It’s 1999. I am four years old and my aunt just gifted me an old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) with two cartridges and a piece of plastic shaped like a gun. The two cartridges I received were the Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt combo and the beautiful, shiny, golden Zelda II: The Adventure of Link cartridge. I was only four, but I had played other games on the NES at my babysitter’s house, so I knew what’s up. My Dad hooked up the console to the TV and I obviously chose to play the beautiful, shiny, golden cartridge rather than the dull gray one. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have ever been more disappointed in my life. It was my understanding that the gold plastic cartridge meant that the game was going to be amazing. In reality, it was quite the opposite. The second Zelda game is extremely difficult and punishing. Many proficient video game players have trouble beating this in 2023 even with the help of emulators/save states/etc, so it goes without saying that Zelda 2 was not the best introduction to Zelda for four-year-old me. If I am being honest, it kind of ruined my perception of Zelda. So much so, that I never played another Zelda game until years later. My life was almost entirely Zelda free up until college, where I ended up playing through Link’s Awakening, loving it, and then completing every other Zelda game that was released after it. But even after playing like 12 Zelda games, there was a giant, gaping hole in my Zelda knowledge — A game by the name of
The game begins on a stormy night, Link is in bed and he receives a telepathic message from Princess Zelda. She tells Link that the evil Agahnim has her trapped in the dungeon of Hyrule Castle and asks him to help. Link wakes up and his uncle tells him he ‘will be out for a while’ and that Link shouldn’t leave the house. After this, the player gets control over Link and… Probably leaves the house. Link sneaks his way into Hyrule castle where he finds (a little too early on) his injured uncle slumped against a wall. Link’s uncle presumably dies right there, but not before giving Link his sword and shield. With weapon in hand, Link begins to cut his way through the dungeon of Hyrule Castle and manages to escape with Princess Zelda through a secret passage that leads to the sanctuary northwest of the castle. In the sanctuary, you meet a sage who offers to hide Princess Zelda from Agahnim while Link searches for the Master Sword (The only weapon that can destroy Agahnim). The sage sends Link off to find an elder who knows more about how to find the Master Sword. Once you find the elder, your REAL journey begins — he tells Link that he must find the three Pendants of Virtue if he wants to claim the Master Sword. The elder mentions the pendants are hidden in three palaces across Hyrule. With this information, Link is off to track down the pendants and retrieve the Master Sword.
If Gamers ever agree on a better term for ‘metroidvania’ games, Zelda games would probably be included in that category. The only reason I can see that they aren’t in that category already is because the term ‘metroidvania’ is specifically referencing two games that are played from a side perspective while 2D Zelda games are played from a birds-eye view. As with all Zelda games, the reason why most people like A Link to the Past is not because of its story, but because of its gameplay. This game has the player delving deep into abandoned palaces, dank dungeons, and tall towers. Inside each area, you will fight monsters, open chests, solve puzzles, find new gear, and battle a boss. To get from area to area, the player traverses a wide-open map of Hyrule. Where they will inevitably stumble upon power ups, fairies, special items, and many, many more monsters. Delving into a dungeon, spending some time in the overworld, and the moving to the next dungeon makes for a flawless gameplay loop that is a large part of why players continue to talk about this game 30+ years after its release.
I had actually played bits and pieces of this game before, but never spent enough time to really get into it. I always thought the game was: Save Zelda, retrieve three pendants, get the master sword, defeat the bad guy. To my surprise, once you defeat Agahnim with the master sword, the game does not end. Instead, Link is sent to ‘The Dark World’ — an alternate version of Hyrule where everything sucks. Monsters are tougher, puzzles are harder, and there are wayy more dungeons. By the end of the game, you will be traveling through Hyrule and jumping back and forth between the light and dark worlds to solve puzzles and grab hidden items.
I can pretty confidently say A Link to the Past is the best 2D experience the Legend of Zelda series has to offer (even taking into account the 3DS sequel to ALttP). If you include 3D games in the ranking, it might be a different story. Everything about this game feels like the developers knew exactly how it needed to be. Games have done similar things better in the years since, but not with the limitations of the Super Nintendo. The movement feels great, weapons and items all have unique powers and the colors and environments are expertly done (Link has pink hair in this game). If I were to fault the game, I think I would really be nitpicking, so I will leave it at that.
With A Link to the Past in the rear view, the only hole in my Zelda knowledge is the new Switch release ‘Tears of the Kingdom’. It is really interesting to see how far the Zelda series has come and how different the games are now. The new Zelda games for Switch have an almost completely different formula and allow the player to do just about anything they can think of in the world of Hyrule.
"Legend of Zelda peaked early (until BotW)"
"Could see myself living in this version of Kakariko Village"
"Change all the battles to turn-based"
"Z-Axis needed"
"Hard to believe this game was made in 1992"
One of the byproducts of writing these OST reviews long, LONG after fellow guild members have already rated and reviewed the game is knowing the breadth of material ahead of me as I plink and plunk my way through each game. The sheer amount of games that lie in wait for me seem to stack themselves purposefully one on top of another forming a loaded rifle pointed directly at my face and it dawns on me; I have to decide to either type a game title with "OST" tacked on the end into youtube at some point or work up the courage to wipe away the tears and pull that trigger. Thankfully, this is the first soundtrack I get to review that belongs to a game I've actually played before! I'll also add that at present time, of the 20 games that gameclub has played it's still the ONLY one I have played as well! I promise that I do play video games and have for my entire life but I believe my cohorts are on a mission to prove otherwise through careful curation and sheer malice. Maybe it's up to me to find the right games from my childhood and connect them with the people of today, to find a link to the past.
Possibly more surprising than this being the only gameclub game I actually have history with is the fact that this is the only Zelda game I've ever owned or played. With that said I'm gonna have to try taking off my nostalgia glasses moving forward and just talk about the music like the card carrying, degree holding tenured expert I am... LOL SIIIIIKE THAT OVERWORLD SHIT BAANGS. This song might be the singular reason I started to pay close attention to video game music and not just because you end up hearing this track for hours and hours as a kid wandering around the map having no clue what to do. Instantly iconic, I could probably let the dam loose for a few paragraphs on this track alone but since I'm already here throwing out praise like its my back after laundry day I might as well toss some the menu music's way. So much intrigue, mystery and suspense packed into a 23 second loop it almost doesnt feel possible and yet the sound choice alone is genius in making so much out of so little. Sound choice was crucial for this era of game music with the limited hardware it was very easy to fill out the mix with sounds that just clashed or sat funny on the ears and yet all across this soundtrack very few times does that happen. The worst offender of this is definitely the Storm version of Turned into a Rabbit, and I know. I know. There's a storm brewing and the wind is blowing but 16 bit wind just doesnt greet the ears fondly, and the little farty quick notes dont build into anything that redeems the track.
While many, including myself mostly associate sounds of adventure and wonder with the music crafted for Zelda; beautiful tracks like Kakariko Village, Dark World, and of course the Overworld theme, I was simultaneously delighted with how well the dark and foreboding tracks worked in creating a creepy sometimes frantic atmosphere. The three that stand out here for me are Church, Cave and Santuary Dungeon with Sanctuary Dungeon grabbing me immediately with the delays in the intro that work to build into a genuinely well composed piece of audible candy. A real tasty bite you can chew on for many replays. Which would maybe make it closer to gum. But its not gum. I'll just call it taffy and move on. Cave is just wonky as hell and I love it for that, shoutout Koji Kondo the composer for using what sounds like a water drop mixed with a gun cocking as a snare hit. Incredible. Many fond memories of going in and out of areas just hear some of these songs start their cycle again. Or was it the original Legend of Zelda I owned and played growing up? Whatever I hit stuff with swords and grooved to the music. This isnt helping the "I actually do play video games" narrative and I recognize that.
While not fitting neatly in a group to wax poetic about I do have a couple more tracks to highlight, those being Forest and the Battle with Ganon music. I just love melody of that high tone synth fluttering away overtop of the earthy foundation laid beneath it on Forest. I'm struck with the feeling of actually walking around a forest that is truly alive and energetic and it's energy that we find in the Ganon battle as well. On top of the plucky ascending runs and tense chords is some fun flourishing in the percussion with quick drum fills that give the whole piece some life and immediacy (queue the wonderfully triumphent Ending theme).. but that's just what someone needs to beat a game like A Link to the Past, a game which I have definitely played and owned and loved and have many positive and real memories of. A game no one could forget if they spent a part of their childhood playing it and I'm sure the original Legend of Zelda is a good game too and absolutely was not the actual game I played because that would make me insane and probably the least trustworthy person to ever write a review of piece of media and publish it for the world to consume and digest. Thank you and god bless america.
-Brandon
