The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past & Four Swords

The Zelda series is one of my absolute favourites, without question. A Link To The Past is legendary. Originally released on the SNES to critical acclaim, this is the Game Boy Advance port which was released in 2002 in North America and 2003 in other regions. Some minor changes to A Link To The Past include vocal grunts and other sounds effects being added. It also included an extra game. Good stuff.

The beautifully coloured title screen.

Now, unfortunately I can't say a whole lot for Four Swords as I've actually never had the chance to play it. The reason for this being that I don't have friends who also happen to have a copy of this game. Four Swords is a multiplayer adventure which requires the link cable to play. Nintendo did celebrate the 25th anniversary of Zelda with a special version of Four Swords available for download which does enable single player mode, controlling two Links. I can't wait to get my own 3DS and finally give it a go! Interestingly, Four Swords was developed by both Nintendo and Capcom and it really does look like great fun.

I love the style of Four Swords and I want to play it!

As for A Link To The Past, I must admit that I've never played this game on the SNES. I did have access to a SNES but it was sold by an older brother when the next generation of consoles came around. I do plan on buying one in the future and getting stuck into lots of classics once again. However, the focus now is on the aforementioned title.

The game opens with a story telling of a dark force sealed away after it tried to utilise the golden power for evil. However, the seal has been weakened and a mysterious wizard named Agahnim has claimed the throne in Hyrule. He has sought descendants of the seven Sages who created the seal, and has just captured the seventh and final one - Princess Zelda.

Even the earlier dungeons will test your skill.

I love how the game begins. Link is in his bed, and Princess Zelda calls out for help. Link's Uncle goes to rescue her and Link follows him. Upon arrival to the castle, Link finds his mortally wounded Uncle and is entrusted with the task of saving Princess Zelda. Sword & shield in hand, your adventure begins.

A comparative look at Light World
and Dark World

It's excellently played out and really sets the mood. You are thrown right into the action and can truly feel that an epic quest lays ahead. A Link To The Past introduced some aspects which are still a staple in the Zelda series to this day, the Master Sword being an obvious one. The ocarina also makes its first appearance here, although it is called a flute in the game. However, the most notable thing is Dark World. Parallel worlds have since become a key element in the series, and it all began with A Link To The Past.

The game world really is very big thanks to this stroke of genius. In general, the Light World and Dark World look very similar but there are some wonderful differences. For example, trees have faces in the Dark World. Funnily, the trees instantly reminded me of Kirby's Dreamland. For uncovering secrets and progressing through the story, it's necessary to jump between worlds. It was a very clever trick on Nintendo's part. Even though the game could support 16 bit colours, much of the landscape tiles at times only use 8 bits and memory is compressed. This resulted in a lot of space for the developers to toy with, thus resulting in a whole world for you to get lost in.

My copy of the game and the ace manga.

As for the gameplay, it's sleek and fun. That being said, the dungeons offer a pretty steep challenge at times and you will certainly need to keep some Fairies in a couple of bottles. Secrets are well hidden and you'll be wanting to increase your number of hearts as best you can, because you will take hits.

A quicker way to cycle through sub-items would have been a nice inclusion but it's understandable that there isn't one due to the sheer number of items available. The system of assigning one to the A button from the menu works perfectly fine though, so it's okay.

Koji Kondo composed the soundtrack for A Link To The Past whereas Yuko Takehara took on the duty of writing the score for Four Swords. One of my favourite pieces of music in the main game is the theme tune of Kakariko Village.

The Zelda series really has earned its place as one of the best. Many people would claim that A Link To The Past is one of the greatest, if the not the greatest game of all time. It's certainly an essential game that I highly recommend, there's no doubt about that. Hearing that a 2nd game is in the works for 3DS is very exciting!

A light in the black, or just a fear of the dark? 

I'll leave it up to you to find out. Play this game!

Gary