CGA-2026-08 🗡️🛡️❤️🔺 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

CGA Announcement: We have officially ejected the cartridge for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

This topic is for people to share their parting thoughts and experiences. Spoilers are NOT required to be hidden for this topic, so if you're reading this before you've finished, be careful about reading any comments here.

If you would like to be added or removed from the Notification List, please PM u/kfwyre.

I cheat-participated. A while back I had started to play through because I had never really finished the game. Then somewhere half through one of the dark world dungeons I accidentally used one of the items that warped me out of the dungeons after I had almost finished it and raged out of it. I basically used the CGA as an excuse to finally finish it.

I won't say it's a bad game in any way, but it's a game firmly planted in the past. It honestly feels less like what Zelda is today and more like Xevious or The Tower of Druaga; it's a game built less around exploring a world in terms of learning about it's people and history and more about discovering it's secrets and treasures. Link has family in this game who gets injured, and they might as well have died for how little they matter to the story after that. The ending in particular didn't feel particularly emotional. It felt grand, just not meaningful in the same way as pretty much any title to come after it.

It's a game that simply can't stand up to it's towering legacy. At one time it was a towering giant in and of itself. Action adventure games used to be categorically called Zelda clones, and this was the game that they were often unashamedly imitating. I didn't have an SNES for most of my childhood, so I would have to make due with imitations like Graal. In all honesty, it probably took the better part of a decade until game designers were able to reliably replicate the kinds of things and feelings that LttP did, but now it feels like we are awash in them.

I know I've been really critical about the games I've played as part of this group. I tend to play more retro games than not. But of those retro games, I tend to play the games that time has forgotten. Zelda is a pretty good example of why; it's a monolith on shifting sands. We can see clearly the evidence of the things that have changed, and how it means different things to us now. That's far different than the things that we can play that are old but we are experiencing for the first time.

Maybe things will be better with THPS2? Things haven't really moved much from there given how much Activision has fumbled the IP.

This is one of the first games I can remember playing. It holds immense nostalgic value for me for that reason alone, but as it turns out, it's also just a great game in its own right.

More than any other title, LTTP channels the feeling of setting out on a quest. Your uncle has fallen, and you must take up the sword with no training. Through adversity, you defeat foes, get stronger, and save the world. It sounds like a tired plot, but it just works so well here.

There is constant progression as you find new gear, unlock hearts by discovering secrets, and meet odd characters who sometimes help you out. By the end of the game, you really do feel like the hero you set out to be.

LTTP provides a lot of tools, and many help you deal with specific challenges. Enemies are often designed with specific weaknesses, like shooting Eyegores with a bow, or flipping Turtles by hammering the ground.

Admittedly, a few of the tools can feel a little redundant. The Cane of Byrna is functionally very similar to the Magic Cape, and the Ice Rod sees little air time. The shovel is a one-and-done, and this game's rendition of the boomerang is quickly outclassed by the hookshot. Still, most tools are situationally useful, and game knowledge helps you know your Bombos from your Ether.

LTTP has some great dungeons, both in theme and design. The difficulty is never overwhelming, but they still include plenty of puzzles and combat sections. I do appreciate how the traps are usually (usually) not too punishing, and are often as harmless as turning you into a bunny for a short while.

One dungeon criticism I have is that there's a bit too much reliance on mazes as a challenge. I don't mind getting lost in a complex dungeon, but I'd rather not pace the same pitch-black room for minutes as I look for the exit.

The overworld design is perfect, though, and I love both the light and dark worlds. The theme song for the latter remains one of my favourites, and there are just so many secrets to find. It's crazy that they packed everything in this game into less than a megabyte.

I've played through LTTP a handful of times over the last 30 years, but it's been a long time since I last played. I was glad to see it selected for the CGA.

Since I and many others have previously played this game, I suggested a multi-person randomizer run via Archipelago, which I completed with @Durinthal, @MimicSquid, and @Dendrian. My apologies if the Insert Cartridge thread was a little noisy as a result.

For this run, my seed was very front loaded with damage. I had the level 3 sword from nearly the start, and yet I didn't get any defensive items until the back third of the run. No shield or tunic upgrades! I felt like a glass cannon as I could take down bosses in 2-3 swings, yet also took huge damage on every hit. I was surprised by how much a simple shield helped with survivability, especially against the many projectiles the game throws at you.

Many of the important key items were locked at the very end of the game. One in our group had both levels of power gloves locked behind Ganon's Tower in another player's game, and two of us went without flippers for 90% of the game. Poor Durinthal had to enter the dark world dungeons with nothing but a few hearts and a hammer, which does not have a good reach. Yet this kind of variety is what makes randomizers such a fun prospect.

It was enjoyable, and took just under a week to complete while playing asynchronously. It was also an interesting experiment into a more collaborative way of doing the CGA. My thanks to my comrades-in-arms for joining me on this adventure.

Ever get super into a game, then put it down for too long, and when you come back, the fire is gone?

That was this for me.

I really, genuinely enjoyed what I played until I took a vacation, dropped it for a week, and then tried to come back to it. I'd forgotten what I was supposed to be doing and a lot of my mental mapping of the game (I know there's an in-game map, but I'm talking about the finer details).

I put in probably 7ish hours total. I had been pulled into the Dark World by a boss and was supposed to find seven sisters or something like that? The dungeon I was in had multiple levels on the same screen, and you could zoom from a higher level across a gap onto a lower level. I'm not sure how far along that is into the game, but given that it was my first time and I wasn't using a guide, I assume I was well behind where most people could get in the same amount of time.

I played using the zelda3 reimplementation which worked great. Because I've never played the original, I can't say exactly what it improved, but I can say that it made this feel like a modern-ish indie game. The graphics still look good with colors that pop and the screen being very readable.

I was surprised at how much the game experimented with vertical depth. Multiple levels in dungeons; holes that you can fall in; perspective drawing on some items to give them an almost 3D feeling.

That said, THE most annoying part of the game that I played (by far) was the boss that's on that floating platform that can knock you off the edges to the floors below. I finally ended up getting the rhythm down, but I had to climb back up SO many times.

Which brings me to one downside of using the reimplementation: no save states. I have zero qualms with save state scumming, especially in older games, and especially in games with limited save points like this one had. I didn't love that I'd be exploring some new place in depth knowing that, if I had to stop playing, I'd have to start back at one of the few respawn points and work my way back there.

This probably isn't a huge problem for players who know the map and enemies, but as a first timer who was still learning the enemy patterns and what items to use, it got a touch grating -- especially early on when I had no game knowledge and few hearts. I died a LOT.

The Dark World reminded me of

I think it's interesting how these two games are able to expand their worlds significantly through a twist on the familiar. I also wonder if a key reason for doing this was memory limitations and they had to find a way to broaden their scopes through strategic asset reuse. If so, well done devs!

Having played at least some of it, I can see why this game is beloved and considered a classic. I also personally really did enjoy my limited time with it. I wasn't blown away by it or anything, but that's because I'm wearing my weathered old 2026 brain and not my eager childhood 1992 one. If I'd played this back in the day (I never even had the chance, as I never had an SNES), I can all but guarantee I would have absolutely adored it.

The bright, expressive graphics; the exploration and puzzling your way through dungeons; my willingness to sit down with a single game and dive into it for weeks, months, and even years at at time so that I got to know all of its intricacies backwards and forward: it would have landed very different than it did on busy adult me who has a thousand other things wanting my time and attention.

I intended to play this month, but got sidetracked with other games and other things. So I'll tell a story of my experience with LTTP. Well, my mom's.

So we got an SNES when I was like in kindergarten or so. So like 1993 or something. First console our family had. My parents bought Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past, and Mario Paint (I think Mario Paint came with the system). I tended towards Paint, my dad towards Super Mario, and my mom towards Zelda. Though neither of my parents are gamers as we know them/us today.

But one could be forgiven for thinking my mom absolutely was one. She was a SAHM at the time. And sometimes I'd watch her play Zelda in the evenings before I'd go to bed. Then, I'd wake up in the mornings to get ready for school...and she would still be up playing LTTP. I'd sometimes help or backseat game, lol. I think it was the Desert Palace where you get to this point where you can't go any further. My mom and I were confused. She kept going back and forth through the whole dungeon to see if she missed something. But I noticed the torches at the end of the corridor. So I was like, "Mom, what if you light up all the torches?" So she does. And lo and behold, the corridor lengthens and the boss door appears.

Anyway, she actually got pretty far. Like to the Dark World. However, she got stuck at some boss battle and so she whipped out the Game Genie. Unfortunately, the codes corrupted the save. And that was the end of my mom as the gamer. I've never seen her play a video game since. Valid crashout, I suppose.

But staying up all night, not going to bed to game? Hmm, sounds like something my younger brother and I would do and sometimes still do; wonder where we got that from? Maybe that's why our parents never gave us that much grief when we'd do that growing up =P

Growing up, we had a NES with the very first Zelda game and I always found it super intriguing, but sometime around 1990 or so, my parents got me a Sega Genesis and that was that for me; I was a Genesis kid. I liked the Super Nintendo and always wanted to rent one so I could play Super Mario World, but that was a pretty rare occurrence. But all through the those early 90's, I was also experimenting with lots of Shareware games on the family computer and then around 1994, I got Doom and I was a PC Gamer ever since. I'm relating these, just because I was never much of a Console Gamer after I switched over and my mindset generally changed and I feel like design philosophy was pretty different between the two platform styles.

LttP is something that's been on my backcatalogue for awhile, because it is so lauded and a friend of mine, who's opinion I respect, very much loves the game. I've played many Zelda games, including completing Twilight Princess back on Wii (I forced myself to finish it) and completing Minish Cap on an emulator several years ago (really loved it), I also completed Ocarina of Time on 3DS (Felt it was cool, but I wouldn't say I loved it) as well as having played (never completed), the first Zelda game (later in life), Links Awakening, Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild.

Having now played a decent amount of LttP (I got to the Dark World and started the first dungeon), I think I'm willing to say: I'm not really a fan of the Zelda games. They're fine, but they don't really capture my attention in the same way they do for other people. I enjoyed LttP, but as I got further into it, I really only felt that I was pushing through it was because we were playing it for the CGA; I probably would have given up on it much earlier once I realized there was the whole Dark World/Inverted Castle style of trope. I understand why this is done in classic games, but I've never been a fan of it; it has always felt like a reset to me and whenever I see it coming (as is telegraphed when you're turned into a rabbit), I immediately groan and am ready to just set the game down forever.

I don't mean to sound like a downer or like I'm shitting on the game, because I don't want to be that guy, but I am just not down with Zelda. I love the idea of it, but again, it just never captures my attention in the same way other games do. Anyway, it feels like a Zelda game. You start out, kill some stuff, go to a dungeon, get an item that opens up new areas/options for you, rinse, repeat.

Not specifically relevant to LTTP, but for CGA in general:

The Wii and PS3 are 'retro' now, according to iconic Japanese gaming show

According to an article from Automaton Media, the show—which is essentially a let's play variety show starring comedian Shinya Arino—recently held a vote as to whether Wii and PS3 games should be awarded the "retro" moniker and considered for inclusion. The poll reportedly got over 14,000 responses with 71% voting in favor, and when a second round followed, that percentage rose to 80% among nearly 17,000 voters. Arino declared that games from both consoles will indeed be considered for the show moving forward.

So what does this have to do with PC gaming? Well, we have a retro gaming scene too, and if we agree for the sake of argument that those consoles are retro on the basis that they're turning 20 this year, that would mean the following PC games are also retro: Medieval II: Total War, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Dawn of War - Dark Crusade, Neverwinter Nights 2, the first season of Telltale's Sam & Max reboot, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and perhaps most upsettingly, Company of Heroes.

Something to consider for our next round of nominations and voting (coming soon!).

We don’t have any hard and fast rules around what constitutes “retro” for CGA, but it’s definitely interesting to see how other people/organizations interpret the concept and draw the line.

I finished LTTP super quick this time around, but man the game is so good. I wish I could have erased my brain and played it brand new without remembering most of it.

Playing this again after ao many years was a joy, primarily for the nostalgia, how the puzzle muscle memory kicked in, and as a memory for how fresh and engaging the presentation was in an era where other games just didn't feel like this.

Sure, it's dated today. Obviously.

But if I'm to think back about what captured me back then, this playthrough reminded me of how groundbreaking the scrolling map was, how interactive Link's movement combat could be (diagonal walking? Boomerang + bow combos??) And how beautiful the score sounded coming through that sampled SNES chip.

I wasn't floored in the same way as 7 year old me was, but it was still an incredible show of what the SNES could do, and so early in its life.

Favourite NPC is absolutely the witch on the east side of the light world map who sells you options out of her hut. No idea why, but she rules.

After many months of failing to participate in CGA, I finally managed to join in on this one (mostly due to the fact that I knew that it wouldn't be a very big time investment). My first gaming memory was watching my Dad kill Ganon when I was like 4 years old. He gave me his Super Nintendo a few years later, and Zelda quickly became my favourite game (Super Mario World gets an honorable mention... also Super Metroid, but I didn't play that until like 2015). I beat Link to the Past on the SNES a few times, and then when I was a bit older I got a GameBoy Advance SP (Silver) and beat the game several times there.

Like others here, I played using the zelda3 remake. I messed around with several shaders throughout the game, and ended up deciding to use Tanuki Mario as my main character. I last played this game around 8 years ago on Switch, and probably in 2014 or 2015 on 3DS. Everything still stands up in my mind gameplay wise - the only thing that has soured for me slightly since last time was the soundtrack, mostly due to Chrono Trigger's violent climb to the top of my best video game music list last year.

My goal going into the game was to beat it without dying, but it would seem that I misremember how fairies worked. I didn't ever get a game over screen, but to my horror at the end of the game I was informed that I had died 8 times!? I could have sworn fairy-assisted deaths didn't count. Maybe that was just a GBA thing.

Deaths aside, I am still giving this game at least a 9/10, and wouldn't consider anyone's gaming education complete without it.

A Link to the Past has been a regular part of my life for more than 30 years so it's impossible for me to be impartial about it, any flaws or janky aspects are just part of the fabric of reality. That said, to this day the combat's rather awkward with the sword. I've gotten used to it, but I still regularly run into situations where I'm a couple pixels off from getting a hit and instead the enemy runs into me and I die.

There are so many random nooks and crannies in the game that I loved exploring as a kid, including many that are ignored even in a standard randomizer. The hut at the bottom left corner of Kakariko can be opened with a bomb and it has bombs and arrows under the pots inside that I regularly used to restock.

How do you like this style vs. the newer franchise entries?

It's hard to compare 2D vs. 3D entries and I haven't actually finished a number of the other 2D ones, but those that came on later systems (e.g. Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks and A Link Between Worlds) are just different to me not being limited by the SNES hardware.

Did you 100% it and find every last heart piece for a full health bar?

On my regular vanilla replays that's what I do. I have a distinct memory of trying to (casually) speedrun it while waiting for A Link Between Worlds on the day of its release in 2013, don't remember if I managed to beat the delivery.

Any particularly tough puzzles or fights that stood out to you?

I like the changing water levels in Swamp Palace, a precursor to the infamous Water Temple in Ocarina of Time. Ice Palace is rather devious the intended way, needing to go up and down floors to get to the block to cover the last door switch. Misery Mire I still don't have fully mapped out in my head, unlike pretty much every other dungeon at this point.

Quick thoughts/random trivia on bosses:

• Armos Knights: easy, trains you to use dungeon weapon for best effect; you did use the bow on them, right? Also can be damaged by the boomerang and I think the only boss that can be, weirdly enough.
• Lanmolas: time to dodge projectiles and not just the body of the boss, also get better at timing/aiming.
• Moldorm: or Trolldorm as it's often called. Keeping your sword charged up helps by pushing you back instead of letting the boss hit you and you can stay on the platform more easily.
• Agahnim: did you know you can use the bug-catching net instead of your sword to deflect the balls back at him?
• Helmasaur King: as the dungeon item the hammer works on the mask, but you can also use bombs and I regularly did that as a kid.
• Arrghus: hookshot's fun, also gives you invincibility while using it.
• Mothula: pure evil, but it's the spikes and moving floor more than the boss itself. While knocking other enemies into spike damages them, spike damage on the moth is 0 (gold sword slashes/spins do the same damage as a spike so it's actually immune to that too). Boss randomizers make it trivial if it's in a different dungeon.
• Blind: the first time you fight him the boss can be "scripted" with the same movement patterns if you hit the boss on the first possible frame each time. All swords do the same amount of damage so it's really not that bad of a fight with the randomizer.
• Kholdstare: Bombos works to melt the ice block at the start if you picked it up earlier but isn't required to beat the game. Fire rod is also effective on the eyeballs, unsurprisingly, if you can keep them grouped up it's not hard but they can kill you quickly if given free run of the room.
• Vitreus: wild card that can be very easy or very difficult in a randomizer depending on what you have for weapons. Dashing through or spin attacking the group of smaller eyeballs at the top with the tempered/gold sword is one of the fastest ways to kill them; advanced players can do that while taking damage but I prefer the safer approach with invincibility items (Cane of Byrna/Magic Cape).
• Trinexx: the only thing in the game requiring the Ice Rod which can be anywhere else in the game not blocked by beating that boss specifically in randomizers, they often turn into an Ice Rod hunt.
• Agahnim 2: hey, there's three of them! It's fun to reflect multiple balls at him in one round.
• Ganon: the big pig, do not hug. Strictly speaking you don't need silver arrows to kill him, as in the final phase there's a two-frame window just before he teleports where he can be hit by a sword (24 charged sword spins with the Master Sword, fewer for tempered/gold) that damages him rather than making him freeze.

If you did a randomizer, what was the craziest thing you encountered?

One I did a while ago had the Moon Pearl in the checkerboard cave, requiring walking through the mire as a bunny to get to it (flute + mitts + mirror).

Who was your favorite NPC?

I like the person in Kakariko Village that runs away from you when you get close.

Thanks for hosting this one and providing a fun randomizer seed, and thanks to the other folks that joined in the Archipelago run too.

Edit for bonus trivia I forgot to include earlier: the GBA port of the game (with the first Four Swords) made a few changes including a new flute spot on top of Turtle Rock and having the lamp do damage to enemies. The latter made for my first swordless (as much as possible) run as a kid, since it made the early game a lot easier before getting the hammer which is powerful enough for the rest of the game.

It was lovely. I hadn't played through it in a decade or more. but found I remembered it fairly well, even through the randomization. On the topic of the multiplayer randomizer, I think it would be best played in sessions that everyone could join. That way you can coordinate, and the hints spread across games about where given key items were hidden could be immediately moved upon. It's a small enough world that it's only a few minutes to anywhere once you have the flute.

I feel like LttP is a lovely little toy box of a game. Even with the randomizer it only took 15 hours to beat, and that wes just about perfect.