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!

Fantastic stuff. Motion plus gives better sword control. Challenging yet satisfying and only occasionally annoying. Only minor drawback is the lack of variety of areas. Visited the same 3 main places twice each. Apart from that 1 minor quibble, a fantastic game. and provided great starts to and explanations of most of the long running Zelda traditions.

700th game finished milestone! Also very very close to 60% total completion. Sweet.

As far as this game goes...I think I preferred seasons. It was more actiony. This one was fun, but a bit strange. It pulled a lot of races, characters and settings from Hyrule (that really shouldnt be in Labyrnia) and specifically from Ocarins of Time. Possible because both the Oracle games were released not long after Ocarina of Time so they wanted to cash in on it a bit with familiar aspects. The linking system is clever though. A lot of actions carried over and characters remember you and such and linking the 2 games provides a better "Real" ending.

Only 1 proper Zelda game left now. The most recent Skyward Sword. Probably wont bother with the knock off CD-I games or the BS snes remakes. But may do some of the Tingle spin offs...time will tell. They do look interesting.

Another long forgotten game thrown to the wayside what was probably over 10 years ago finally finished. Feels good. The game itself is a little strange...feels like Link's Awakening...but is not Link's Awakening...it uses the same engine but is upgraded with colour and such and a whole new world and story. But still uses a lot of common items, graphics, environments and enemies. Game itself was fun enough but quite annoying in some parts. Lacked the polish and balance of a pure Nintendo Zelda game I'd say. Still a fine addition to the series though.

Awesome classic zelda action. Seemed short at first, but last few parts really made up for it. Last leg in particular was exhausting. Medium dungeon, Huge dungeon, battle with 6 small trains, battle with 1 huge train, battle with small boss, battle with huge boss.

Still a solid zelda romp

just as awesome as ever. and now in 3d. makes me feel like im 16 again

finished zelda 2. finally. so damn hard. even with save states. undoubtedly the most merciless, weird and bone-crunchingly hard zelda ever. another childhood nes game put to bed. and i think thats the lot. maybe i should move onto unfinished snes games now...

nath finished silent hill 4 today too. pretty good ending generally considered one of the worse silent hill games, but i liked the story in it. more narrative and events rather than just wandering around going "what the fuck" most of the time like most silent hills

closing in on the end of zelda 2. 5 dungeons in, 2 to go. already further than i got on the original nes cart.

nath got most of the way through silent hill 4 today but went to bed before he finished.

trying to finish off the last few nes games i have on the list. only 2 are zelda 2 and mario and yoshi. and i dont think mario & yoshi really has an ending....so i went with zelda 2.

its still rock hard as ever. emulating it on ds and having to make ample use of save states. seems to be slow, nibbling progress. you have so little life and magic. and limited lives. what the fuck. so everytime you die you have to go all the way back to the start castle. but making slow progress....did 1 temple and am close to the second i think.

nath was gonna do more silent hill 4 but didnt feel up to it. perhaps tomorrow.