The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

While I was very loyal to Nintendo in the 1990s (I only owned Nintendo consoles from the NES to N64), I really dropped them after that period and never bothered with any of their platforms. Aside from some GBA emulation, I literally have no idea how their games feel in the past 20 years or so. What better way to remedy that with an entry in one of their classic franchises? After all, A Link to the Past was a game I loved way back in my early teens when it first dropped. I wasn't quite aware that this game meant to be a tribute to it, I mostly came into blind to it aside from looking at the positive review scores.

Instantly the game felt very familiar with its 2D over the top view, it really is the "classic" Zelda style, prior to Ocarina of Time anyway. The feel of the attacks and the movement, and even to the sound effects, all is extremely into A Link to the Past territory. At first the game didn't really bring nothing new into it, but once you get the merge into wall ability that's really when things start to get interesting adding a 3D aspect into a 2D world. Kinda of like Fez, but without none of that stupid shit that game did with unrealistic things just because you were moving the camera. It's definitely a nice addition, but aside from that the core of the gameplay is mostly like the original. Even when fighting the bosses, a lot of them are reprises from the original and I remembered how to defeat most of them (which I think shows how memorable these games are, 25 years later and it still rings a bell). I have to say that I'm kind of happy that the shield eating monster isn't back in this one, that one was just pure annoyance.

A Link Between Worlds is like comfort food. Your mind isn't going to get blown with many new innovative concepts, but it revisits some tried and true elements that worked wonders in the past and they still do now. With a good portion of the decade being defined by indie games that are trying to bring back the 90s gameplay, well Nintendo showed to everyone how well they can still design a game in their classic style. The game overall is very well balanced, never too long, never too difficult, good mixture of exploration, upgrading and dungeons with just the right amount of puzzles. Mostly all the same strengths as a A Link to the Past when you look at it, except that one felt new and this one feels like reconnecting with an old friend. Thoroughly excellent, I can't really pick my favorite between both games as they both are great. Now looking forward to checking out more Zelda entries that I missed!

It would be more accurate to call Link Between Worlds a drastically improved remake of Link To The Past than a direct sequel. Nintendo took one of the most influential titles in video game history and provided new improvements from an additional 20 years of game development experience: much-improved graphics, more engaging combat, additional freedom through the item rental system, and an improved story. Link To The Past deserves it's historic achievement but, when it comes down to pure experience, Link Between Worlds is the better game.