The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the first honest-to-god great Zelda game. Whereas the previous two titles were held back both by hardware and the design ethos of the era, this 16-bit entry is far less encumbered and thus able to make good on the promise of the original.
After Zelda II's side-scrolling detour, A Link to the Past returns to the top-down formula that was at the core of the original. Once again you're traversing the overworld of Hyrule, discovering and completing dungeons, gaining new weapons, filling out your hearts, and preparing for a showdown with Ganon. But the amount of depth available here is almost staggering when coming off the heels of its predecessors. Dungeons are more complex and loop around on themselves in a way that feels much more intelligent, and puzzles are far less rote. The tools and items you find along your journey not only provide clear utility for the dungeon you're currently exploring, but open up new pathways in the overworld, encouraging the player to return to familiar locations and experiment. The overworld itself (and the discovery of dungeons within) is a lot less obtuse to navigate, and is brimming with NPCs and interesting locations, drawing you in and connecting you more to this rendition of Hyrule than the two that came before.
Augmenting this is the Dark World, a shadow version of Hyrule that players must explore to complete puzzles. This mechanic of layering two versions of the same location has been oft-repeated gaming since, and to varying degrees of success. More often than not I'm not a fan of it, so perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I feel it's a weak point here. There are times where it's utilized to great effect and others where it feels like padding. Ultimately, I think A Link Between Worlds (the direct sequel to this game) made better use of it overall by freeing up more of the world map, giving you more of a reason to explore the Dark World outside of addressing a few key progression puzzles.
I didn't get to play this game when it came out, though I did have my gross PB&J encrusted hands all over my grandpa's NES controller getting absolutely nowhere in the first two games. I'm sure if I played this at the time it would be utterly mind-blowing given the only two available points of comparison I had. I've played a lot of Zelda games since then. Almost all of them. A Link to the Past's DNA is ever-present in the franchise, and in a lot of ways I felt I've played this game without actually playing it. But damn if it doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of time. I was so sure that by now there was no way it'd live up to the hype, and to a certain extent it doesn't and never could, but A Link to the Past still exceeded any expectation I had for it. If you haven't played any of these earlier Zelda games, Zelda and Zelda II are fine for a novel glance, but you should really give A Link to the Past your attention.
After Zelda II's side-scrolling detour, A Link to the Past returns to the top-down formula that was at the core of the original. Once again you're traversing the overworld of Hyrule, discovering and completing dungeons, gaining new weapons, filling out your hearts, and preparing for a showdown with Ganon. But the amount of depth available here is almost staggering when coming off the heels of its predecessors. Dungeons are more complex and loop around on themselves in a way that feels much more intelligent, and puzzles are far less rote. The tools and items you find along your journey not only provide clear utility for the dungeon you're currently exploring, but open up new pathways in the overworld, encouraging the player to return to familiar locations and experiment. The overworld itself (and the discovery of dungeons within) is a lot less obtuse to navigate, and is brimming with NPCs and interesting locations, drawing you in and connecting you more to this rendition of Hyrule than the two that came before.
Augmenting this is the Dark World, a shadow version of Hyrule that players must explore to complete puzzles. This mechanic of layering two versions of the same location has been oft-repeated gaming since, and to varying degrees of success. More often than not I'm not a fan of it, so perhaps I'm a bit biased, but I feel it's a weak point here. There are times where it's utilized to great effect and others where it feels like padding. Ultimately, I think A Link Between Worlds (the direct sequel to this game) made better use of it overall by freeing up more of the world map, giving you more of a reason to explore the Dark World outside of addressing a few key progression puzzles.
I didn't get to play this game when it came out, though I did have my gross PB&J encrusted hands all over my grandpa's NES controller getting absolutely nowhere in the first two games. I'm sure if I played this at the time it would be utterly mind-blowing given the only two available points of comparison I had. I've played a lot of Zelda games since then. Almost all of them. A Link to the Past's DNA is ever-present in the franchise, and in a lot of ways I felt I've played this game without actually playing it. But damn if it doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of time. I was so sure that by now there was no way it'd live up to the hype, and to a certain extent it doesn't and never could, but A Link to the Past still exceeded any expectation I had for it. If you haven't played any of these earlier Zelda games, Zelda and Zelda II are fine for a novel glance, but you should really give A Link to the Past your attention.