SNES Classic - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

After beating Super Mario World, I had to decide what to play through next, and eventually settled on Nintendo's other biggest icon: Link, and his instalment on the Super Nintendo.

The game opens with Link, or in my playthrough "..." (The Hylian with No Name), having a mysterious dream involving a call of distress from Princess Zelda. He wakes up to find his uncle leaving home, geared up for battle, only to be found mortally wounded in a tunnel beneath Hyrule Castle. His uncle obviously had the same dream, as he was trying to rescue Zelda as well, and gives "..." his sword and shield before expiring. After rescuing Zelda and finding sanctuary, "..." learns that the wizard Aghanim has taken over the kingdom and is trying to break a seal to a mythical Golden Land by using maidens descended from the sages who originally made the seal.

Anyway, "..." is told to seek out the legendary Master Sword, which requires three pendants found in three different dungeons in Hyrule. Unfortunately, upon finding it, Zelda gets found and taken back to the castle, where Aghanim sends both her and "..." to the Dark World, the Golden Land corrupted by the evil overlord Ganon. The quest then changes to rescue Zelda and six other maidens from the Dark World dungeons.

I think that formula has been in place for most of the Zelda games which followed, but here it was fresh and new. Gameplay features plenty of hack-and-slash action, but there are strong puzzle-solving elements too. Each dungeon features a special item, and a boss which is often fought with that said item. There often is a frustration factor (usually involving the Wallmaster enemy), but there is a still a strong element of fun challenge which keeps me going.

Anyway, I've pretty much said what everybody says about this game. But before I go, I'd like to discuss some parts I find odd.

For example, there's a person in the village who has sealed his brother in his room after they had an argument. You end up using a bomb to open the door. Link often gets a lot of flak for going into people's houses and breaking their pots to steal money, but this aforementioned person sounds downright psychopathic.

Another part involves Link being turned into a pink bunny if he enters the Dark World without the Moon Pearl. It's stated that the Dark World transforms people based on their personality. So, does that mean Link is as harmless as a bunny? I doubt that. OK, he won't kill thieves who try to rob you, but he doesn't hesitate at killing soldiers who think he has kidnapped Zelda and are possibly under one of Aghanim's spells.

All in all, this one took me about a week to complete.