Even if you did not own a Nintendo console or hand held you are aware of the Legend of Zelda. The Zelda series has transcended the world of a single manufacturer into the whole world of gaming. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo was an amazing experience. One of those titles that made gamers step back. Fans realized Nintendo meant business with the 16-Bit follow-up to the NES game. This was what gamers wanted, bigger and better continuations of 8-Bit classics. Nintendo was delivering and fans were buying.

Constantly innovating and improving

Nintendo did eliminate the side scrolling portions of the second game (there some short ones in the original). Focusing solely on the 3/4 overhead action scenes allowed the world to be displayed without breaking up the immersion. Old school fans either liked or hated the changes made to the first SNES outing. Items such as arrows were separated out, instead of costing a rupee per arrow. There are no more side scrolling areas whatsoever too. The usage of the magic meter by certain items impacts use as well.

A Link to the Past stood above

Travelling the land of Hyrule for the first time on my SNES was almost a magical experience. Nintendo went all out on A Link to the Past and it showed. This was Miyamoto running wild like Hulk Hogan in the mid 80’s. There was nothing to compare to it on the competition. Not on Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Atari Lynx or personal computers – this was simply an amazing game. Later there would be similar titles released on those platforms. Eventually the Genesis would get Crusader of Centy. The TurboGrafx-16 would get Neutopia I and II.

The memories of beating Nintendo’s only Zelda entry on the Super Nintendo still run through my mind from time to time. It was just such an awesome experience.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past has been released on the Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, Wii and Wii U Virtual consoles. eBay, Amazon and Gamestop are your options for physical copies. For more RPG’s like Zelda check out our coverage.

Carl Williams

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