Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Look to the Past: Games of the Years 1992 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

1992 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)




I was already moving onto 1993 after quickly deciding on '92's Game of the Year; namely, Sonic the Hedgehog 2! However, I was astounded and flabbergasted to discover that I had overlooked one of the most remarkable games of our lifetimes: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. As hard as it is for me to let one of my favorite platformers of all time slide to the wayside, I couldn't overlook the significance of such an important achievement. In a world of fun albeit simple games such as Super Mario Kart and The Lost Vikings, this landmark installment to the Zelda series was epic in the true sense of the word. The tale began during a raging storm, leading the young hero out from his safe house and into a grand, imposing castle. One endangered princess and several puzzles later, the entirety of Hyrule was at the player's fingertips. The overworld was huge, chock full of battle, secrets, monsters, magic, and a whole lot more. Exploration mixed with real-time combat to create an excellent recipe for adventure, and in 1993, that was pretty much the coolest thing currently on the planet. The dungeons were top-notch too, of course: your brain was as necessary as your wits to make it through in one piece.


Beware the cuccos: they are not your friends.


Easily besting the series' previous two installments, A Link to the Past perfected the formula and brought a slew of classic Zelda trademarks to the table. This game introduced the Master sword to the franchise, along with the hookshot, a bevy of amazing songs, and other such staples. It was also the first game in the series to legitimately hold up to today's games (at least in my opinion), and could certainly be well-received even now after a few touch-ups here and there. It's clear that A Link to the Past made a name for itself with its many innovations and super high quality and has subsequently gone down in video game history as one of the finest. You can be sure that we haven't seen the last of this remarkable series in this Look to the Past, for the future holds installments of even greater power!

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