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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Cover art of the original SNES release
Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto (producer) Takashi Tezuka (director)
Series	The Legend of Zelda
Released	SNES version JPN November 21, 1991 NA April 13, 1992 EU November 24, 1992 GBA version NA December 2, 2002 JPN March 14, 2003 EU March 28, 2003 Wii (Virtual Console) version JPN December 2, 2006 NA January 22, 2007 EU March 23, 2007
Genre	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: E (Everyone) OFLC: G8+
Platform(s)	SNES, Satellaview, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Console
Media	8-megabit cartridge
System requirements	Wii: 41 blocks + 4 for save
Input methods	SNES/SFCS Controller Game Boy Advance Gamecube/Classic Controller

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース, Zeruda no Densetsu Kamigami no Toraifōsu^?, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods") is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console, and is the third installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America and Europe. Shigeru Miyamoto and his team were solely responsible for the development of this game.

A Link to the Past uses a top-down perspective similar to that of the original The Legend of Zelda, instead of the side-scrolling format that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link uses. It added many mechanics and concepts to the series that have become commonplace, including multi-level dungeons and a variety of new equipment (such as the Hookshot and the Pegasus Boots). It has been well-received since its release, and has been listed by GameSpot as one of the best installments of the series.^[1] To date, A Link to the Past has sold more than four million copies,^[2] and has been re-released for the Game Boy Advance and the Wii's Virtual Console.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 3 Development 3.1 Music 3.2 Chris Houlihan room 4 Reception 4.1 Critical reception 4.2 Consumer reception 5 Re-releases and sequels 6 Comics 7 References 8 External links

A Link to the Past uses The Legend of Zelda's overhead perspective instead of continuing with the side-scrolling perspective of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, using many mechanics and concepts from the original but also including many of its own new ones. For instance, although there are whole Heart Containers, which are usually obtained after defeating a boss, Link can also collect four Heart Pieces in order to form additional Heart Containers. Arrows are now separately replenishable (as bombs were in the original) instead of using a Rupee to fire an arrow.^{[citation needed]} A Link to the Past also takes some concepts from The Adventure of Link, including the magic meter, which is used by several items, including the Lantern. Control of Link is more flexible than in previous games, as he can walk diagonally and can run with the aid of an obtainable item. Link's sword attack was improved to slash sideways instead of merely thrusting forward; this gives his sword a broader range and makes combat easier. Link slashes his sword as the default attack in future Zelda games, although thrusting is also possible in the later 3D incarnations.

Several recurring items and techniques were introduced for the first time in A Link to the Past, such as the Hookshot, the Master Sword, and the Pegasus Shoes. Heart Containers that increase the player's maximum health (hit points) in the earlier two games are present, but many are split into "Pieces of Heart", four of which comprise one Heart Container. Most of them are well hidden, adding replay value to the game. Many dungeons are multi-level, requiring Link to walk between floors and sometimes fall through holes to land in lower levels.

A Link to the Past is the first appearance of what would subsequently become a major Zelda trademark: the existence of two parallel worlds between which the player travels. The first, called the Light World, is the ordinary Hyrule where Link grew up with his uncle. The second is what was once the Sacred Realm, but became the Dark World when Ganon acquired the Triforce. The Dark World is a corrupted version of Hyrule; the water is a dark, unpleasant color, the grass is dead, skulls replace rocks, and trees have faces. People change forms in the Dark World based on their nature; without an item to prevent it, Link turns into a pink rabbit. Each location in the Light World corresponds to a similar location in the Dark World, usually with a similar physical structure but an opposite nature (e.g. a desert in the Light World corresponds to a swamp in the Dark World).

Link can travel from the Dark World to the Light World at almost any outside location by using a magic mirror (and back again from the same location using the portal left where he reappears in the Light World). There are also several hidden warp locations throughout the Light World. This enables a variety of puzzles that exploit slight differences between the Light and Dark Worlds.^[3]

See also: List of characters in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

According to the text on the back of the game's packaging, A Link to the Past precedes the events of the NES games The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link, but this was contradicted by a 1998 interview with Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto, in which he stated: "Ocarina of Time is the first story, then the original The Legend of Zelda, then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and finally A Link to the Past."^[4]

At the beginning of A Link to the Past, a young boy named Link is awakened by a telepathic message from Princess Zelda, who says that she is locked in the dungeon of Hyrule Castle. As the message closes, Link finds his uncle ready for battle, telling Link to remain in bed. After his uncle leaves, however, Link ignores his uncle's command and follows him to Hyrule Castle. When he arrives, he finds his uncle seriously wounded. Link's uncle tells Link to rescue Princess Zelda from her prison, giving him a sword and shield. Link navigates the castle and rescues Zelda from her cell, and the two escape into a secret passage through the sewers that leads to a sanctuary.

Link is told by a man in the sanctuary that Agahnim, a wizard who has usurped the throne, is planning to break a seal made hundreds of years ago by seven wise men. The seal was placed to imprison a dark wizard named Ganon in the Dark World, which was once the Sacred Realm before Ganon invaded, obtained the legendary Triforce and used its power to turn the realm into a land of darkness. Agahnim intends to break the seal by sending the descendants of the Seven Sages who made the seal into the Dark World. The only thing that can defeat him is the Master Sword, a sword forged to combat evil. To prove that he is worthy to wield it, Link needs three magic pendants. After retrieving the pendants, Link takes them to the resting place of the Master Sword. As Link draws the sword from its pedestal, Zelda telepathically calls him to the Sanctuary, informing him that soldiers of Hyrule Castle have arrived. Link arrives at the Sanctuary moments after the soldiers have vacated, where he learns from the dying man that Zelda has been taken to Hyrule Castle. Link goes to rescue her but arrives too late; Agahnim sends Zelda to the Dark World. Link then defeats Agahnim in battle but is subsequently also sent to the Dark World.

To save Hyrule, Link is required to rescue the seven descendants of the Seven Sages from dungeons scattered across the Dark World. Once the seven maidens are freed, they use their power to break the barrier around Ganon's Tower, where Link faces Agahnim again. After Link battles Agahnim for a second time, Ganon rises up from Agahnim's body, turns into a bat, and flies away. Link chases him, finally confronting him inside the Pyramid of Power in the Dark World. After a battle resulting in Ganon's demise, Link touches the Triforce and restores Hyrule to how it was before Ganon intervened.

In 1988, development of a new NES Zelda began, but one year later, the project was brought to Nintendo's next console; the Super Famicom in Japan, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in all other regions.^[5] (In the early 2000s, a beta cartridge for the NES Zelda III was announced on eBay, but later proved to be a hoax.)^[6] Due to the success of previous titles in the series, Nintendo was able to invest a large budget and ample development time and resources into the game's production, resulting in a game hailed as a sword-and-sorcery video game classic, and one of the best games of all time.^[7]

At the time, most SNES game cartridges had 4 Mbit (512 KB) of memory. This game broke the trend by using 8 Mbit (1 MB), allowing the Nintendo development team to create a remarkably expansive world for Link to inhabit.^[1] Like Super Mario World, this game used a simple graphic compression method on the SNES by limiting the color depth of many tiles to eight colors instead of the SNES's native 16-color tiles. The tiles were decompressed at runtime by adding a leading bit to each pixel's color index. Memory was also saved by eliminating duplication: The Light World and the Dark World are almost identical, and reverse engineering of the game's ROM contents has revealed that only the differences were saved; otherwise, they would have needed to wait for a 16 Mbit ROM.^{[citation needed]}

A Link to the Past, like the previous two entries in the series on the NES, features a counter that registers the number of times a player received a "Game Over" screen during the course of the game. This total is shown in the ending sequence (which also gives the breakdown by dungeon) and on the save file after finishing the game. The SNES version adds to the counter every time the user selects "Save and Quit", so the only way to achieve 000 is to complete the game in one continuous session (in the Virtual Console release, the player can select the home button and go to the menu, while keeping the game in the same state it was when the home button was pressed). In the GBA remake, saving and quitting does not advance the counter.

The English language localization included a number of changes to the original Japanese game. The most common change was the removal of religious references to conform with Nintendo of America's content guidelines. The most obvious change was made to the subtitle of the game, which was changed from Triforce of the Gods to A Link to the Past. The font used to represent an unreadable language, Hylian, originally had designs of a vulture and an ankh. These designs were based on Egyptian hieroglyphs which carry religious meanings, and they were altered in the English version. The localization also made changes to plot details included in the instruction manual. The priest Agahnim became a wizard, and his background, which originally implied that he was sent by the gods, was altered to remove any celestial origin.

The score to A Link to the Past was composed by Koji Kondo. The overworld theme of The Legend of Zelda ("Hyrule Overture") returns in A Link to the Past, redone in SPC700 style; it is featured in "Light World Overworld" and in "End Credits". A Link to the Past arguably established the musical core of the Zelda series. While the first game originated the "Hyrule Overture", many recurring motifs of the Zelda scores come from A Link to the Past, including "Zelda's Lullaby" (Princess Zelda's Theme), "Ganondorf's Theme", "Hyrule Castle" (Royal Family Theme), "Kakariko Village" and "Select Screen / Fairy Cave". These themes have been used in most subsequent Zelda games. "Rain Scene" and "Title Screen" have also occasionally been featured in other games.

A soundtrack to A Link to the Past, entitled The Legend of Zelda: Sound and Drama, was released in Japan. Disc one is 44 minutes long and features rearranged versions of some of the game's themes, along with a bonus drama track. Disc two is 54 minutes of the original arrangements for the game and those of the original NES The Legend of Zelda.^[8]

The Dark World theme will be featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.^[9]

The Chris Houlihan room is a secret room in the game. It has a telepathic tile on the upper wall and 45 Blue Rupees on the floor.^[10]

The game program sends players to Chris's room when an error condition occurs while loading the next screen. After exiting the room, players are transported to the outside of Link's uncle's house, even if the secret room had been accessed in the Dark World.

In the early 1990s, Chris Houlihan won a Nintendo Power contest to have his name hidden in a secret room in the game. In the North American version, the text in the room therefore says, "My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, OK?". In the other versions of the game, Chris Houlihan's name doesn't appear (the message simply says that the room is a secret).

In the Game Boy Advance port, the message tile has been removed from the room and the room cannot be entered "normally". It can be seen, but not entered correctly by glitching or cheating devices. It is still present on the Virtual Console, but is labeled "top secret".

A Link to the Past was critically acclaimed upon release^[11] for its excellent graphics and complex, well-engineered, intriguing gameplay,^[12] and has since been recognized by some critics as one of the greatest video games of all time.

A Link to the Past has been featured in many "best games of all time" lists. In 2006, Entertainment Weekly chose it as the best game of all-time.^[13] In 2005, IGN editors placed it 11th in its "Top 100 Games",^[14] while readers voted it to 5th place.^[15] Members of GameFAQs ranked it the 4th best,^[16] and readers of Japanese magazine Famitsu ranked it 31st in a 2006 poll.^[17] It also placed 3rd in Electronic Gaming Monthly's list,^[18] 23rd in GameInformer's,^[19] and 3rd in a best 200 Nintendo games list by Nintendo Power.^[20]

A Link to the Past is one of the best-selling SNES games, with 4.61 million units sold worldwide,^[2] and has had an exceptionally long stay on Nintendo Power's top games list: when the SNES list was finally retired, A Link to the Past had more than five consecutive years in the number one spot.

It has been re-released as a Player's Choice title in North America, indicating that it has sold a minimum of one million copies there.^[21]

In 2002, Nintendo and Capcom ported A Link to the Past to the Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy Advance version was released in North America on December 2, 2002 and in Japan on March 13, 2003. This port was packaged with a newly developed multiplayer Zelda game called Four Swords. The two games worked together; extra features could be unlocked in one game by completing tasks in the other. Additions to A Link to the Past include voice clips, an additional dungeon, an additional end sequence for clearing the new dungeon, and the ability to unlock a continuous spin slash attack. Other changes include a less time consuming puzzle in the fifth dungeon of the Dark World (Ice Palace) and a text overhaul.^[22] The GBA version received excellent reviews that considered it a faithful conversion,^[23][24] and it sold over 1.81 million units.^[2]

On December 2, 2006 in Japan and January 22, 2007 in America, the game was added to the Wii Shop Channel's Virtual Console. Players can download the game for 800 Wii Points, or US $8. It is nearly identical to the SNES version, with none of the GBA additions or changes, though the Chris Houlihan Room has been renamed to the Top Secret Room.^[25]

The next Zelda title, Link's Awakening was released in 1993 for the Nintendo Game Boy. It retained many of A Link to the Past's gameplay mechanics, including the top-down perspective. It is set a few months after Link's battle with Ganon; after traveling to train abroad, Link is shipwrecked and awakens on an island called Koholint.^[26]

A Link to the Past had one more follow-up, though it was only released in Japan. BS Zelda no Densetsu Kodai no Sekiban, often translated as "BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets" (or "Stone Tablets of Antiquity"). It was exclusively released for the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral. It takes place at around the same time as Link's Awakening since Link is on his journey. The player characters are known as the Heroes of Light. They are actually the male and female Broadcast Satellaview mascots, which were previously in BS Zelda no Densetsu. It was released in 1997, then rebroadcast in 1998.

Further information: Manga from The Legend of Zelda series

A comic book miniseries by Shotaro Ishinomori based on A Link to the Past appeared in Nintendo Power beginning in January 1992 and ran for 12 issues. Many portions of the game were omitted, and several new story segments were added.

In the manga, a new character named Roam was introduced who was a knight with the ability to take on an avian form. While at first meeting Link as an enemy, the two quickly became allies and joined forces to help take down Ganon. Roam bears a very strong resemblance to Jet Link, AKA Cyborg 002, of Ishinomori's classic manga Cyborg 009.

Two other manga were released only in Japan: a three-volume manga by Ataru Cagiva (which previously adapted Link's Awakening), from 1995 to 1996^[27] and a four-volume manga by the duo Akira Himekawa (which adapted Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Four Swords Adventures) released in 2005, following the plot of the Game Boy Advance version.^[28] Both follow the game's plot more closely, and the latter introduced a new character called 'Ganty', a thief with a single devil's horn and a star under her eye slightly resembling Midna from Twilight Princess.

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Official Site (GBA version)
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past guide at StrategyWiki
• A Link to the Past page at Zelda.com
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past at GameFAQs
• Zelda Legends has a line-by-line comparison of the game versions.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past at MobyGames
• A Link to the Past at the Legend of Zelda wiki, a wiki from wikia

v • d • e The Legend of Zelda video games
Games	The Legend of Zelda · The Adventure of Link · A Link to the Past · Link's Awakening · Ocarina of Time (Master Quest) · Majora's Mask · Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages · Four Swords · The Wind Waker · Four Swords Adventures · The Minish Cap · Twilight Princess · Phantom Hourglass
Spin-offs	Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland · Tingle's Balloon Fight · Link's Crossbow Training
Other	LCD games · CD-i games · BS The Legend of Zelda · BS Ancient Stone Tablets · Collector's Edition