Title: Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce (JP)
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (NA)
Release Date: 11/21/91
Developer/Publisher: Nintendo
Wow, when I first wrote this blog post, I really phoned this entry in, which is a shame because this is arguably one of the most well known and cherished games in the SNES library and in general. Perhaps I was just intimidated by it? I can't remember. This was also at the beginning of my late wife's (she sadly passed two months ago) journey with cancer, so that was probably factoring in to a degree. This blog has actually helped a great deal with giving me something to work on in the meantime. Either way, he is me rectifying that misstep officially with an updated and revamped post.
Personal History
This was the final game in our unofficial "Easter Trilogy" from when I was a youngster, and the one that I personally chose. To be honest, though, this game intimidated me to no end. The music at the beginning, and the foreboding atmosphere of the stormy night when this game began, seemed way too ominous for the youngster that I was (remember I was around 4-5 at the time). BUT, I did like to watch my older brother play the game. I would always wait for him to get off school, and watch him struggle his way through the dungeons of the game. With this in mind, I actually only completed this game, myself, when I first wrote this blog post. Now I remember playing this as a young'un and being completely mystified by the open (at least fairly open; nothing compared to the original Zelda, though I had no experience with that title) world map and the oppressing responsibility of saving Princess Zelda from certain demise at the hands of the dark warlock, Agahnim (I mean he turned her father into a skeleton king!). This was a game with stakes and import if I failed on my quest, and that made a strong impression on my young mind.
Background
Link to the Past was the grand entrance of LoZ in the realm of 16 bit gaming, and the overall third game in the series. Apparently, the game was originally in development for the NES, but was instead brought to the SNES when concrete plans were made for a next generation console. Now this game follows the tradition set by the original Zelda, rather than Zelda II: Adventure of Link. Link explores his world in a top down setting, but instead there are now two overall maps (a light world and dark world), tons of practical and useful goodies to use on his adventure, and a really strong presentation. One neat fact that many people probably already know is the neat design trick with this game; instead of creating the "light" and "dark" world as two separate areas in the world, the light world is an overworld that sits on top of the dark world. Thus, when Link enters the "dark" world, he is merely shifting through the two graphical layers, not actually moving to another area within the games data.
The game was directed by Takashi Tezuka, the often underrated but veteran game designer at Nintendo who is arguably just as influential as Miyamoto-san. Shigeru Miyamoto acts as producer in this game, and was most likely overseeing this and a few other products at the same time. Koji Kondo once again creates the score for this one, and the music, in this case, is once again a stellar OST. Eiji Aonuma, the Nintendo producer who has become known for his work on the Legend of Zelda series, had not joined the series yet, but was working at Nintendo as a sprite designer for some minor titles.
Story
In this game, you play as Link, the Hylian boy tasked with saving Princess Zelda of Hyrule from the forces of darkness. In this case, the force of darkness is the evil wizard Agahnim, who has ensorcelled guards of Hyrule castle and killed the king. At first, your task is to save Princess Zelda from the castle dungeons, and then to unlock the Master Sword, the holy sword of legend that has been blessed by the three goddesses of Hyrule. To be able to wield the sword, Link must first find the three holy pendants of Wisdom, Courage, and Power to prove his worth. This means he must plumb the depths of three dungeons, grab the pendants, grab the sword, and then challenge Agahnim. Now if you have even glanced at a Super Nintendo, you know the game doesn't end here. Agahnim manages to capture Zelda, and sends her to the Dark World, a corrupted version of the "holy land" that houses the holy relic known as the Triforce. Here, Agahnim has gathered 8 holy maidens, which must be rescued from 8 dungeons, and wants to use them to unlock the seal to the Triforce itself. Of course, it turns out he is a pawn for the true dark lord, Ganon, the pig demon/bandit warlock who Link's nemesis game after game.
Gameplay
The game, though more in the same gameplay vein as the original Legend of Zelda, is much more guided than the original game. The original NES title plopped Link into the middle of a map, and then let him challenge most of the dungeons in any order he wanted. This game does that a bit, but there is a clear expected order for most of the dungeons. It does offer more choice in terms of power-ups and items, which are darted and hidden all across the map. The main gameplay loop is as follows: Link explores a new area of the overworld: there are usually NPCS to talk to, monsters to fight, caves/challenge rooms to explore, mini-games to play, and secrets to find. Some areas, which you can check on the map, will house a main dungeon. Each dungeon is a series of puzzle rooms, combat encounters, and mazes to navigate. Each dungeon has keys to open locked doors, a compass to tell you where items are, a map to show you the layout of the dungeon, and a key item which will either be needed to defeat the boss or navigate the maze. At the end of the dungeon is a boss encounter. Once you beat the boss, you are given a full heart to increase your life one notch, and you are eschewed back into the overworld. Some dungeons require a little puzzle to unlock, or a certain item to be found, which encourages more exploration on the overworld. As well, some dungeons, later in the game, will boost the difficulty and damage done by the enemies, forcing you to interact with the world more to find better armor, weapons, items, and heart pieces.
This game is not as tough as the original Legend of Zelda or Zelda II, but it still maintains a good bit of challenge. Many of the dungeons offer a legitimate challenge, with a great maze like structure. Unlike later games, which the key items of dungeons tend to serve as a "key" to the rest of the dungeon, this only applies to some dungeons, while instead usually unlocking a gate on the overworld. In fact, the overworld almost is structured as one giant dungeon, with locked areas and items that are gated behind progress checkpoints. The bosses, too, are less puzzle battles, like in Ocarina, but instead semi bullet hell encounters (just look at the Blind the Thief battle, which asks you to juggle three heads that shoot lasers and fireballs at the same time). You can see how recent roguelike games, such as Enter the Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac have pulled inspiration from this title in particular. As well, I love that the randomized carts or ROMS of this game have become so popular as the puzzle box style world allows for fun experimentation and sequence breaking.
Some of these boss battles, though, are really iconic and fun. One of my favorites is Moldorm, a giant worm who hangs out on a platform above an abyss. He really doesn't hurt you (I mean he can), but instead bounces you off him. You have to manage your position and hope that he doesn't knock you off the platform. If you get knocked off the platform, you have to climb your way up and start the fight over. Another great boss battle is the boss of the sewer dungeon, who is a beholder style eyeball surrounded by gross little acne balls. You have to remove the acne balls with your hookshot, kill it, and then you are able to challenge the boss itself. This was the first Zelda game to really embrace the "puzzle boss" aspect of Zelda.
Speaking of sequence breaking, this game definitely allows for a good bit of it, even with the vanilla version of the game. I think one of the things that allowed me to cruise through some of the later dungeons was a glitch to get the powered up sword and tunic early, which made some of the Dark World dungeons more of a power trip than a slog. In general, this game does allow for some really fun player choice and interaction.
One detractor, though, is that, by the end of the game, you really have to have thoroughly explored the world and gotten most every "optional" object. For example, you can make it all the way to Ganon's Tower, the last dungeon, and then realize that you forgot the cape that negates all damage from a random cave on the map, which you need to cross a large spike floor path. Whoops! All the way back out of the dungeon to go explore. What? You made it to Turtle Rock and forgot the one spell amulet to open the front door? Whoops! Better go find it then. This even translates to some of the boss battles: one boss can only be damaged by the magic wands of the game, and you better have each one (one is completely optional up to this point), plus extra magic potion so you can use the wands.
The dungeons, by and large, though, are really quite good. Each one has a neat aesthetic, and they try out some new/novel ideas. One is mixed between an underground area and a forest above it, another is a thieve's hideout, and one accomplishes one of the best "ice dungeons" in gaming. The final dungeon, though, I feel is truly excellent. It is a true "final exam" of almost everything you have learned in the game: you will need to use most all of your items, it has varied and tougher versions of earlier puzzles, and you will encounter all four of the "light world" bosses again in more challenging contexts. It is a great way to end the game.
The aesthetic and music of the game really hold up. The spritework is really polished for an early SNES game. I even started making a perler set after playing this game just because the artwork was so enjoyable. It almost has the feeling of an early 90s Saturday morning cartoon. They even released a companion comic book to go along with this game to help promote this aesthetic (it is not very good).
Muuuuuuuusic?
It is really, really classic.
Ads, Art, and Commercials
Personal History
This was the final game in our unofficial "Easter Trilogy" from when I was a youngster, and the one that I personally chose. To be honest, though, this game intimidated me to no end. The music at the beginning, and the foreboding atmosphere of the stormy night when this game began, seemed way too ominous for the youngster that I was (remember I was around 4-5 at the time). BUT, I did like to watch my older brother play the game. I would always wait for him to get off school, and watch him struggle his way through the dungeons of the game. With this in mind, I actually only completed this game, myself, when I first wrote this blog post. Now I remember playing this as a young'un and being completely mystified by the open (at least fairly open; nothing compared to the original Zelda, though I had no experience with that title) world map and the oppressing responsibility of saving Princess Zelda from certain demise at the hands of the dark warlock, Agahnim (I mean he turned her father into a skeleton king!). This was a game with stakes and import if I failed on my quest, and that made a strong impression on my young mind.
Background
Link to the Past was the grand entrance of LoZ in the realm of 16 bit gaming, and the overall third game in the series. Apparently, the game was originally in development for the NES, but was instead brought to the SNES when concrete plans were made for a next generation console. Now this game follows the tradition set by the original Zelda, rather than Zelda II: Adventure of Link. Link explores his world in a top down setting, but instead there are now two overall maps (a light world and dark world), tons of practical and useful goodies to use on his adventure, and a really strong presentation. One neat fact that many people probably already know is the neat design trick with this game; instead of creating the "light" and "dark" world as two separate areas in the world, the light world is an overworld that sits on top of the dark world. Thus, when Link enters the "dark" world, he is merely shifting through the two graphical layers, not actually moving to another area within the games data.
The game was directed by Takashi Tezuka, the often underrated but veteran game designer at Nintendo who is arguably just as influential as Miyamoto-san. Shigeru Miyamoto acts as producer in this game, and was most likely overseeing this and a few other products at the same time. Koji Kondo once again creates the score for this one, and the music, in this case, is once again a stellar OST. Eiji Aonuma, the Nintendo producer who has become known for his work on the Legend of Zelda series, had not joined the series yet, but was working at Nintendo as a sprite designer for some minor titles.
Story
In this game, you play as Link, the Hylian boy tasked with saving Princess Zelda of Hyrule from the forces of darkness. In this case, the force of darkness is the evil wizard Agahnim, who has ensorcelled guards of Hyrule castle and killed the king. At first, your task is to save Princess Zelda from the castle dungeons, and then to unlock the Master Sword, the holy sword of legend that has been blessed by the three goddesses of Hyrule. To be able to wield the sword, Link must first find the three holy pendants of Wisdom, Courage, and Power to prove his worth. This means he must plumb the depths of three dungeons, grab the pendants, grab the sword, and then challenge Agahnim. Now if you have even glanced at a Super Nintendo, you know the game doesn't end here. Agahnim manages to capture Zelda, and sends her to the Dark World, a corrupted version of the "holy land" that houses the holy relic known as the Triforce. Here, Agahnim has gathered 8 holy maidens, which must be rescued from 8 dungeons, and wants to use them to unlock the seal to the Triforce itself. Of course, it turns out he is a pawn for the true dark lord, Ganon, the pig demon/bandit warlock who Link's nemesis game after game.
Gameplay
The game, though more in the same gameplay vein as the original Legend of Zelda, is much more guided than the original game. The original NES title plopped Link into the middle of a map, and then let him challenge most of the dungeons in any order he wanted. This game does that a bit, but there is a clear expected order for most of the dungeons. It does offer more choice in terms of power-ups and items, which are darted and hidden all across the map. The main gameplay loop is as follows: Link explores a new area of the overworld: there are usually NPCS to talk to, monsters to fight, caves/challenge rooms to explore, mini-games to play, and secrets to find. Some areas, which you can check on the map, will house a main dungeon. Each dungeon is a series of puzzle rooms, combat encounters, and mazes to navigate. Each dungeon has keys to open locked doors, a compass to tell you where items are, a map to show you the layout of the dungeon, and a key item which will either be needed to defeat the boss or navigate the maze. At the end of the dungeon is a boss encounter. Once you beat the boss, you are given a full heart to increase your life one notch, and you are eschewed back into the overworld. Some dungeons require a little puzzle to unlock, or a certain item to be found, which encourages more exploration on the overworld. As well, some dungeons, later in the game, will boost the difficulty and damage done by the enemies, forcing you to interact with the world more to find better armor, weapons, items, and heart pieces.
This game is not as tough as the original Legend of Zelda or Zelda II, but it still maintains a good bit of challenge. Many of the dungeons offer a legitimate challenge, with a great maze like structure. Unlike later games, which the key items of dungeons tend to serve as a "key" to the rest of the dungeon, this only applies to some dungeons, while instead usually unlocking a gate on the overworld. In fact, the overworld almost is structured as one giant dungeon, with locked areas and items that are gated behind progress checkpoints. The bosses, too, are less puzzle battles, like in Ocarina, but instead semi bullet hell encounters (just look at the Blind the Thief battle, which asks you to juggle three heads that shoot lasers and fireballs at the same time). You can see how recent roguelike games, such as Enter the Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac have pulled inspiration from this title in particular. As well, I love that the randomized carts or ROMS of this game have become so popular as the puzzle box style world allows for fun experimentation and sequence breaking.
Some of these boss battles, though, are really iconic and fun. One of my favorites is Moldorm, a giant worm who hangs out on a platform above an abyss. He really doesn't hurt you (I mean he can), but instead bounces you off him. You have to manage your position and hope that he doesn't knock you off the platform. If you get knocked off the platform, you have to climb your way up and start the fight over. Another great boss battle is the boss of the sewer dungeon, who is a beholder style eyeball surrounded by gross little acne balls. You have to remove the acne balls with your hookshot, kill it, and then you are able to challenge the boss itself. This was the first Zelda game to really embrace the "puzzle boss" aspect of Zelda.
Speaking of sequence breaking, this game definitely allows for a good bit of it, even with the vanilla version of the game. I think one of the things that allowed me to cruise through some of the later dungeons was a glitch to get the powered up sword and tunic early, which made some of the Dark World dungeons more of a power trip than a slog. In general, this game does allow for some really fun player choice and interaction.
One detractor, though, is that, by the end of the game, you really have to have thoroughly explored the world and gotten most every "optional" object. For example, you can make it all the way to Ganon's Tower, the last dungeon, and then realize that you forgot the cape that negates all damage from a random cave on the map, which you need to cross a large spike floor path. Whoops! All the way back out of the dungeon to go explore. What? You made it to Turtle Rock and forgot the one spell amulet to open the front door? Whoops! Better go find it then. This even translates to some of the boss battles: one boss can only be damaged by the magic wands of the game, and you better have each one (one is completely optional up to this point), plus extra magic potion so you can use the wands.
The dungeons, by and large, though, are really quite good. Each one has a neat aesthetic, and they try out some new/novel ideas. One is mixed between an underground area and a forest above it, another is a thieve's hideout, and one accomplishes one of the best "ice dungeons" in gaming. The final dungeon, though, I feel is truly excellent. It is a true "final exam" of almost everything you have learned in the game: you will need to use most all of your items, it has varied and tougher versions of earlier puzzles, and you will encounter all four of the "light world" bosses again in more challenging contexts. It is a great way to end the game.
The aesthetic and music of the game really hold up. The spritework is really polished for an early SNES game. I even started making a perler set after playing this game just because the artwork was so enjoyable. It almost has the feeling of an early 90s Saturday morning cartoon. They even released a companion comic book to go along with this game to help promote this aesthetic (it is not very good).
Muuuuuuuusic?
It is really, really classic.
The North American commercial is pretty straightforward...
The Japanese commercial, on the other hand, is batshit insane. I love it.
Final Verdict
This game is an all-time masterpiece, and a must have for any fan of the Super Nintendo or the Zelda series in general. It is just one of those must-play greats. Please get this game. It is widely available in a variety of formats; if you are going for the cart though, it isn't wildly expensive (tracking at about $30 right now).
