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GBA | Adventure | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Boxart for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 15 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.5
  • SOUND: 4.5
  • CONTROL: 5.0
  • FUN FACTOR 5.0
  • AVG USER SCORE 4.8
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.9
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Review: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Review by STARDINGO | 12/13/2002 | 13:48:05 PM PST

Link to the past with A Link to the Past?it?s as if Nintendo knew some day it was gonna port this to a GBA all along.

It?s a masterpiece, for sure, but anyone who enjoys Link?s darker, more sinister tales of human corruption, depravity, and debauchery may want to stay away from his latest legend?A Link to the Past is a little on the ?kiddie? side.

In Case Your Sarcasm Detector Is Broken?
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the GBA port of a classic SNES adventure: Every clean sprite, indelible (if a little dated) sound effect, enduring orchestration, and weird gameplay quirk is reproduced with astounding accuracy. Hyrule is a colorful, happy place with a giant pig for a villain and a main character who, at one point, gets turned into a fluffy pink bunny. It?s unclear where the notion got started that a ?cartoon? Link somehow went against the natural order of things?but it certainly wasn?t here.

Most criticisms about A Link to the Past revolve around the lack of a good story to draw you in?a valid complaint, ?cuz there ain?t much of one. Abstract thought is the draw here?the world is huge and open with tons of secrets and quirky random characters to see, run into, and try your magic powder on. Play requires patience and exploring, and?once the Dark World comes into play?even some upper-level parallel thinking (a quality that seems to have been lost as games become more linear and cinematic). Link isn?t afraid to include mysteries that are there just to make you smile. The challenge/reward structure of solving temples to collect heart containers and glove upgrades is masterfully paced, even without a neo-Tolkiensian backdrop or a Hideo Kojima?directed diatribe about the substance of liberty and the price of human social identity.

A Link to the Past
Even though the reappearance of A Link to the Past isn?t quite the handheld publishing event of Harmony of Dissonance or Metroid Fusion, it?s still an important part of The Grand Renaissance of the Second Dimension. So embrace the past, you sophisticated modern gamer you?it will help you get a better handle on what?s to come.