The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - The 10s

May the way of the hero lead to the Triforce

For the last few years, I've talked a lot about games that I don't believe get the credit they deserve. Titles where the narrative surrounding them is different than what it should be. That can be tough to do in the internet age, where online discourse is often missing context or deeper understanding of the game being discussed. However, that isn't always the case. Sometimes, that narrative surrounding a game is absolutely spot on.

There are a lot of games I cover where I feel the need to tell you how great they are. Like, if I don't tell everyone how great they are, no one else will. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is not one of those games. One need not search too long on the internet, or even dig too deeply into older gaming media, to see how revered this game is. It's not just that ALTTP receives endless, effusive praise, it's that it rarely if ever seems to have any negativity surrounding it. Even the people that consider it "overrated" seem to recognize its quality. I can probably count on one hand the number of games that seem to be completely above reproach like that. Most games, even the all-time classics, have some level of haters, especially in this day and age where people will say anything they think will get them attention. ALTTP is one of gaming's most universally loved titles and it always has been. Games like Final Fantasy VII and Goldeneye have always drawn hate. Games like Halo and Chrono Trigger have started finding them in recent years. But I would be hard pressed to find someone with a negative perception of ALTTP, even trolls seem like they stay away from it.

But what is it about ALTTP that makes it so great? I have to be honest, even as I played through it for the umpteenth time I kind of struggled to put my finger on it. Is it the exceptional music? The expansive but not overblown world? The interesting enemies? The dungeon exploration? Yeah, it was all of those things, but that's what makes it good. But what makes ALTTP GREAT? Why was it that I started this playthrough with the intent of playing it side by side with other games, only to find myself essentially abandoning those games until I completed this one? I think I've finally realized why ALTTP is such an iconic title so loved by so many people. For all of the great aspects the game has going for it, the secret sauce that makes it a classic can be distilled down to one simple word...balance.

ALTTP is challenging, but not overly difficult. Its world is large, but not unwieldy. Its enemies are strong, but not overpowering. It punishes you for failing, but not unfairly so. It's cryptic, but not too cryptic. Its dungeons are the perfect size, its pacing is outstanding, its difficulty curve is near perfect, its pacing is excellent, everything about it is just spot on. The gameplay loop is just so engrossing and addictive and it's backed up by tight controls, outstanding graphics and excellent music. The actual gameplay itself wasn't new, the original Legend of Zelda had already established the formula for this sort of top down, almost open world adventure game. But anyone who has played the original LOZ knows the game is pretty rough around the edges. For one, it's incredibly difficult to determine where you are supposed to go and many of the puzzles are incredibly cryptic. You have to use a candle to burn a tree, or a bomb to blow open a wall, without any indication of where you are supposed to do this. The dungeons are all similar mechanically, with only their layout and bosses differentiating them. It laid a lot of the groundwork with its compelling gameplay elements, but it was really ALTTP that fully realized the vision. The game doesn't hold your hand, but it doesn't purposely withhold information either. You know exactly where to use bombs if you need to break open a wall or the hookshot if you need to cross a gap. Some items are more well hidden than others, but very rarely do they require leaps into extreme video game logic to find.

The game starts in a fairly linear manner, with Link being telepathically contacted by Princess Zelda. She tells Link that she's trapped in the dungeon and the guards at Hyrule Castle are holding her there. The evil wizard Agahnim has taken control of the guards, who do have done his bidding by kidnapping seven maidens from the kingdom. Six of them are gone and Zelda is all that is left, waiting to be dragged off to wherever it is the others have gone. Link awakens from his dream to find his uncle, sword and shield in hand, on his way to Hyrule Castle to rescue the princess. Against his better judgement, Link decides to follow him through a driving rainstorm, leading to both finding their way to the castle basement. Badly hurt, Link's uncle hands over his sword and shield, setting in motion the events of the game. Link eventually succeeds in rescuing Zelda, with the duo making their way through the castle sewers to the sanctuary. Unsure of what to do next and trying to find a way to rescue the maidens, Link begins his quest to obtain the three pendants needed to acquire the legendary master sword.

This is where the game starts to open up a little bit, essentially starting the formula that modern Zelda games use to this day. Link is able to explore the kingdom at his leisure. Of course, he won't be able to get too far. He won't be able to lift up stones and will find certain enemies difficult to defeat. He's going to need to find the right items to slowly but surely allow him to explore more of Hyrule. To do that, he's going to need to explore the various dungeons and other areas. The original game had eight dungeons, each with one unique item and a piece of the Triforce hidden within. This time, you have three initial dungeons that lead up to a big plot twist, which opens the final seven. I don't think it's a big spoiler to come out and say it, but long story short it all leads back to Ganon doing evil stuff just like every Zelda game. But this revelation was novel when the game came out and the story is actually kind of impactful here. The whole "thief steals the Triforce and creates the Dark World via the evil in his heart" thing actually really works.

ALTTP has two distinct worlds, a light world and a dark world. The first third or so of the game takes place exclusively in the light world, with a boss battle against the aforementioned Agahnim opening up the dark world. The dark world is a twisted version of its lighter counterpart, it has the same layout but a very different atmosphere. The normally serene Kakariko Village is replaced with the Village of Outcasts, the mysterious Lost Woods with the ominous Skull Woods and the dusty desert with the swampy Misery Mire. While the tonal shift is awesome, the best part of this two-world dynamic is how intertwined it is with exploration. Before visiting the dark world, Link will be given a magic mirror that will allow him to jump back and forth between planes. While the layouts of the two worlds are largely the same, there will be subtle differences between the two that Link can exploit to access new portions of the map. A heart piece may be on an inaccessible cliff in the light world, but that cliff may not be there in the dark. That's one of the more basic examples, but ALTTP is filled with interesting uses of the mechanic, with the final dungeon even requiring a switch between worlds.

The dungeons as a whole are great; I think their difficulty ramps up just about perfectly. From the simple and straightforward Eastern Palace to the cavernous, enemy packed Turtle Rock, each dungeon gets progressively more challenging while testing more and more of the player's skills. Most of them have challenging but fair puzzles that lead you to a key item. Typically, you will need these items to either reach or defeat the boss, though sometimes they are more generically helpful or story critical. There is a good variety of more puzzle focused dungeons, more combat focused dungeons and dungeons that mix the two. Some have vertical layouts while others are more horizontal and some require entering and exiting at various points. It was a huge step up from the original game (remember, there are only two other Zelda titles at this point and one of them is a side scroller) with its similar rooms laid out slightly differently. The Skull Woods dungeon is built around the area itself, forcing you to enter and exit at different points to advance. The Village of Outcasts dungeon, Gargoyle's Domain/Blind's Hideout, sees you take on a rescue mission that doesn't exactly go as planned. I also think these dungeons all cut a good pace, puzzles are never so involved that they take longer than a few minutes to complete and rarely are you forced to slow down for a reason other than clearing enemies. Of the ten main dungeons, I would say that only one or two are weak, and even they aren't that bad. I also think this might be the best suite of items the series has ever had. Almost every single one is useful more than once, there isn't any bloat here like there is in the newer games. Everything gets used either in combat, for exploration or both. You had series staples like the boomerang and bow, mixed with interesting newcomers like the magic cape and Pegasus boots. But perhaps the biggest debut here is the hookshot, one of the most fun and iconic items in the history of the Zelda series. Simply put, every time this thing shows up you know you are about to have some fun in a dungeon and open up huge swarths of the world map. It's first go-round in ALTTP is no different, I don't think any one item provides as much access to new areas as this one does.

Of course, even 10s games aren't perfect. ALTTP is pretty darn close, but there are definitely some flaws here. For one, hit detection isn't always the greatest. Even all these years later I can never really get the hitbox of Link's sword down pat and it feels like smaller enemies require quite a bit of precision to hit. It's more a problem with dungeon hazards, as there were many times I stepped on spikes or got hit by projectiles when it looked like I shouldn't have. Combat as a whole is a little shallow, but I don't think that's a big deal because it's not a major focus. While the dungeons are largely outstanding, the bosses are fairly underwhelming. None of them are particularly well designed and every single one is either too easy or too hard. That moth boss is absolutely miserable and even the final battle with Ganon is more annoying than challenging. This is probably the biggest weakness of ALTTP, especially considering bosses are such strong points of later Zelda games. The last problem is something I don't think is unique to ALTTP, but more a problem with these kinds of adventure games in general. While I won't say it lacks replay value, it's one of the games I play through every few years, ALTTP kind of offers diminishing returns on subsequent playthroughs. Eventually, you are going to have played this so many times that you know where everything is, kind of eliminating the exploration aspects. I guess that's fine if you like speedrunning, but I don't really love it. Again though, that's far more an issue with the genre itself than ALTTP specifically.

At the end of the day, those minor issues can't bring down this all-time classic of a game. It's very rare that titles like this live up to the massive hype surrounding them, but ALTTP does. I've talked before about how even within the top tier games, there are tiers. ALTTP is among the best of the best, it's an absolutely phenomenal game that deserves the credit it gets. The iconic music and visuals, perfect control and top-notch presentation combine with an almost perfectly balanced game to deliver an experience that still holds up to this day. Even if you aren't a gamer, ALTTP is so accessible that you might find something to enjoy here. This is a tough one to really explain, but I think we can leave it at "it's just incredible all around." A Link to the Past is a game to play any way you can. Even if you aren't a huge fan of retro games, it's worth checking out.