22 years later, we finally get a direct sequel A Link to the past

Many hardcore Zelda enthusiasts will maintain that the 2D top down Zeldas, specifically the original A Link to the Past, are the best Zelda games. Personally, I'd have to say that A Link to the Past is my 2nd favourite but is just narrowly edged out by Ocarina of Time which is damn near as close to a perfect game that I think I've ever played.

So imagine my excitement when I heard that Nintendo were planning on making a direct sequel to my 2nd favourite Zelda game and still probably one of the best games ever made! I did initially think it was a little odd to put it on the 3DS limiting it to both a small screen and only people owning that handheld. But I knew that the 3D capability is excellent when put to good use so I still had high hopes for this game.

And I'm quite happy to say that those hopes were well placed because this is a fantastic Zelda game harking back to the days of old when you were just left to your own devices and to find your own way through things rather than constant tutorials and interruptions from "helpful" assistants. Being a Zelda veteran almost since day 1 (first one I got was Link's Adventure not long after it came out) I do not need tutorials and prefer to be left to my own devices and to seek out help if and when I need it. Thankfully, this game caters to that very well in 2 different ways.

First of all, just like the original Zelda games, you do not get your hand held the whole way and the tutorial is a dungeon that you can get to in probably under a minute. Second of all, the items work a lot different than before. Apart from a couple of key items you get from dungeons, you rent or buy the vast majority of the items for the game. So with a bit of money farming at the start, you can have a good 90% of the items from the get go. This also changes up the dungeon sequence obviously, so instead of being pointed to one dungeon and then the next, you are just told "Here are a bunch of places bad shit is happening. Do with them what you will.". Which I thought was a very nice change of pace. The one drawback of the rental system is that if you fall in battle you lose the items and must rent them again. This can be fixed later in the game when you are given them option to outright buy them instead (for quite large amounts) and then you are also given the ability to upgrade them. I was not searching especially hard for money, but I was still able to rent out all the items right away and then buy them all quite early on.

The other well touted change is Link's new ability to merge with the wall and move along it. I thought it would take me a while to get used to using this mechanic but it didn't. You very quickly get used to thinking with this mechanic in mind and it is well used all the way right up to the end of the game for both normal puzzles, battles and finding secrets.

The game plays almost exactly like A Link to the Past we all know and love, except now looks much much prettier and is rendered in very effective 3D giving areas and and enemies and multi level locations great depth and feel.

I would only have two negative things to say about this game. And one of them is not really even entirely a bad thing.

1: Being a direct sequel to A Link to the Past it is set in the same version of Hyrule as that one. And because it takes places not a huge amount of time afterwards, the world is practically identical. Both the light world and the dark world (now referred to as Lorule for some reason) are 95% identical for what I could see. And while this provides a lot of great nostalgia, it means that you will not be seeing a huge amount of new material or locations. The only things that are majorly different are the interiors of the dungeons. But even these have a lot of the same exterior locations, names and sometimes bosses. The same goes for the music and I can scarcely remember hearing a new tune throughout the entirety of the game but I'm sure there must be a few. Overall it feels like there was an awful lot of copy-paste done to put this game together.

2: This game is very easy. Like really easy. I'm not sure if this was a side-effect of the open ended structure causing the difficulty levels of the dungeons to needing some evening out so none of them are ever impossible but I blew through this game hardly ever getting stuck on a puzzle and the only thing that even came close to knocking me down was the end boss. Some may say this is not entirely a bad thing either as it allows you to focus on having fun rather than dying all the time but it was a little bit of a disappointment to me as I remember getting stuck in the Link to the Past dungeons a lot.

But those are tiny little niggles and definitely do not do very much to detract from the sheer enjoyment to be had from playing this game. It brings you back to your childhood and the amazing Zelda games of old all in glorious 3D. And right in the palm of your hand!