Genre: Action-Adventure
Year: 1991
Developed by: Nintendo EAD
Published by: Nintendo
Platforms: SNES
#89
Feeling Like: Nintendo Seal of Quality
How good is A Link to the Past? I barely have any personal connection to it. I played it approximately a decade after it was released. Ocarina of Time was my jam and you couldn’t convince me at the time that anything was better. I don’t remember much of the minutia, I can’t tell you the names of the bosses, or even most of the items Link gains throughout his adventure.
And I can still tell you it’s one of the greatest video games ever made. Full stop.
It’s astonishing how good the Super Nintendo was. It took nearly every landmark title on the NES and made sequels that were not only better, they’re still considered among the best of their respective genres. It’s impossible to make a 2D platformer without being compared to Super Mario World. You’re making a Metroidvania? Get ready for the inevitable comparisons. While Ocarina of Time received otherworldly praise, a few couldn’t help but note that the formula was derived from A Link to the Past. Nintendo takes some odd swings, but when they connect, they hit better than anyone and everyone.
Gone were the esoteric puzzles and clandestine entrances to the dungeons. Suddenly Hyrule was occupied with others, beyond a weird old man telling you it’s dangerous to go alone. There are witches and townsfolk, villages and portals. Every blade of grass may reveal a secret, every corner of the map is worth journeying to. It’s a perfect blend of color, sound, swords and magic. It doesn’t matter what review you look at – it could be from 1991, or 2007 or 2023. You won’t see a single one saying that it’s aged poorly, or it’s not filled with details that other games can only dream of. You won’t find anybody who says it’s not brilliant. If you do, you can safely ignore them.
I don’t even remember the circumstances under which I played it. Did I beat it at Dobbo’s? Did I rent it myself from Yo Video or Blockbuster? Was it with Eric? Christmas present? No clue, and for a game of this stature, that’s mildly embarrassing to admit. It’s the only reason it’s at spot #89 and not fifty spots or higher. That’s the evidence of the quality of the design – normally on the 500, if I can’t pinpoint a few specific moments of elation, it means the game didn’t quite connect with me. A game may have been solid from start to finish, but I’m looking for those precious peaks that will stay with me forever. A Link to the Past is so good that it bypasses this necessity. It’s an exceptional exception.
I can’t think of a single blemish. The controls are air-tight, moving feels natural and your ever increasing arsenal never feels anything but effective. Exploration is encouraged and rewarded sufficiently. There isn’t a single screen wasted, or filler to pad the adventure. The soundtrack is, unsurprisingly, stellar. You can generally tell a Zelda tune right off the bat, and A Link to the Past is no different.
The Hyrule Field is a classic for a reason.
The Dark World theme gets me hyped, always.
The End Credits theme makes me want to doze off with a smile.
If I had to point to a single franchise that has the most high quality entries, the most consistently amazing across the years, it’s The Legend of Zelda. Mario is right up there and at this point I would have thought one or the other would have pulled ahead, but luckily for us they still keep trying to best each other and succeeding. Sure, you can argue the equation is identical to the original Legend of Zelda and you can say they just keep remaking the same old game and I don’t think I could refute you.
Until Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, that is.
Still, you can hardly blame something for being this successful and setting the bar. The loop of finding a dungeon, getting a new item, defeating a boss still propels me forward, and I have a feeling it always will. The Dark World throws both Link and the player into the unknown, negating the powers you’ve relied on for the previous several hours. This would lead to another trick the Zelda team would rely on years later, allowing the player to think they know the landscape in front of them and then completely turning your perception upside down. What’s old and familiar is new again.
There are others that can describe A Link to the Past far better than me, thousands of others. It’s not one of my personal picks, I don’t have a particular affinity for this version of Link’s quest to save Hyrule and the princess. But game respects game, it’s one of the most well designed and timeless video games for every reason you can imagine.
The 500 