The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

A Link to the Past is often referred to as the best 2D Zelda game. While I agree that this is where the series really started to understand what it wanted to be, I don't think people are remembering the game for what it actually is. Anybody familiar with a non-Breath-of-the-wild modern Zelda title will feel comfortable in A Link to the Past from the very start, as an impressive amount of what this game does end up becoming a trope for the series. However, the unbelievable amount of cryptic and unnecessary gatekeeping that you'll encounter as you progress is a reminder that this is truly a game for a different era.

A Link to the Past is a fairly standard adventure game with some puzzle elements, tasking you with traveling throughout the kingdom of Hyrule in order to rescue Princess Zelda from the dark wizard Aghanim and restore peace. At the start of the game, the world is pretty blocked off, and there's a fairly straightforward path that you're supposed to follow. However, as you progress, you'll collect new tools and weapons that will help you to solve more complicated puzzles and reach new areas. Discovering items and figuring out how to use them is probably one of the most rewarding feelings that the Zelda series has to offer, but it is also the root of my biggest complaint about this game.

In later Zelda titles, any items required to beat the game are usually found naturally throughout the adventure, so you tend to have whatever you need to progress whenever you end up needing it. A Link to the Past didn't do it quite like that and made a surprising amount of required items very cryptic and hard to find, so many players probably won't know what they're missing or how to find it. I was having such a bad time because of this that I resorted very early on to following a guide for the rest of my playthrough just so I wouldn't miss some tiny thing (like the arrows required to beat the final boss) that I would have never considered otherwise. Once I started playing with a guide, the Zelda magic began to return and I ended up still having a lot of fun with the game. However, my overall experience was definitely dampened by the ordeal.

It's unfortunate that I had such a big issue with this game. I was really expecting to love it, but unfettered by nostalgia, I found that some design choices were just too hard to deal with. I still ultimately enjoyed my time with A Link to the Past, and I don't think that it's a bad game, so please don't avoid it because of my complaints. I would just recommend going in knowing that you'll either need a comprehensive guide or a lot of patience and perseverance. I'd like to think I have the latter, but with as many games as I want to play, it doesn't make sense for me to run through Hyrule with a fine-tooth comb every time I get stuck halfway through a dungeon.

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