Link must travel to the corresponding point in the Dark World, then jump between worlds, to get it. One simple example would be a heart container that is visible, but not accessible, in the Light World. The threads that connect the Light and Dark worlds led to some brilliant game design choices. I felt disappointed that it was so short! But suddenly, as Agahnim escaped and Link was transported to the top of the pyramid in the Dark World, I was stunned to realise there was a whole lot more questing to do. When I first defeated the antagonist of A Link to the Past’s first few hours, the wizard Agahnim, I actually thought the game was over. The new equipment also plays a similar role to item progression in metroidvania games: For example, the hookshot lets Link cross a broken bridge in the Dark World to get to the Skull Woods. In the Swamp Palace, the hookshot isn’t just used to get to new parts of the area, but also to help defeat the boss, Arrghus, with its cluster of eye monsters. It also established the idea that the treasure found inside each dungeon was the primary tool with which a given dungeon could be overcome. The architectural dimensions of A Link to the Past’s dungeons gave a sense of depth, connectedness, and breadth that the previous games lacked. Most of the experience from those first two games revolved around seeking out labyrinths and palaces, aka the dungeons, and conquering them with the equipment in Link’s arsenal.Ī Link to the Past gave us better combat, more control over Link’s movements, and complex dungeons that felt like actual places, not just puzzle rooms spliced together. It codified norms the series would mostly follow for the next 20 years, creating a linear experience with carefully crafted gameplay. While the first two Zelda games on the 8-bit NES established much of the visual and gameplay language that would define the series, A Link to the Past was the ultimate refinement of that lexicon. It’s hard to overstate how sublime and polished The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past felt back when it first released in the States on the Super Nintendo 1992. The Link Between His Past And The World Around Him For me, Worlds’ story was so compelling that it elevated the sequel above the original in ways that surprised me. A Link Between Worlds plays with the formula established in A Link to the Past, subverting the expectations established in the original while also being respectful of its legacy. The deeper I got into A Link Between Worlds, the more I realised how it improved on A Link to the Past in almost every way, to the point that it superseded it. It’s in the details that the differences appear, starting with the switch from a more linear experience to one that follows the very first Zelda’s open-world philosophy. By the end of both quests, Link has triumphed over Ganon, used the power of the Triforce, and saved Hyrule. (In Japan, the 3DS game is called The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods 2, making it clear that it is a direct sequel to the SNES game.) While the graphics have been updated from sprites to polygons, the structure of the gameplay is nearly identical: Link gathers three pendants, unlocks the Master Sword in the Lost Woods, then rescues the seven sages along with Princess Zelda. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like it more than the original.Īt first glance, A Link to the Past seems to share so much in common with A Link Between Worlds that you could mistake the 2013 Nintendo 3DS game for a modernised remake of the 1992 SNES game, rather than a sequel. I’m a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but I hadn’t played all the way through its direct sequel on the Nintendo 3DS, A Link Between Worlds, until recently.
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