Game Debate #99: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

[Reed Rothchild | 9,520]

[mbd39 | 2,020]

It's a deserved 10, one of my favorite games of all time.

 

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I'm sure this will be a divisive one.

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

9 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

I'm sure this will be a divisive one.

Well gee what makes you say that

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Excellent game.  The only thing I really hate is the crazy hand-holding at the very start.  All those guards blocking every route and such and then an obvious path to the one bush that has the secret tunnel to find your uncle - wtf was that about?  That's the antithesis of the concept of the original Zelda, that being: open world exploration.  The first two Zeldas just drop you into Hyrule and let you putter around and eventually find your way, so I was really taken aback when I first popped this cart in and was being literally told what to do every single step of the way, all the way up to the church - uh, sorry Nintendo - I mean up to the "sanctuary."

I also hate the obvious round cracks in the walls that make me feel patronized, like a special kid getting a pat on the head while the teacher says, "hey little buddy, why don't you try bombing right here..."  But those were the times, I guess; this kind of ties in with the speaker boxes all over the start of Super Mario World that tell you shit you'd figure out in like 5 seconds: " hey you can ride on Yoshi, just jump on his back!"  Yeah, no shit!  Mario's riding him on the freaking cart label.....

All that said, these are minor quibbles.  I do love this game, just not the direction games were going in general at the time, when they were just starting to treat gamers like babies.

[Tabonga | 2,317]

Where else can you get attacked by a flock of skeleton chickens?  Or turn a chicken into a woman? 

[B.A. | 1,139]

My all time favorite.  There will never be a game that captivates me as much as this did the first time I played it. 

[Alder | 243]

11/10. My favorite game of all time. 

[LaC | 104]

I missed this one when it originally came out, for some reason. I think I was too busy playing PC games.  Considering how big of a fan of Zelda I and II I was I really can't explain why I missed it.  I was also very excited to see it in the early EGMs before the snes was launched in the US.

Anyway I played it on SNES9x and ZSNES back in the late 90s and a few years ago played it on the original hardware all the way through a couple of times.   I'm still not sure if I would say it is better than Ocarina of Time, but it was interesting to see that it had a lot of the same storyline.  If I had played it back in 1992 I think I would've thought it was the best Zelda game.  

[Nintegageo | 582]

Easy 10.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

10/10. Some of my most vivid, nostalgic videogame memories are attached to this game. One of the few games I have beat multiple times. 

[CMR | 519]

This one goes beyond 10 for me.  It's one of the greatest gaming experiences I ever had.

[Webhead123 | 675]

One of the greatest games ever made and one of the most significant games of my life. At age 15, I once scheduled an entire Saturday around beating the game start-to-finish in one go. I had beaten it several times before but thought the challenge of doing it in one sitting sounded fun. I stopped only for a quick breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few bathroom breaks. There's no way this gets anything less than 11 of out 10.

Edited April 30, 2022 by Webhead123

[RH | 4,901]

I gave it a 9. One of few game I’ve beat. I also played it in the late 90s when a friend and I swapped consoles for a while—his SNES for my N64.  It was a masterpiece, even during that awkward time when we were all blinded by polys.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I've played I think more or less all of them in some capacity, including the ones that shall not be named, but i will, Faces of Evil/Wand of Gamelon.   Of the traditional style titles pre-Breath of the Wild in good conscience I can not put another game over the top of this one.  While I won't go nuts and ask why 11 isn't a choice, it would perhaps need something because of a few others contenders for the top score and I rarely dish those out.

The game had a perfect balance of stage, world, and dungeon design.  The puzzles were never too obtuse, obnoxious, tedious, or terrible...not stupid easy, but just right.  The use of color, depth of it, in parallel the audio and its layers created an atmosphere even the 3D stuff couldn't quite hit, though Wind Waker if any came closest given its intentional living cartoon design that has aged excellently unlike the others.

Also one thing that's sure, you can go X length or Y if you really wish to dig out some corners of the maps, but it's not required. The game exists at a point where it's not too short, not too long...the bears are happy as it's just right.   It's the one Zelda I can just go back to and still enjoy, yet I've never let it over stay my playing time over the years that I remember much of it so it still hits this level of freshness which is good.

I'd basically say this, and I have on here before, but basically here's how it goes...  If you've never played Zelda the franchise before, haven't in decades, or barely scratched the surface and really want to try there are two games to start, then go from there.  Link to the Past, and Breath of the Wild so you can get the traditional best foot forward, and the amazing new steps they're taking now with it.

[peg | 370]

I'm really glad nintendo decided to end the series with this game, there's no way they could possibly top it anyway.

Going out on top is always better than releasing a bunch of terrible sequels and ruining the series to the point where there are far more bad games than good ones.  Thank God they didn't do that.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

17 minutes ago, peg said:

I'm really glad nintendo decided to end the series with this game, there's no way they could possibly top it anyway.

Going out on top is always better than releasing a bunch of terrible sequels and ruining the series to the point where there are far more bad games than good ones.  Thank God they didn't do that.

[DarkTone | 984]

My favourite zelda game. 9. 

[OptOut | 8,883]

Not a fan.

[mbd39 | 2,020]

15 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Excellent game.  The only thing I really hate is the crazy hand-holding at the very start.  All those guards blocking every route and such and then an obvious path to the one bush that has the secret tunnel to find your uncle - wtf was that about?  That's the antithesis of the concept of the original Zelda, that being: open world exploration.  The first two Zeldas just drop you into Hyrule and let you putter around and eventually find your way, so I was really taken aback when I first popped this cart in and was being literally told what to do every single step of the way, all the way up to the church - uh, sorry Nintendo - I mean up to the "sanctuary."

I also hate the obvious round cracks in the walls that make me feel patronized, like a special kid getting a pat on the head while the teacher says, "hey little buddy, why don't you try bombing right here..."  But those were the times, I guess; this kind of ties in with the speaker boxes all over the start of Super Mario World that tell you shit you'd figure out in like 5 seconds: " hey you can ride on Yoshi, just jump on his back!"  Yeah, no shit!  Mario's riding him on the freaking cart label.....

All that said, these are minor quibbles.  I do love this game, just not the direction games were going in general at the time, when they were just starting to treat gamers like babies.

And now people hate on the original for not holding your hand enough.

 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

2 hours ago, mbd39 said:

And now people hate on the original for not holding your hand enough.

 

Heh, was that kid even born when Zelda came out?  It's kinda hard to enjoy games that require exploration when all you know is on-rails games like most jrpgs and just about everything else released in the last 25 years...

[Tabonga | 2,317]

3 hours ago, OptOut said:

Not a fan.

 

[Sumez | 2,939]

Never played it, never will

[AstralSoul | 502]

I have it a 9 because it's not one of my personal favorite games of all time, but it is an undeniably amazing game, one of the best of the era and of the series. I prefer 3D Zelda to 2D and even then my favorite 2D is Link's Awakening. But again LttP is a classic and excellent in every aspect.

[NostalgicMachine | 233]

11/10 no hyperbole; this is my single most favorite game of all time, to this day.