Following the massive success of the original Legend of Zelda, and yes, even the success of Zelda II, it was clear that Nintendo needed to pull a hat trick with a third installment to signify the series as one of their staple franchises. With the release of the Super Nintendo, and the incredible success of Super Mario World, it was all too clear where the series needed to go from here. So, after three years of development, Nintendo would then release The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
If you are familiar with the Zelda series, you would know that this game is one of the most beloved in the entire series, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Personally for me, I also love it a great deal, but I wouldn't consider it to be THAT great. With that being said, it is an absolutely fantastic entry in the franchise, and without of doubt the best Zelda game in the series so far.
The story is standard for Zelda games, but then again, it works for this game and how it executes it, the graphics still hold up extremely well to this day, and are very appealing, the music is incredibly catchy, memorable, and iconic, the control is very solid, with no real problems with it whatsoever, and the gameplay is some of the best that 2D Zelda has ever offered up to this point.
Thankfully, this game returns to the top-down style of the original Legend of Zelda, and the gameplay mostly follows the same formula as that original game. It's an adventure game where you explore a vast world, fight monsters and traverse dangerous landscapes, take on numerous dungeons, fight bosses, and gather a wide assortment of items and upgrades to help you along the way.
All of this would become the staple formula for Zelda for a reason, as this formula was executed almost masterfully with this entry, and I absolutely loved replaying through it all. Exploring this vast, yet simple world, with so much more detail compared to the original game, finding all of the secrets throughout the land, seeing all the different landmarks and people throughout, and conquering all of these simple, yet demanding challenges with the dungeons and bosses. It is all so much fun to accomplish, all accompanied with a sense of freedom to explore the world around you, yet still having a bit of a helping hand with where you need to go next via the story text from NPCs, so you won't feel too completely lost the original Zelda.
As mentioned previously, this game would introduce the formula that most Zelda games after this would take after, where you have to hunt down three treasures of some kind, and then you are sent to a parallel version of the main world, where you then need to then collect more of a central artifact in order to finally take on the big evil, in this case of course being Ganon. Yes, it may be formulaic, especially compared to other games and later entries in the series, but again, it is executed almost perfectly in this entry, and there is a reason that it is still replayed all the way to this day, even with different alterations and playstyles used with the game, like randomizers and plenty of speedruns. Not to mention, many music pieces that would become staples in the Zelda series also stemmed from this game as well.
Now, I know I have been sucking this game's dick throughout the whole review at this point, but believe me, as I have eluded to, I don't think it is perfect, and I do have some issues with it, albeit small ones. First and foremost, while getting all of the optional items, Heart Pieces, and all that is usually pretty enjoyable, some of the little side minigames or whatever that you do in order to get these items can be pretty tedious and annoying. For example, there is this one side minigame in the Dark World where you are given 30 seconds to dig up this field, with there being a heart piece randomly placed in one of the dirt patches every time, so if you aren't lucky, you will have to keep digging... and digging... and digging... and DIGGING over and over and over again. It can get pretty annoying, and again, there are several instances of this in the game.
In addition, I'm not sure if it is just me, but sometimes, the game can become quite a pain when it comes to the amount of damage you can take all at once, with all the shit the game can throw at you either out in the overworld or a room in a dungeon. Again, that might just be a me thing, but that can become quite annoying at times. Other than that, the only other complaint I would have is that it can be a guide game at times, but that doesn't bother me in this instance.
Overall, it is an incredible third entry in this franchise, and a fantastic game in general. Sure, it can be annoying with some elements present in the game, but aside from that, there is a reason it is so fondly remembered as one of the best games in the entire series.
Game #112
If you are familiar with the Zelda series, you would know that this game is one of the most beloved in the entire series, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Personally for me, I also love it a great deal, but I wouldn't consider it to be THAT great. With that being said, it is an absolutely fantastic entry in the franchise, and without of doubt the best Zelda game in the series so far.
The story is standard for Zelda games, but then again, it works for this game and how it executes it, the graphics still hold up extremely well to this day, and are very appealing, the music is incredibly catchy, memorable, and iconic, the control is very solid, with no real problems with it whatsoever, and the gameplay is some of the best that 2D Zelda has ever offered up to this point.
Thankfully, this game returns to the top-down style of the original Legend of Zelda, and the gameplay mostly follows the same formula as that original game. It's an adventure game where you explore a vast world, fight monsters and traverse dangerous landscapes, take on numerous dungeons, fight bosses, and gather a wide assortment of items and upgrades to help you along the way.
All of this would become the staple formula for Zelda for a reason, as this formula was executed almost masterfully with this entry, and I absolutely loved replaying through it all. Exploring this vast, yet simple world, with so much more detail compared to the original game, finding all of the secrets throughout the land, seeing all the different landmarks and people throughout, and conquering all of these simple, yet demanding challenges with the dungeons and bosses. It is all so much fun to accomplish, all accompanied with a sense of freedom to explore the world around you, yet still having a bit of a helping hand with where you need to go next via the story text from NPCs, so you won't feel too completely lost the original Zelda.
As mentioned previously, this game would introduce the formula that most Zelda games after this would take after, where you have to hunt down three treasures of some kind, and then you are sent to a parallel version of the main world, where you then need to then collect more of a central artifact in order to finally take on the big evil, in this case of course being Ganon. Yes, it may be formulaic, especially compared to other games and later entries in the series, but again, it is executed almost perfectly in this entry, and there is a reason that it is still replayed all the way to this day, even with different alterations and playstyles used with the game, like randomizers and plenty of speedruns. Not to mention, many music pieces that would become staples in the Zelda series also stemmed from this game as well.
Now, I know I have been sucking this game's dick throughout the whole review at this point, but believe me, as I have eluded to, I don't think it is perfect, and I do have some issues with it, albeit small ones. First and foremost, while getting all of the optional items, Heart Pieces, and all that is usually pretty enjoyable, some of the little side minigames or whatever that you do in order to get these items can be pretty tedious and annoying. For example, there is this one side minigame in the Dark World where you are given 30 seconds to dig up this field, with there being a heart piece randomly placed in one of the dirt patches every time, so if you aren't lucky, you will have to keep digging... and digging... and digging... and DIGGING over and over and over again. It can get pretty annoying, and again, there are several instances of this in the game.
In addition, I'm not sure if it is just me, but sometimes, the game can become quite a pain when it comes to the amount of damage you can take all at once, with all the shit the game can throw at you either out in the overworld or a room in a dungeon. Again, that might just be a me thing, but that can become quite annoying at times. Other than that, the only other complaint I would have is that it can be a guide game at times, but that doesn't bother me in this instance.
Overall, it is an incredible third entry in this franchise, and a fantastic game in general. Sure, it can be annoying with some elements present in the game, but aside from that, there is a reason it is so fondly remembered as one of the best games in the entire series.
Game #112