#27: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992, SNES)

Allow me to put on my hater hat here as I explain how Link to the Past is one of my least favorite entries in the entire Zelda series. There is simply something about it that leaves me feeling cold - probably the same something that leaves me ambivalent towards Finding Nemo and Princess Mononoke with regards to their places in the Pixar and Ghibli canons. It is a weird feeling - for all of these I can totally respect their quality and the technical proficiency on display, yet I am at a loss to see how they can manage to stir such passions amongst their many fans, or at least at a loss that others can see them as obviously superior to other entries in the same series.

Forced to pinpoint what, exactly, turns me off probably lies with issues I have with the control mechanics. There's just something about the way Link swings his sword - his reach and the notable lack of crunch - and something about the way Link moves - with a slight delay in acceleration, and a seeming lack of urgency - that just doesn't quite work for me - especially when compared with Link's Awakening, which was released around the same time and nailed these things better than any other 2D Zelda title out there. This is combined with a story that just lacks the sort of heart or inventiveness seen in titles like Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening, and Wind Waker - or even drier entries like Twilight Princess.

These may seem to be rather nit-picky type complaints in what is otherwise an excellent title, but the fact is that, even in an adventure game, control is king. Also I expect the absolute best from Miyamoto and his team, and they are really really good at delivering on this in spades 90% of the time - that they are a bit off here makes it worthwhile to take them somewhat to task.

Setting aside complaints, there's still just a ton of good stuff going on here. Most notable is probably the sheer enormity of the quest here - there's a good what, 12 dungeons? Compare to Wind Waker and its maybe 5 (being generous in what constitutes a full Zelda dungeon) - or Majora's Mask and its 4. In fact I can't recall any other entries that went over 9. And these aren't Zelda 1 style palette swaps either, but expansive and unique locales each with a well utilized item to find (barring the lame tunic upgrades). Link to the Past was also responsible for developing some of the concepts that would become mainstays of the series going forward. Let's not forget that this is only the third title in the series - it invented things like the use of parallel worlds, dramatically expanded on what story telling is seen in the Zelda series, brought us the Master Sword, hookshot and more.



It's pretty surprising, though, how uninteresting it is to talk about what makes the Zelda series work. They pretty much just sort of do. There's a satisfaction to derived from the exploration and the solving of puzzles. What's incredible is that as banal as it would seem to be to put one of these together, no one else seems able to really come close to matching Nintendo on the adventure game front. Sure, others are able to easily surpass them on the artistic fronts - witness Shadow of the Colossus and Okami for example, who pretty much blow every Zelda title out of the water in both artistic style and storytelling - but neither can quite match the gameplay or design quality on display here, even if it isn't up to the standards of the series.

Special note: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past occupies numbers 27 (SNES), 178 (GBA), and 410 (Virtual Console) in my collection. The Four Swords mode of the GBA version will be reviewed separately.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Released: 4/13/1992
Obtained: Christmas 1993 (Gift)

9.0/10