When Zelda II arrived the following year, it disappointingly lacked its predecessor's remix mode. (The one-way invisible passages were particularly cruel.)
You faced a brutal combination of bad guys - those dungeon rooms packed with Wizzrobes, Like Likes, and Bubbles made the main quest's handful of chambers filled with Darknuts feel like a gentle warm-up exercise - and had to contend with a few new tricks, too. The Second Quest simply came about because the development team had enough storage space left over once Zelda was finished to save a second game's worth of dungeon layouts, ad they decided, "Well, why not?" Nevertheless, despite the fact that it consisted entirely of elements from the main game, the Second Quest presented a substantial task.
There, the overworld looked identical to that of the initial adventure, but everything else changed: Dungeon locations, dungeon layouts, the placement of secrets, and the mix of enemies you encountered. Once you completed the original The Legend of Zelda and the princess declared you the Hero of Hyrule, you could jump into a vastly more difficult Second Quest. The idea of the Dark World already had precedent in the Zelda series, after all. Of course, it is a matter of recycling of assets to a certain degree. The Dark World was quite possibly the most intricately designed creation ever to have appeared in a video game to that point: A convoluted reworking of the kingdom players had already explored, and one that also, marvelously, managed to add unexpected new complexity to the seemingly conquered Light World as well. This twist does much more than merely double the length of the adventure, and it functions as more than a mere reuse of assets. Once you face off against Agahnim at the pinnacle of Hyrule Castle, the game shockingly reveals that the brisk world-spanning adventure you've undertaken so far - complete with prelude, dungeons, the Master Sword, and a final boss - is in fact only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.Īgahnim banishes Link to the Dark World, a gloomy alternate reality laid atop the kingdom of Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is, in fact, twice the game it initially appears to be. We explore why this 16-bit classic remains the standard for the genre. Currently: A Link to the Past redefined Zelda games, and action-RPGs at large, 25 years ago. Design in Action is a weekly column by Retronauts co-host Jeremy Parish that explores games both new and classic, analyzing the way their various moving parts work together to make them great.
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