following you, were very rewarding to figure out as well.

Some obscure parts that I did have to look up - not knowing I had to run into the bookshelf for the Book of Mudora was a bit annoying, and I likely would've never found the extremely important literal Silver Arrows if not for checking the guides and repeatedly talking to the Fortune Tellers.

Overall though, for a game that came out four years after the heap of mistakes that was Zelda II, this one had few missteps and made up for it in spades with its exploration, amusing atmosphere, and great gameplay.

Focussing on keeping my thoughts based on the hardware at the time…

This game is a revolution. Exploration, aesthetics, colours, role-playing aspects, the mirrored world mechanic… all revolutionary!

This game is so rewarding of exploration. The open world is a joy to spend time in. The story is interesting. The characters are memorable. Weapons, upgrades, items, all brilliant.

I would’ve loved to have played this at the time it released to fully appreciate just how game changing it was.

The only bad thing was the frustration of not knowing what to do with certain items or where to go next in certain sections. The game sometimes doesn’t give you specific information of what item to use where and a guide was needed in multiple occasions. Maybe it was just me, but once reviewing a guide, l thought that I would never have guessed to do that in a million years.

Looking forward to the rest of the Zelda series.